Energy

Double-action solar tower promises clean energy all day and night

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A 200-meter-tall, double-action solar updraft/downdraft tower could generate clean energy 24/7 in a hot, dry desert area
Image generated by DALL-E
A 200-meter-tall, double-action solar updraft/downdraft tower could generate clean energy 24/7 in a hot, dry desert area
Image generated by DALL-E
an inner updraft tower surrounded by ten downdraft channels, each with its own generator turbine
Al Hussein Technical University / Qatar University
The TTSS design combines a solar updraft tower with several misted downdraft towers
Al Hussein Technical University / Qatar University
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Researchers in Jordan and Qatar have come up with a remarkable design for a "twin technology solar system" (TTSS) capable of generating clean energy 24/7. This double-action design promises more than twice as much energy as a standard solar updraft tower.

As its name suggests, the TTSS combines two tower-style technologies into a single design: a solar updraft tower and a cooling downdraft tower. These are integrated into a single tower, with the updraft tower coming up through the middle.

A solar updraft system works by heating up the air at ground level, then using the fact that hot air rises to funnel that air up a tall tower with turbines in it. The air is heated under a large roof covering a vast collection area, made from a greenhouse-type material designed to trap as much heat as possible.

These have been built at experimental scale, but not yet at a commercial scale, since they're typically very large, tall structures to ensure a good temperature differential. Thus, capital costs are high and they're viewed as risky.

The TTSS design combines a solar updraft tower with several misted downdraft towers
Al Hussein Technical University / Qatar University

A cooling downdraft tower, on the other hand, forces air downwards to turn another turbine. In this design, that's accomplished by spraying a fine mist of water into the ambient air at the top of the tower, making it both cooler and heavier and sending it downward.

The TTSS design places an updraft tower in the middle, and surrounds it with 10 downdraft towers running around the outside, such that it can operate in both updraft and downdraft modes simultaneously.

The research team, from Jordan's Al Hussein Technical University and Qatar University, modeled a TTSS tower some 200 m (656 ft) tall and 13.6 m (45 ft) in diameter, with a 250-m (820-ft) diameter collector underneath it. The inner cooling tower's diameter was 10 m (33 ft), leaving a 1.8-m (5.9-ft) gap all the way around. This gap was partitioned into 10 separate downdraft towers, with water misting systems at the top and turbines at the bottom. The location chosen was near Riyadh City – hot, dry desert areas are ideal for these designs.

In simulation testing using local weather data, the team estimated that such a system would generate a total of around 753 megawatt-hours of energy annually, with the external downdraft towers running around the clock to deliver about 400 megawatt-hours, and the updraft tower working more efficiently under the hot sun to contribute around 350 MWh.

an inner updraft tower surrounded by ten downdraft channels, each with its own generator turbine
Al Hussein Technical University / Qatar University

These figures, according to the research team, were 2.14 times as much as similar updraft-only designs – which makes sense given the updraft/downdraft splits above. They could also go some way toward addressing the offset between energy supply and demand that you can get with most solar projects.

The team didn't attempt to place an LCoE (levelized cost of electricity) on it at this point, or draw any sort of cost comparison to, say, a solar photovoltaic array plus battery energy storage. And it noted that in the areas where the TTSS system would be most effective – hot, dry desert cities – it probably won't be easy to get hold of enough water to run the downdraft system.

Still, an interesting idea, and a demonstration of the fact that there are many, many ways to drive turbines to make electricity.

Source: Energy Reports via the consistently excellent Recharge News

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15 comments
Teaser-Trailer.com
Is this project somehow related to the Australian company enviromission? Same concept more or less: https://newatlas.com/enviromission-solar-tower-arizona-clean-energy-renewable/19287/
Craig
how would they keep sandstorms from filling those ducts down at ground level? Expensive, I imagine, to clean them out with earth moving equipment.
WONKY KLERKY
I concur with Teaser-Trailer above.
This, in basic concept, has been done before.
ie. This offering is a variation on that basic theme of hot rising air up a chimney driving a turbine.
But, but, but . . . ......
Said previous offerings have been found to be a splendid way of sand blasting all the internals, -
like the turbine, to fragmentation; oh dear deary me.

Now, I hear 'filtration' from the 1/9d's:
Any = Power Loss.
One suggests cyclonic a la Dyson.
AND
Just build the thingys as far away from loose sand as you can.
(That graphic doesn't help your cause)

+

PS. Top Tips:
Stick a solar steam genni' on the top and rings of focused mirrors around the base a la Spaniards and . . .......
+

Cymon Curcumin
There’s a blast from the past. I remember seeing that idea in magazines in the 90s if I remember correctly. Got the impression it was right around the corner at that time. Lol
1stClassOPP
Why not make the “skirt” out of solar panels?
BT
First, more planetary surface temp, I invented far more thorough ideas in my mid teens.
1stClassOPP Solar panels generate less in heat, far less, aren’t as absorbent of heat as pure black. Further covered in sand so even the black surface will have to be cleared.
byrneheart
Combine this with a simple geothermal heat exchange
Trylon
@Cymin Curcumin, you may be thinking of 1981 in terms of the downdraft aspect.
https://books.google.com/books?id=XBZpIPL1lloC&pg=PA68

My intuition says the TTSS is inside out. I would put the cooling tower on the inside so the cooled downdraft doesn't wash over the collector and thus cool the hot air, which would reduce the updraft efficiency.
Dave Holland
Doing a comparison with solar shouldn’t be too difficult. Off the top of my head…
- A 1MW solar array with, say, a 25% capacity factor would produce ~6MWh/day or ~2,190MWh/a
- Let’s assume we only get 85% of that, just to be more than a little conservative, we have ~1,850MWh/a
- Let’s assume that 75% of the generation goes through battery storage with a roundtrip efficiency of 75%, that reduces net output to ~1,500MWh
So… This system that is ~200M high and 250 meters in diameter, with 11 turbines running 24/7, while requiring at least 6Ha of land will produce about half as much electricity as a 1MW solar farm with sufficient batteries to deliver 24/7 power, in the same location.
Hmmmm. Maybe that is why they haven't done (published?) the comparison?
soyrich
It's a pretty interesting solution. However, this raises some questions: how and with what should these solar cell surfaces in the desert be cleaned and what will happen to the dust and sand that is drawn into the tower through the shafts?