In a future with no need for fossil fuels and with the need of renewable energies, solar power seems to be the best option available on the market. In order to be efficient and cost-effective, the sun has to shine all day long and the perfect place for that is the African continent. The latest project consists of solar updraft towers which will be built in Namibia and each tower could generate about 400 megawatts of power.
The gigantic solar towers were only “proposed” by Hahn & Hahn and each will be 1.5km tall and 280m wide, and the towers will be welcomed in Africa as at the base of them, people could grow crops. The base will measure about 37-square km and it will work as a greenhouse.
“One of the main reasons why commercial solar chimney power plants have not been built that they have to be very large to be economically viable,” said Theo von Backströmn from Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
Well, as in Namibia the sun shines more than 300 days per year, the solar towers seem to be a great solution. The towers will produce energy by sending the heated air from the greenhouse through wind turbines which will also generate electricity. Being shaped like a chimney, funneling the heated air via the wind turbines will not be a problem as the hot air tends to rise.
For the moment, we don’t know when the construction will start or when it’s going to be finished, however, we don’t even know if the Namibian government can raise so much money to build and to maintain the solar updraft towers.
