The most exciting claim to me was how efficient and robust this method of harnessing solar was. In particular:
- "Because it works on temperature differential, not absolute temperature, it works in any weather"
- "Because the heat of the day warms the ground up so much, it continues working at night"
- "It requires virtually no maintenance - apart from a bit of turbine servicing now and then, the tower "just works" once it's going, and lasts as long as its structure stays standing"
If these claims are true, then it would make sense for this plant to have a much higher capacity factor than most solar plants given that the major factors lowering CF is mitigated in this design (works at night and no shutdown for maintenance). Maybe I'm stuck in CS land where we think by factors of 10 but the numbers in this article doesn't seem too far off the beaten path.
- "Because it works on temperature differential, not absolute temperature, it works in any weather"
- "Because the heat of the day warms the ground up so much, it continues working at night"
- "It requires virtually no maintenance - apart from a bit of turbine servicing now and then, the tower "just works" once it's going, and lasts as long as its structure stays standing"
If these claims are true, then it would make sense for this plant to have a much higher capacity factor than most solar plants given that the major factors lowering CF is mitigated in this design (works at night and no shutdown for maintenance). Maybe I'm stuck in CS land where we think by factors of 10 but the numbers in this article doesn't seem too far off the beaten path.