Solar chimney power station model

The traditional solar updraft tower has a power conversion rate considerably lower than many other designs in the (high temperature) group of collectors. The low conversion rate is balanced to some extent by the lower cost per square metre of solar collection. Model calculations estimate that a 100 MW plant would require a 1,000 m tower and a greenhouse of 20 square kilometres (7.7 sq mi). A 200 MW tower of the same height would req. [pdf]