Are solar chimney power plants a reliable source of renewable electricity?

Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON M5B 2K3, Canada Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. This research presents a comprehensive review of solar chimney power plants (SCPP) as a reliable source of renewable electricity generation.

What is a solar chimney power plant?

Tower Although solar chimney power plants are large-scale structures, they consist of three main parts. These are the collector where the solar radiation is transferred to the system, the high chimney causing the pressure difference, and the turbine that provides the power output.

How efficient is solar chimney power plant?

Sole solar chimney power plant occupies huge land area and has efficiency of only 1.0%. However, under hybrid and poly-generation operation modes its efficiency has improved to 55%. Solar PV modules seem to be a suitable partner for solar chimney technologies and it enhances utilization factor by providing extra electric power output.

How high is a chimney in a solar power plant?

The height of chimney in solar chimney power plants is about 200 m, which makes it possible to utilize the high altitude wind energy to improve the power output by installing wind supercharger at chimney's top.

Can solar chimney power plant be built on mountainous and hilly regions?

Conventional solar chimney power plant cannot be constructed easily on mountainous and hilly regions. However, in these regions, sloped solar chimney power plant depicted in Fig. 19., is recommended for power generation . The sloped solar chimney power plant utilizes the slope of the available mountains or hills .

Who built the first solar chimney power plant?

In the 1970s, the first and most important attempt to build a solar chimney power plant was made by German engineer Jörg Schlaich, who can be considered to be the father of solar chimney power plant today. Schlaich and his team designed the first big solar chimney power plant and built it in Manzanares, Spain, in 1982 (Haaf et al. 1983; Haaf 1984).