Solar Chimney Manzanares

Location Manzanares, SpainProject type Pilot plant: tower of 194 m height and 10

m diameter, translucent membrane /glass roof of 40,000 / 6,000 sqm

Client mit Unterstützung von:Bundesministerium für Forschung undTechnologie, Bonn

Completed on 1989Our scope Basic research: design, construction,

operation and evaluationCooperation Maurer Söhne, München

Balcke-Dürr, RatingenSiemens Interatom, Bergisch Gladbach

Technical dataChimney height 200 mCollector diameter 240 mTurbine 50 kWelMaterial Quantities -Chimney diameter 10 mCollector height 2 mCollector area 45,000 m²Chimney weight 125 tCollector weight 5.5 kg/m² (without glass)

A Solar Chimney converts solar radiation (direct and diffuse) into elec-tricity by combining three well-known principles: the greenhouseeffect, the chimney and wind turbines in a novel way. Hot air isproduced by the sun under a large glass roof. This flows to a chimneyin the middle of the roof and is drawn upwards. This upwind drivesturbines installed at the base of the chimney and these produce elec-tricity. A 50 kWel prototype was built in Manzanares, Spain, andproduced electricity for seven years, thus proving the efficiency andthe reliability of this new kind of solar power generating system. TallSolar Chimneys could produce 100 or 200 MW each and powerproduction cost may go down below 0.07 /kWh.