Seems to me like you'd need to keep all the glass clean too, which means more manpower & water/air power to get all the crap off.
I'd be quite curious what the actual maintenance costs will be. Still, no feedstock into the process means that you'd have to have pretty serious component failure to bring the running costs up to oil plants presumably.
Yes, but that brings up a good question. Anyone who owns a computer knows that air isn't pristine. It picks up all kinds of crap. If this beast has as much suction as the article implies, it's going to be inhaling all kinds of debris. I would guess it gets filtered so you don't damage the turbines, in which case somebody's going to have to be cleaning those filters pretty regularly.
That's a good point. Let me clarify. They won't have to pay for a feedstock. They may have to pay to ensure that there isn't damage to turbines, but i would have to think that turbines would be sturdy enough to cope w/ some particulate matter (or that wear and tear would be factored into maintenance costs).
What i'd also be interested in hearing is whether there's a drop in efficiency if particulate matter increases, and if so, what kind of curve fits the inefficiency
I'd be quite curious what the actual maintenance costs will be. Still, no feedstock into the process means that you'd have to have pretty serious component failure to bring the running costs up to oil plants presumably.