IMO the most significant oversight efficiency of around 60% figure which is ridi... | Hacker News

Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit

		Retric on July 25, 2011 \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: Twice the height of the Empire State - massive sol... IMO the most significant oversight efficiency of around 60% figure which is ridiculously high. Solar towers are vary low efficiency heat engines and have trouble reaching 1% efficiency (yes 1% efficiency ). The 38 km² collecting area is expected to extract about 0.5 percent, or 5 W/m² of 1 kW/m², of the solar power that falls upon it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_updraft_tower

angusgr on July 25, 2011 [–]

I read their use of the term "60% efficiency" as what would more correctly be described as a Capacity Factor, in the sense used by Spyro above.

Whether they can actually average 120MW in operation, I don't know.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact