Archive for May 2016

New Solar Tower

Solar Tower
Ashalim Solar Thermal Station with 240 m Tower. Image by Megalim Solar Power Ltd.
New Solar Tower – Negev Desert, Israel

The world’s tallest solar tower at 787 ft will be built this year in the Negev Desert, Israel. 50,600 computer-controlled mirrors surrounding the tower will track the sun and point the energy to the top of the tower, where superheated steam will be produced for driving a turbine. When finished, the tower and mirrors will be able to produce 121 MW of power. The $800 million project is being built by a joint venture company owned by Brightsource Energy (25%), GE Alstom (25%) and NOY Infrastructure & Energy Investment Fund (50%).

The developer-builder of this project, Megalim Solar Power Ltd, hired a specialist company to slipform the tower shaft to a height of 200 m. After that, the 2500 ton boiler will be lifted into place to complete the tower.

Some basic drawings of the slipforming process can be found here.