Tall & Urban News

Skyscraper-Sized Solar Tower Built in Israeli Desert

Israel Photoshop
Israel Photoshop
08 April 2019 | Ashalim, Israel

Israel’s skyscraper-sized solar tower, which began construction on January 2017, is now complete. Standing at 240 meters tall, it is already producing energy.

The massive tower is part of the Ashalim Power Station, a 250-megawatt combined solar/thermal station in the Negev Desert. Ashalim uses 50,000 computer-controlled mirrors to track the sun and reflect sunlight onto a boiler atop the tower. The station will generate enough electricity for 120,000 homes. The facility takes up over 300 hectares.

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How does it work? All those tens of thousands of mirrors are hooked up to a computer operated tracking system so that they all move precisely with the orbit of the earth around the sun throughout the day and direct the heat from the sunlight to a spot on the boiler on top of the tower to within 0.0015499969 of an inch (0.0394 mm). The super-hot water in the boiler produces super-heated steam, which is then conveyed through pipes down below, with enough pressure to spin a steam turbine-generator at the astronomical speeds needed to produce electricity.

Israel’s climate is ideal for solar power, particularly in the Negev, which enjoys more than 300 sunny days a year. Israel has been home to many solar technology breakthroughs, but the government has been slow in getting away from using fossil fuels for power. But that is definitely starting to change, with a goal of getting 10 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020 with the new solar project. Once the project is proven fully successful, Israel plans to move ahead rapidly towards renewable energy sources.

Israel is aiming for a goal of getting 10% of its total energy from renewables by 2020.

For more on this story visit Electrek and Israel Today.