Solar Chimneys

Abstract

The design and construction of the solar chimney pilot plant in Manzanares, and the investigations described below, were commissioned by the Minister of Research and Technology of the Federal Republic of Germany. The work was supervised by the energy research project management department of Kernforschungsanlage Jülich GmbH (The Jülich Nuclear Research Establishment). The present paper communicates preliminary test results from the solar chimney pilot plant described in (1). This, the first solar chimney power plant in the world, was commissioned on 7 June 1982 and has been in continuous operation since then. Individual energy balances, collector efficiency values, pressure losses due to friction and losses in the turbine section are discussed with reference to 24-hour records. The findings agree well with results obtained hitherto in model calculations.