A proposed “twin-technology solar system” combines a solar-heated updraft tower with water-cooled downdraft channels, aiming to generate electricity from rising and descending air at the same time. A 2023 study estimated about 753 MWh of annual output in a simulation for a site near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. That is a modeled result, not measured production from a working plant or proof of round-the-clock performance.
How the double-action tower is designed to work
The design pairs two airflow systems around one structure. Its central solar updraft tower uses a broad collector roof to warm air; the heated air rises through the tower and turns turbines. Around it, ten downdraft channels use a different mechanism: fine water mist cools air at the top, making it denser so it descends through turbines.
The researchers’ aim is to operate both systems simultaneously. The updraft relies on solar heating, while the descending airflow is intended to add a second mode of generation. The concept’s “all day and night” promise describes that intended combined operation; it does not establish continuous output in an operating installation.
What the study modeled
The 2023 design case was set near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, chosen for hot, dry conditions. The proposed tower was about 200 m (656 ft) tall and 13.6 m (45 ft) in diameter, with a collector about 250 m (820 ft) across. The inner tower was 10 m (33 ft) in diameter, and the surrounding annular space was divided into ten downdraft channels. These are dimensions of the modeled design, not a completed plant. New Atlas’s report on the study describes the configuration.
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What the projected energy figures mean
Using local weather data in simulation, the research team estimated approximately 753 MWh of energy per year. New Atlas reported the estimate as about 400 MWh annually from the downdraft channels and about 350 MWh from the updraft tower. The team also reported an estimated output 2.14 times that of similar updraft-only designs. These are simulation estimates for the proposed Riyadh-area case, not readings from a tower generating electricity. New Atlas’s coverage of the estimated output gives the comparison.
The figures are best read as a modeled annual-energy projection. They do not establish the system’s hourly production, how reliably it would supply power overnight, or how much electricity would remain after operating equipment such as water pumps.
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Construction and resource questions the report leaves open
Scale and cost
A 200 m tower and 250 m collector would be substantial infrastructure. New Atlas notes that solar updraft towers had been built at experimental scale but not at commercial scale, citing size and capital-cost risk for the category. That context is not evidence that every proposed tower would face identical outcomes, but it underlines the gap between a modeled structure and a financeable, buildable power project.
The report does not calculate a levelized cost of electricity or compare the concept’s cost with photovoltaic panels paired with battery storage. It therefore does not establish that the design is cheaper, more efficient, or more practical than those alternatives.
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Water and net output
The design’s downdraft mechanism depends on misting water into air. That makes water sourcing and availability important, even though the proposed setting is hot and dry. The report does not quantify water consumption, identify a water source, estimate pumping energy, or provide operating costs or net output after pumping. Those omissions prevent a full assessment of resource needs and delivered electricity.
Evidence needed for a real-world comparison
A useful comparison with other generation options would need to distinguish modeled from measured annual energy and examine nighttime contribution, land and structure requirements, water use and availability, pumping energy, capital and operating costs, and field-demonstration maturity. The report supplies no complete comparative dataset across those factors.
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