A US energy company, Solar Wind Energy is planning to build two giant energy towers on the Arizona-Mexico border. The two towers can deliver 500 megawatt of electricity each. The company is negotiating to lease a 1,700 acre plot of empty desert land, which is adjacent to a U.S. bombing range.
Known as downdraft tower, each facility is a hollow cylinder with a water spray system at the top, and will be 686 meters tall. According to Forbes, the tower is based on a energy technology invented in Israel in the 1970s.
When hot air enters the hollow tower, water will be sprayed so that the air becomes humid, cool and heavy. It then sinks and accelerates before escaping at the base and drives the turbines to generate electricity.
According to The Energy Collective, the company has projected to build the facilities by 2018.
