By Alan M. Petrillo | Special to Inside Tucson Business
The small Arizona border town of San Luis will be the site of the first Solar Wind Energy Tower installation in the world.
The $1.5 billion project would generate electricity through the use of ambient desert heat that passes through a concrete structure its proponents say would be the tallest in North America.
At 2,250 feet high, the Solar Wind Energy Tower looks similar to the cooling towers seen at nuclear power generating plants.
Ronald W. Pickett, president and chief executive officer of Solar Wind Energy Tower Inc., said he expects the plant, when completed, to generate 425 megawatts of electricity each year. The company has all local agreements in place, Pickett said, and is working to obtain a federal Environmental Protection Agency emissions permit, although the plant will have no carbon emissions, as well as a Federal Aviation Administration permit to get on the air charts because the structure is so high.
