A no-water turbine generator developed by a start-up company has enough promise that downtown Phoenix, Ariz., may see a prototype.
The system from AORA looks like a gigantic tulip – a 115-foot flower soaking up solar energy. The energy comes, however, from a group of mirrored, focused heliostats that heat gas that spins turbine that creates electricity.
The concentrated solar power (CSP) system was designed in southern Israel by the Weizmann Institute of Science. Air there is usually hot, but if there is a temperature drop, AORA's unit automatically routes the air through a combustion chamber that can use a range of fuels to heat it.
Sisener Engineering S.L. CEO Michael Horner wants to grow a test "flower" in downtown Phoenix, the company's U.S. outpost, to be a research facility and demonstration site.
