Why is the AVE power generation technology so inexpensive compared to other conventional generation technologies?
The AVE is relatively inexpensive compared to other conventional generation technologies because: • Waste heat from existing thermal power plants or other industrial processes is now normally considered worthless and discarded to the lower atmosphere (+15°C). By using the colder temperatures (-60°C) available at the top of the troposphere as a heat sink, the AVE acts as a “bottoming cycle” to extract additional energy from abundant low temperature industrial waste heat sources or even natural heat sources. • During steady state operation, an AVE requires no additional combustion of fossil fuels. Existing low temperature heat sources such as warm sea water or waste heat from existing thermal power plants can be readily used. • The AVE structure itself is very similar to well-established conventional cooling tower technology. The cost for the cooling system of a conventional thermal power plant represents only a portion of the total plant capital cost. The main changes from existing cool
