AORA builds sci-fi-looking solar/hybrid plant in the Israeli desert
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Jun 15th 2009 5:23PM
posted Jun 15th 2009 5:23PM
A company called AORA has developed a hybrid solar power plant in the Israeli desert. Comprised of a number of 100kWe base units, the operation is modular (additional units can be added) and it should be complete sometime in the next ten days. When operational, thirty mirrors will track the sun and direct its rays up to the 98.4 foot tall "flower," where the concentrated sunlight heats compressed air, which in turn drives an electric turbine. When the sun has set for the day (or if it's cloudy) the turbine can be run off of biodiesel, natural gas, or fossil fuels, allowing the plant to operate twenty-four hours. The only downside we can see is that the huge tower is sure to attract psychopaths like Lord Humungus and Wez -- so you'll want some weapons. More pics after the break.
[Via Inhabitat]
[Via Inhabitat]
ethan hawk?
*sigh*. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079501/
My iPhone can do this!
(Sorry, I really can't help myself sometimes.)
WRONG.
Sorry, the correct bad iphone joke for this is:
"Yeah, theres an app for that."
Now please, go on with your life. Oh wait, iphone fanboy, right, my bad...
A power plant that runs of biodiesel, natural gas, or fossil fuels? Is that efficient? I imagine it isn't cloudy there often but will it still put out more power than its taking in doing that? Wonder if that means cloudy days would make electricity more expensive.
Of course it's not putting out more energy than it's taking in--if it were, they'd have unlocked the secret to breaking physics and perpetual motion--but that's not what efficiency means. Efficiency is dependent upon how much energy is retained during the conversion process (chemical -> mechanical -> electrical or solar/heat -> mechanical -> electrical). If you calculate the actual efficiency of any process you'd be surprised by how much energy is lost by virtually every conversion we use. So whether it's capturing the sun's energy or burning fuels, this plant will undoubtedly waste a lot of energy along the way, like any other plant. Simply because it obtains energy from multiple sources doesn't mean it necessarily wastes more.
Dude, make sure you get your facts straight before posting.
For like 1/2 the year Israel gets like NO RAIN. I don't mean like it rains 25% of the time or 10% of the time. In the desert it like NEVER rains from late April - September. In addition, during the winter it hardly ever rains at all.
As for them using biodiesel, fossil fuel etc., that's why it's called a HYBRID!!! Even if you still had to use oil or coal for like 50% of the time that's still a whole helluvalot better than using them all of the time.
There are tons of fossil fuel power plants in the world. In fact, how do you think more than 25% of the energy you use comes from? Also, the point of using fossil fuels or biodiesel is that the powerplant is not dependent on sunlight.
You know what the great thing is? The fact that you think you're smarter than the engineers and scientist that developed this. You honestly think that this would be in development if there wasn't a real amount of efficiency?
The thing is, I don't think I'm smarter than anyone who designed this. It was a genuine question, something I was curious about. I apprecaite the info but no need to rip my head off.
Who run Barter Town?
That's more like at Occupied Egypt....
"...so you'll want some weapons"
That won't be a problem in Israel.
I also don't think Lord Humungus and Wez are the type of people Israel worries about...
Actually, gun control laws in Israel are a lot tougher than in the US
its cool, they'll just surround the whole thing with their robot snakes http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/09/israeli-military-develops-robot-snake-for-battlefield-children/
I give it a week before the Palestinians blow this up
And I'll give it a week before you realize 10x more Palestinians have been "blown up" by Israelis.
And More Germans were killed in WWII than Americans and Brits combined. Doesnt mean they were right.
@Tarex
Would help if the Palestinians would give up on the idea of wiping out the Jews, using their kids as bombs or electing terrorists as their leaders, and put their energy into making a life for themselves.
It's not like Israel is just shooting at them for shits and giggles. I'm sure they would prefer to not be in a state of war 24/7.
Hopefully if the Iranians can knock off their dictators, all of these folks can settle down.
And like how many times since 1948 have the Israelis tried to make peace and only got chants of "Death to Israel" in return? They've offered more than a reasonable amount of land for something (peace) that both sides will benefit from. So in reality, the Palestinians would be getting land and peace while the Israelis would be getting just peace. I think that the approach to the situation has been all wrong from the beginning. Each time you give the Palestinians an inch they take a yard. Israel should give them an ultimatum instead of a choice (or like they do most of the time -give them something for nothing). Tell them that either they can take the current proposal or they lose everything. Then we'll see how picky they are about the terms. If they refuse, just drive them all into Egypt, Jordan and Syria -WHERE THEY ORIGINATED FROM!!!
No other country on this Earth has had to deal with this quasi-existence status that Israel has had to deal with over the last 61 years.
Enough!
How can any of you ignorant, liberal, anti-Semitic jerks continue to berate Israel and appease the Muslim world day in and day out. There are so many accomplishments that Israelis have made to society in fields ranging from medicine, technology, agriculture etc. and what has the Arab world done lately? How does Israel have anything to do with any of the currently active 17 MUSLIM vs. MUSLIM wars going on in the world today? Are you going to tell me that a few miles of sand in a country less than the size of NJ has anything to do with the price of tea in China??? It's all propaganda created by the Muslim rulers throughout the world who use Israel as the scapegoat so their ignorant populace will be blinded by the real problems.
Get real people.
TareX, you really do need a history lesson. The country now called Jordan, used to be called Transjordanian Palestine and that is the true homeland of the so called Palestinians. Judaea and Samaria are the liberated lands of the Hebrew and Samaritan people.
Please take your hatred elsewhere, this forum is about technology.
Everyone, you're all wrong.
This is a post about a hybrid power plant.
Take your stupid politics and shove them up your ass.
And Ami Schrieber, stop calling anyone that doesn't support Israel anti-semitic, it just makes you look like a stupid douche begging to be a victim.
Agreed with Nas.
S
T
F
U
Wait, Ami, based on your post, let me get this straight..
Israeli/Jew = good, Muslim = bad.
Gotcha.
Sounds to me like you're just as much a part of the problem.
please stop being a douche this is tech NEWS meaning it's going to be covered by multiple sites. just because one site covered it before another doesn't mean that site copied from another. engadget didn't copy off of gizmodo had (just went to their site).
Hey, so how about that flower?
worst pickup line ever
hmm.... star wars tech made to do domestic stuffs.....
a
Sorry mistype!
I really don't get what the fuss is all about, this kind of mirror building exist in Weizmann institute in Rehovot Israel , for 10 years ( or even more.)
So what they bring this time that it's different ?
hybrid?
wtf... this is a tech news site. Hardly the place to argue about who did what in Israel and for what reason.
Sit back and drink a cup of coffee or whatever and enjoy another one of Engadgets funny picture moments...
Hey, this is nothing compared to how people flame each other on some of the Mac vs. Windows posts. :)
True :)
Look around you,
Dumbed down sound bites are for the simple minded uneducated people. Perhaps I'm giving you too much credit.
As a caveat, some of Israel's prominent politicians including one PM belonged to terrorists organizations as classified by the British before 1948.
Most of Engadgets readers clearly read very little historical literature or reputable journalism.
Fox Noise and CNN aren't even decent news sources for a half wit.
Can you all please bicker elsewhere? This is where I come to get AWAY from the same ol' same ol' doom and gloom.
Sorry.
Wouldn't that be the Palestinian desert?
+100,000
Finally someone who tells the truth. Both the Arabs and the Israelis pray to the same god, yet somehow this tyranny and torture is allowed under their "religious" doctrine.
#1 the UN plan to partition the old UK mandate was accepted by the Jews, and the Palestinians rejected it. When Israel declared independence, they were attacked on day 1
#2 the UK before that was turning back ships with Jews from Europe to deliberately keep them out of the holy land. Not much of a help to them in "taking over" anything.
#3 the 48 war, and 6-Day War were not started by Israel just for the hell of it or because they just wanted to take some land. The Jewish state has always been surrounded by nut job Arab nations that have made it there goal to wipe them out FROM DAY ONE. If those guys just went with the UN plan in the first place, Egypt, Syria (and the Lebanon puppet state), Jordan, and the never existed nation of Palestine would not have been humiliated over and over again.
As far as I'm concerned they have been fighting a planned Holocaust II for decades, and are more than right in not taking chances with people who hate them to the point where their kids become bombs for their "glorious" cause. God only knows they should have never given back a scrap of land to these people seeing that their word promising peace is worthless.
Bought and paid for by U.S. Tax dollars.
Ah yes. This is the future: the solar power collection grid...
Everyone will solar power in their backyard, guaranteed: considering the Earth will be a desert in a few years from global warming.
ahahaha, a few years, honestly, i dont think humans could do that in a few years if we wanted to.
This guy is a nut case. Great attempt at revisionist history, but you (and your kind) will always fail.
Only the palestinians would want to blow up something that could do some good. Look what they have done to themselves in gaza. All the billions in aid they con out of other countries and still no further ahead...anyone wonder where all the money really goes?
The comment from ColinZeteBoy was in reply to DROR, not Look Around You.
Yeah I guess he doesn't get how "news" works.
People like you always like to start history when it's convenient for your argument. Why should Israel's claim to the land start at 1948? Why not go back a few more hundred or even thousand years and see who ruled the land. There were no doubt Muslims living and even ruling in the land as the various Mosques can attest to -but take heed as to what lies beneath those Mosques. The Jews did not secretly build the Temple underneath the Dome of the Rock.
Say what you want about history and Israel's methods for getting what they want. I'll even go as far to say they are true (for argument's sake). But tell me something. Of all the nations in the world today, how many of them didn't kick out some other people to get where they are now? Just because we have 24/hour news networks and the Internet doesn't mean that Israel shouldn't have the right to say "fuck you" to the rest of the world and keep everything for herself. Other than Israel, how many victors of a war can you remember that ended up giving the spoils to the loser?
I actually blame Israel for all the wars that have happened over the last 61 years but for completely different reasons than you. Had the Israelis made it clear from the get-go that the land was theirs -regardless of whether it was rightfully theirs from the beginning of time, given to them as compensation for the Holocaust or stolen from the "Palestinians" none of this would ever have happened. But just like a spoiled child, the moment you give them any idea that you might break or show any signs weakness or a willingness to negotiate the floodgates open -which is EXACTLY what happened. That my friends is the BIGGEST mistake Israel ever made and continues to make to this very day. Israel may be militarily superior to all of her Arab neighbors but for better or worse Israelis are also naive and trusting. That is the sad truth.
Probably a balloon of hot air because it's so easy to replace after the Palestinians get drunk and play with their newest RPGs.
Then comes the inevitable letter. Sorry to pop your balloon, but it was that or a bus by a cafe, oh by the way would you kindly release these 200+ bloodthirsty murdering terrorist scum? (so that the next one won't be a bus)