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Name: Solar Updraft Tower
Description: This mod adds a Solar Updraft Tower, which uses solar energy to heat air at the base of the tower, which rises and turns a turbine in the tower to create power.
Version: 0.1.3
Latest Release: 3-29-20
Tested With Factorio Version: 0.18.17
Mod Portal: https://mods.factorio.com/mod/solar_updraft_tower

thanks for the mod, i added it to list of new mods to try

I don't know if this mod is still active, but...

The Solar Updraft Tower actually seems to be LESS efficient than a comparable amount of Vanilla Solar Panels. Here's my reasoning: The Solar Updraft Tower has a footprint of 11x8 tiles and produces 500 KW/s of power. That's 500/(11*8) ~ 5.68 KW/s per tile. A Vanilla Solar Panel has a footprint of 3x3 and produces 60KW/s. That's 60/(3*3) = ~6.67KW/s per tile.

Because this seemed odd, I decided to do the calculation the other way around. Can I create a stack of Solar Updraft Towers with the same footprint as a stack of Vanilla Solar Panels? Well, I can. Arranging 9 Solar Updraft Towers in a rectangle, 3x3 towers in size takes up an area 33x24 tiles. The same area can also support 88 Vanilla Solar Panels, arranged 11x8. 9 Solar Updraft Towers produce 4500 KW/s while 88 Vanilla Solar Panels produce 5280 KW/s.

Now, I understand that the point of this mod is not to add an overpowered solar panel for people to just get more power for free. Fair enough. However, the Solar Updraft Tower is less efficient than regular Solar panels by a fair bit. It produces a little over 85% of what one could get with a comparable amount of Solar Panels. It's not cheaper, either, costing 4 Solar Panels and a not-insignificant amount of other resources. At this point, I'm not really sure what its intended use is, unfortunately.