Chapter 11
Technical Barriers Analysis for Solar
Chimney Power Plant Exploration
Md. Tarek Ur Rahman Erin, Mohammad Mashud, Fadzlita Mohd. Tamiri,
and Md. Mizanur Rahman
Over the past century, for electricity generation, the main energy sources used
are fossil fuels, hydroelectricity and, since the 1950s, nuclear energy. Despite the
strong growth of renewable energy sources over the last few decades, fossil-based
fuels remain dominant worldwide. Over the time, new power-generating sources
are added in power generation technology, from water and coal to oil and gas to
the atom and, more recently, the wind and solar. Improvements in old technolo-
gies continued to be made, while new power sources were added, targeting cleaner-
burning coal and performance enhancement. Until now, electricity generation using
thermal power plants is about 40, and 25% of it is generated by combusting natural
gas or oil petroleum. Electricity production by nuclear technology is around 13–
14%, and hydropower is 16%. Other resources like wind, solar PV, solar thermal and
geothermal are producing 4%, while biomass contributes by 2% for electric power
generation. However, the natural gas power sector, which today dominates the power
generation sector, was slower to replace the existing coal and oil fuel-based power
generation. On the other hand, solar energy seems the main focus as a clean renew-
able energy source for the 2050 and above energy demand. Because of high energy
demand globally, increased use of fossil-based fuels causes threat to our environ-
ment. On the contrary, pollution free energy source like solar chimney power plant
Md. T. U. R. Erin (B ) · Md. M. Rahman
Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, World University of
Bangladesh, Uttara, Dhaka, Bangladesh
e-mail: erin@mte.wub.edu.bd
M. Mashud
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology
(KUET), Khulna, Bangladesh
F. Mohd. Tamiri (B )
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota
Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Md. M. Rahman and C.-M. Chu (eds.), Cold Inflow-Free Solar Chimney,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-6831-6_11
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