Editing Solar updraft tower (section)

== Capitalisation ==
A solar updraft power station would require a large initial capital outlay, but would have relatively low operating cost.<ref name="Schlaich"/>

Capital outlays would be roughly the same as next-generation nuclear plants such as the AP-1000 at roughly $5 per watt of capacity. As with other renewable power sources, towers have no need for fuel. Overall costs are largely determined by interest rates and years of operation, varying from 5 eurocents per kWh for 4% and 20 years to 15 eurocents per kWh for 12% and 40 years.<ref>"The Solar Chimney" by Jörg Schlaich, 1995</ref>

Estimates of total costs range from 7 (for a 200 MW plant) and 21 (for a 5 MW plant) euro cents per kWh to 25–35 cents per kWh.<ref>{{note|PhysicaPlus}} {{cite journal | last = Zaslavsky | first = Dan | title = Energy Towers | journal = PhysicaPlus  | issue = 7 | date = 2006 | url = http://physicaplus.org.il/zope/home/en/1124811264/1137833043_en | access-date = 30 March 2007 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060814030113/http://physicaplus.org.il/zope/home/en/1124811264/1137833043_en | archive-date = 14 August 2006 }}</ref> The [[levelized cost of energy]] (LCOE) is approximately 3 Euro cents per KWh for a 100 MW wind or natural gas plant.<ref>[http://www.energy.ca.gov/electricity/levelized_cost.html Levelized Costs of Electricity Production by Technology] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080508185408/http://www.energy.ca.gov/electricity/levelized_cost.html |date=2008-05-08 }} California Energy Commission, 2003</ref> No actual data are available for a utility-scale power plant.<ref>{{cite web | last = Groenendaal | first = B.J. | title = Solar Thermal Power Technologies | work = Monograph in the framework of the VLEEM Project | publisher = Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands |date=July 2002 | url = http://www.ecn.nl/docs/library/report/2002/c02062.pdf | access-date = 30 March 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304224320/http://www.ecn.nl/docs/library/report/2002/c02062.pdf |archive-date=2018-03-04}}</ref>