There are solar towers and then there are solar towers. The emphasis is added to adjust for the 2,500-foot-tall solar updraft tower EnviroMission (OTCQX: EVOMY) is designing. The Australian company contracted with Hensel Phelps Construction to build the Solar Tower in the U.S.

“Financing is on foot. There are very positive conversations underway,” said EnviroMission Business Development Manager Christopher Davey. However, he acknowledged that the current market instability is a challenge.

The system uses a greenhouse-like structure covering a swath of land. As air under the structure is heated by the sun’s thermal energy, it moves toward the central chimney, moving at roughly 35 miles an hour. As the air convects up the chimney, it will power 32 6.25-megawatt turbines, producing 200 megawatts of electricity.

“We’re used to doing very unique and interesting projects like that,” said Hensel Phelps spokesperson Jeff Stoddard. “It’ll be a monumental structure. With our history, we’ll be able to handle that and rise to the task.”

After all, the construction company remodeled the Pentagon, built Denver International Airport—which has a tent-like, translucent roof allowing sunlight in—and it has built structures such as rocket launch pads.

The first Solar Tower is planned for La Paz, Ariz., and is under a power-purchase agreement with Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA). The utility also took an option on a second planned solar tower.

Construction on the first tower is expected to start in late 2012 or early 2013, according to Davey. The project is slated for completion in 2015.

Both Stoddard and Davey said. When completed it will be the first utility-scale solar updraft tower in the world.

The first solar updraft tower was built in the 1980’s to demonstrate its feasibility.

Image courtesy of EnviroMission.