There is a very good reason why they were trying to build a tower in the south western desert. It's all about the weather.
Repurposing a structure in another climate will start out with a big handicap because of the height of the tower and the diameter. The proposed tower is massive. A much smaller structure wouldn't work very well. Ronnie used this exact fact as an excuse for not building a prototype.
Any small tower refitted in a less than optimal environment is obviously going to have a very limited output. Plus there are probably plenty of days or even months that such a tower would be totally useless. When the humidity is too high it simply won't work. And don't forget about winter. Frozen water can't make electricity.
From what I saw in the first video that was posted the kiddo is going pretty low tech. Most of what he used might have came from Home Depot and cost less than a $1000.
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