(Image source: EnviroMission / Daily Mail)

BY: STEVEN SPARKMAN

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A new solar-powered generator in Arizona could be soon one of the world’s tallest structures, all thanks to an Australia company. ABC News has more.

“The project has been started by an Australian company called EnviroMission, which says it hopes, by the time it is finished construction in early 2015, to provide enough electricity to power the equivalent of 200,000 homes. It would burn no fuel. Nothing quite like it has ever been tried in America before." 

How big is this thing? A reporter for KTVK explains.

“This project is so massive that the base -- the greenhouse -- is going to be more than two miles in diameter. The tower itself will be about as big as a football field. When it’s finished, the chimney will be more than 2,600 feet tall -- twice the size of the Empire State Building, and just a few feet shorter than the world’s tallest structure in Dubai.”

The tower works by combining solar power and wind turbines. The company’s director tells Gizmag the solar tower relies on one main principle -- hot air rises.

“Around the base of the tower, at about 80 meters out from the tower base itself, are situated 32 massive turbines. The sun beats down on the roof, warms the air, the air runs toward the center, through the turbines, and up and out of the tower. … Once this plant is built, it just runs. It costs nothing to run..." 

The half-mile-high funnel will only need sunshine and maintenance once it’s finished. It’s expected to pay for itself in just 11 years.

The company says the tower is around 60% efficient -- outshining solar panels and blowing away wind farms. If the project goes well, it will be the first of several solar towers in the U.S. And there are other perks, too. (Video source: TCCTaylor / YouTube)

Because the desert sands under the greenhouse will still be hot, the tower will keep generating power through the night and on cloudy days.

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Transcript by Newsy.