Will this actually work?

I read this interesting and surprising article on Friday.  Seems a Maryland firm (that I hadn't heard of before) is going to try constructing a massive energy-generating turbo tower, literally, that supposedly can do the work of 100,000 wind turbines and generate as much power as is currently generated by Hoover Dam, which is good because when Lake Mead, the lake behind Hoover Dam, dries up and drains out, which is currently what is happening to most of the big reservoir lakes in the Desiccated Southwest.

Oh, the tower is going to be a half-mile high.  It generates power by pumping water to the top, spraying the water out, and letting this humid air mass descend and accelerate, and the fast flowing air at the bottom spins the turbines to generate power.  Some of that power is used to pump the water to the top to keep the process going.

Seriously.

Will it work?  I'll believe it when I see those turbines spinning.

Oh - it'll cost $1.5 billion dollars.

GULP.

There's no such thing as a free lunch, but this could, if it's for real, provide a much needed alternative to rows upon rows upon rows of wind turbines.

If you don't mind having a half-mile high tower in your backyard.

A tower of power: Bizarre half-mile-high structure could produce as much electricity as 100,000 wind turbines