Solar Power Station in Space

Plans are afoot to build a solar power station in space to beam energy down to Earth

It has been announced that startup company Solaren Corp (1) have reached an agreement to supply California with electricity generated by PV solar panels (2) located in space. The agreement with US power company Pacific Gas and Electric Company is for Solaren to supply 200MW of space based solar power (SBSP) starting in 2016 from a photovoltaic solar array they plan to launch into orbit.

Solar power has a major disadvantage compared to traditional forms of electricity generation (coal, gas, nuclear etc) - the sun does not shine at night and cloud cover can prevent or limit generation during the day. A solar power station in a suitable orbit around the Earth (200+ miles above the surface) can generate electricity 24 hours per day, every day of the year. As an added benefit, in space there is no atmosphere to reduce the energy of the sun's rays, and so 6-10 times as much energy falls on the solar panels than would if they were located on the earth's surface.

Solar farm in space - beaming energy down to Earth by radio waves

The power generated by the space based solar farm will be beamed down to earth using radio waves (microwaves) - supposedly with lower losses (3) than those in standard transmission cables. Click here to view the Wikipedia article on Microwave Power Transmission (4) which explains this technology in some detail). With the solar panels located in space, and only a (relatively) small radio receiver on earth, the amount of land required for the solar power station will be much lower than would be the case with solar panels mounted on the earth.

The Costs and Future of Space Based Solar Power

With the cost of launching a rocket into space being so expensive, this idea would not be economically viable today, but the rapid commercialisation of space and independent (rather than state owned) launching systems will see these prices tumble over the next few years potentially making the figures add up.

Time will tell if Solaren Corp will be able to obtain the necessary financial backing to make this project a reality. With the costs likely to be in the billions rather than hundreds of millions of dollars, it could prove very difficult in the current economic climate. All of the necessary technology is already well understood, so this will be a financial rather than engineering problem to resolve.

Solar power station in space - transmitting microwaves down to earth to be converted into electricity

NEW Note that there is also another company Space Energy (5) proposing a similar project. Click here to view their guide to How SBSP Will Work (6).

Web Link References

(1) http://www.solarenspace.com/
(2) http://www.reuk.co.uk/How-Do-PV-Solar-Panels-Work.htm
(3) http://www.reuk.co.uk/Minimising-Line-Losses-in-RE-Systems.htm
(4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_power_transmission
(5) http://www.spaceenergy.com/s/Home.asp
(6) http://www.spaceenergy.com/s/SBSP_Works.asp

Article from REUK.co.uk:
http://www.reuk.co.uk/Solar-Power-Station-in-Space.htm
Published: 24th September 2014
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