The idea of wireless power transmission has been around for a long time, since Tesla demonstrated it over 100 years ago, but the leap to generating solar power in space and transmitting it to Earth is big, does it make sense?
The idea of space-based solar power is arousing a lot of interest among scientists in Europe, where their largest space company, EADS Astruim, is seeking partners to operate an orbiting solar power demonstration mission. The energy would then be transmitted to the ground using an infrared laser. At first glance, the positives sound promising; clean energy, inexhaustible supply, available day and night, without atmosphere, dust or clouds to reduce the effect of solar panels. The idea of solar panels in space operating 3-5 times more efficiently is quite impressive and EADS Astrium is working with the University of Surrey in the UK to develop ground-based converters where efficiency levels are expected to be in excess of 80%.
The Japanese are also interested. In September 2009, Mitsubishi Electric Corp signed up for Japan’s 2 trillion yen space-based solar plan that will use microwave technology to send power back to earth. The plan is to power 300,000 homes from a satellite with 4 square kilometers of solar panel, producing 1 gigawatt of power. A smaller test satellite is planned for 2015.
In the United States, the race for solar power from space is not going quite according to plan. NASA has dabbled in the idea for the last 40 years and has spent a fair amount of money doing it, but currently has no plans to develop this technology. Those who believe in solar space hoped that Obama would breathe new life into it with his endorsement of renewable energy. Perhaps he still does, since there have been high-level appointments at NASA who are proponents of space solar power. Don’t forget, there is also the private market. Late last year, California regulators approved a space-based solar project to start delivering up to 200 megawatts from space by 2016. Solaren, a company run by aerospace veterans, plans to use a 1km-diameter lightweight collector and transfer the power to Earth using microwaves. So from the US perspective, NASA may not be doing much, but the race is definitely still on.
But does any of this make sense? The Japanese say they need to cut the cost of putting equipment into space by 100 times, microwave transmission poses serious health concerns, and the problems associated with maintaining it in space only add to the financial black hole these systems could develop. I’m an editor at realityGreen, where we aim to get real about creating sustainable living and reducing our carbon footprint. I am under no illusion that as a planet we should push for sustainable development, but when one looks at the benefits (basically 24-hour solar power and much higher efficiencies from solar panels), one has to wonder if the technology is too harsh at the moment (with solar panels measured in square kilometers floating in space) and the finances would be astronomical.
We have a planet full of renewable energy. We have tides that are guaranteed, with deserts where the sunlight may not be 24 hours, but again, virtually guaranteed. We have great developments in areas such as concentrated solar energy, which has great potential. Tidal energy has barely been used, nor has waves. Sustainability must be achieved and it is hard not to believe that if this money were used to develop more ‘down to earth’ solutions, we would actually have a chance to create a sustainable lifestyle.
