Green

Solar Power from Space: Moving Beyond Science Fiction

The biggest issue with solar power is consistency. There is no part of the United States that is cloud free, providing a continuous stream of sunlight, 365 days a year. Thus the problem arises in storing the collected energy for those sunless periods, including night. The solution: Launch solar panels in to space and beam the power back to earth.

Although it sounds far-fetched and something out of a science fiction movie, the concept is more real than it seems. The National Security Space Office has issued recommendations that the US should begin a coordinated effort to develop space based solar power. A small experiment was carried out a year ago converting solar energy in to microwaves and beaming them 92 miles from Maui to Hawaii where it was converted in to 20 watts of electricity. Last Spring a California based company signed a contract with PG&E to provide 200 megawatts of power by 2016 using space based solar panels.

As with anything, the issue is price and beaming the solar power 22,000 miles back to earth. Although feasible the Pentagon estimates that it will cost roughly $10 billion to launch a satellite that would produce 10 megawatts of power. However, Solaren, the California based company claims it will cost far less for much more power. Research is still being carried out to find out ways of bringing down the cost and increasing the efficiency of the technology used. That being said, with government backing, we may start to use power from space within the next two decades.