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Solar panels placed in space will give electricity to the world.
FE Online Desk | Published: November 01, 2022, 18:07:31
Solar panels placed in space will give electricity to the world?
As unbelievable as it may sound, an entrepreneur plans to harvest solar energy through satellites in space and deliver it to Earth through 'microwave beams'.
This plan can be implemented in 2035, said Martin Soltau, co-chairman of the 'Space Energy Initiative (SEI)', an association of industry and researchers.
SEI is working on a project named 'Cassiopeia'. Under this project, the British organization wants to build a network of 'solar farm' satellites in space.
Satellites will extract solar energy from space; The solar energy will be supplied directly to the earth. News from bdnews24.com.
Soltao claims that this technology has unlimited possibilities; "In theory, it could meet the world's electricity needs in 2050," he told the BBC.
“There is enough space in orbit for solar-powered satellites, and the power supply capacity of the sun is huge. A narrow area (of space) along the equator receives 100 times the solar energy in a year, which is predicted to be the amount of electricity needed by the entire human race by 2050.”
The British government announced a grant of 300 million pounds for space solar energy projects earlier this year after technology consultancy Fraser-Nash gave the green signal after verifying the technology's viability. SEI hopes to receive a large share of the grant, the BBC reported.
Thousands of small modules will be built on Earth for SEI's satellites, But the task of attaching the modules to each other in space will be done by automated robots. Those robots will also do satellite repair and maintenance work.
The solar energy collected by the satellite will be sent as high-frequency radio waves to a 'rectifying antenna' on Earth, which will convert the radio waves into electrical energy.
Each satellite can add about two gigawatts of electricity to the grid; which is equivalent to a nuclear power station.
Sunlight loses a large portion of its energy in the atmosphere before it reaches the surface. But it does not have to face any such obstacles in space. As a result, solar panels in space can collect more solar energy than solar panels on the ground.
In addition to the United Kingdom, similar projects are being worked on in the United States, the BBC reported.
In the United States, under the 'Space Solar Power Incremental Demonstration and Research (SSPIDR)' project, the US Air Force's own research organization 'Air Force Research Laboratory' is working to develop critical technology for extracting solar energy from space through satellites.
Research topics include increasing the efficiency of solar cells, converting solar energy into radio waves, reducing the adverse effects of temperature changes on spacecraft components, and developing launchable designs.
Last year, the research team successfully tested new components for the so-called 'sandwich tile' technology used to convert solar energy into radio waves.
Although 'microwave beam' may sound alarming, researchers have tested it on Earth and say it is safe for both humans and wildlife.
“The microwave beam is similar to our Wi-Fi signal and is less intense. It's a quarter of what the sun is mid-sky at midday," Soltau told the BBC.
“If you're in the middle of a desert along the equator, you can draw a thousand watts of electricity per square meter. But it's a quarter of that, about 240 watts per square meter. That is, this plan is safe in that regard.”
BBC reports that while the biggest hurdles to implementing the plan have been resolved, new complications are likely to emerge in the coming days.
In this context, the University of Portsmouth thermodynamics lecturer Dr. Jovana Radulovic said, “We assumed that the technology was effective; But my personal view is, it is not yet ready to be included in such a complex project.”
He is concerned about the carbon dioxide emissions of sending large numbers of solar panels into space, which would be expensive and would require hundreds of rocket launches.
However, researchers from the University of Strathclyde have given positive news by analyzing the potential impact of the Cassiopeia project on the environment. Cassiopeia would emit half the amount of carbon dioxide emissions from surface solar power projects, even if rocket launches are taken into account.
Soltao is emphasizing more on the economic aspect of this project. “The cost of launching has come down by 90 percent and is going down. It has come to a game-changing stage for the economy.”
“Secondly, major advances have been made in the design of solar-powered satellites. As a result, satellites are more modular than ever before; As their durability has increased, so has the cost of production. Thirdly, we have also made great progress in robotics and automated control technology," he told the BBC.
The BBC reported that SEI is now looking for investment at the private level because of the small size of the British government grant.
However, SEI has warned that the deadline is more optimistic. Radulovich.
