Re: Solar panels in outer space
- From: Gary <LanceGary@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:30:11 -0700 (PDT)
On Apr 17, 11:19 am, Dave Smith <da...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Space, the final frontier … and California's latest source of low-
carbon electricity• US company plans to put solar panels into orbit
• Firm says radio waves will transmit power to earth
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk,
Thursday 16 April 2009
It sounds like an idea drawn from the wilder shores of science
fiction: a set of solar panels in outer space that would beam enough
clean energy back to Earth to power half a million homes and could one
day potentially help save the planet.
But a leading American power company is hoping to turn the stuff of
speculative fiction into reality by supporting a project that would
put solar panels into orbit.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, which serves San Francisco and
northern California, has agreed to buy electricity from a startup
company claiming to have found a way to unlock the potential power
supply in space.
The initial plan is for the firm Solaren Corp to provide some 200MW of
electricity. Solaren, which is based in Manhattan Beach, California,
says it will launch a satellite with an array of solar panels around
22,000 miles above the earth's equator using existing rocket
technology, and then convert the power generated into radio-frequency
transmissions. The radio waves would be beamed back down to antennae
in Fresno, California and then converted into electricity and fed into
the regular power grid, PG&E said.
Although spacecraft and satellites routinely use solar panels, the
project marks the first serious attempt to take advantage of the
powerful and near-constant supply of sunshine in space.
Though solar power advocates of solar power regularly extol its
potential on land as solar panels become more efficient, it is a
fraction of the energy resources thought to be available in space.
Orbiting solar farms are not new a new concept: Nasa and the Pentagon
have been studying the technology since the 1960s. Critics argue that
the major barrier is cost, because sending rockets carrying solar
panels into space is so expensive.
The idea has also captured the imagination of screen writers, with
Blofeld, the evil villain of James Bond movies, plotting to launch a
giant death ray-emitting satellite into space that could hold the
world to ransom.
But Solaren Corp, founded by a former spacecraft engineer, says it has
developed a technology that would make it commercially viable within
the next seven years.
The company had been in discussion with PG&E for 18 months before the
company announced this week that it had agreed to buy 200 megawatts of
electricity from Solaren starting in 2016. The deal has yet to be
approved by California state government regulators and PG&E has not
put any money into Solaren, but the promise alone has turned the
notion of space based solar power from fantasy to reality.
Because sunshine in space is practically constant, apart from a few
days around the spring and autumn equinoxes, the space-based solar
panels could potentially produce a steady supply of electricity. The
sunlight hitting the solar panels in space would be 10 times as
powerful as the light coming to Earth via the atmosphere.
Solaren's founder, Gary Spirnak, did not give details of how the
technology would work but said it was based on what is currently used
by communications satellites, describing it as "very mature".
And there most definitely won't be any death rays, Spirnak joked,
while not stroking a sinister white cat. He said the radio beam would
pose no danger to people on the ground or even aircraft that fly
through it. The satellites would project a large oval footprint on
earth at the receiving point. They would also shut down automatically
if the signal goes astray.
Daniel Kammen, professor in energy and resources at the University of
California, Berkeley, said: "The ground rules are looking kind of
promising ... it is doable. Whether it is doable at a reasonable cost,
we just don't know."
Others have paved the way. In 2008, John Mankins, a former Nasa expert
on space solar power, proved it was possible to transmit solar power
as radio waves when he beamed a signal between two Hawaiian islands 90
miles apart.
But Spirnak will face a challenge raising funds for his project during
a recession. He said he was seeking in the low billions of dollars in
investment, under $5bn. But that is still much higher than the usual
$100m (£67m) to $200m costs for projects in renewable energy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/16/solarpower-spacetec...
Would there be any heating effect on the atmosphere of having large
quantities of energy in the form of radio waves passing through it?
Lance
.
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