Space-based solar power
Here’s how it would work – and the benefits it could bring
The UK government is reportedly considering a £16 billion proposal to build a solar power station in space.
Yes, you read that right. Space-based solar power is one of the technologies to feature in the government’s Net Zero Innovation Portfolio. It has been identified as a potential solution, alongside others, to enable the UK to achieve net zero by 2050.
But how would a solar power station in space work? What are the advantages and drawbacks to this technology?
Space-based solar power involves collecting solar energy in space and transferring it to Earth. While the idea itself is not new, recent technological advances have made this prospect more achievable.
The space-based solar power system involves a solar power satellite – an enormous spacecraft equipped with solar panels. These panels generate electricity, which is then wirelessly transmitted to Earth through high-frequency radio waves. A ground antenna, called a rectenna, is used to convert the radio waves into electricity, which is then delivered to the power grid.
A space-based solar power station in orbit is illuminated by the Sun 24 hours a day and could therefore generate electricity continuously. This represents an advantage over terrestrial solar power systems (systems on Earth), which can produce electricity only during the day and depend on the weather.
With global energy demand projected to increase by nearly 50% by 2050, space-based solar power could be key to helping meet the growing demand on the world’s energy sector and tackling global temperature rise.
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Space-Based Solar Power May Be Closer Than You Think
The vision sounds far-fetched: If a kilometer-scale satellite could be outfitted with a hybrid array of photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power (CSP) panels and launched into orbit 22,400 miles above Earth, it could continuously harvest 3.4 GW of solar power and beam it down to Earth via microwave radiation for grid consumption, potentially delivering 2 GW of dispatch able and base-load power. But according to a “whole systems” set of detailed engineering and economic feasibility studies conducted by systems, engineering, and technology-oriented Frazer-Nash Consultancy for the UK government, this concept of a typical space-based solar power (SBSP) system is both technically and economically feasible—and it can be achieved within the next 18 years.
While still at an early stage of technical maturity, SBSP systems research and development has progressed steadily since the 1970 s, spearheaded by several government space programs, including in the U.S., Japan, China, South Korea, and the European Union. And while it has existed for more than a century—it derives from Nicolas Tesla’s grand vision for wireless power transfer ( W P T )—the world’s white-knuckle fight against climate change in the context of energy security, affordability, and scalability is making SBSP an extraordinarily attractive pursuit, noted Martin Soltau, lead of Frazer-Nash’s Space business, and a lead developer of the report for the UK government.
UK Actively Exploring Space-Based Solar Power Systems
“It can provide baseload power but it can also provide this dispatchable power,” said Soltau, who notably also co-chairs the Space Energy Initiative, a UK-based alliance of research and commercial energy, space, materials, and manufacturing entities that are dedicated to space power delivery by 2050. “But then it’s got these other real exciting advantages,” Soltau told POWER at the end of September as the UK’s Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) endorsed the SBSP feasibility studies. “It doesn’t produce waste, it doesn’t have problems with fuel supply, it’s very environmentally clean, and the carbon payback is very short,” he said.
Also notable is that SBSP’s “extra-terrestrial” footprint—which essentially only requires a receiving antenna and a conversion facility—is also “much smaller, only a third of the size compared to terrestrial solar, and only about 3% of the size of an equivalent wind farm,” Soltau said. As uniquely, “it is possible to beam energy to other parts of the world,” opening up new international collaboration to net-zero, potentially helping developing nations to decarbonize, and even shaking up traditional power markets.
The Fraser-Nash Consultancy study is especially significant because it represents one of the world’s first “whole system” space power-based independent assessments. The UK’s interest in space power stems from an economic opportunity to establish a foothold in rapidly burgeoning civil and defense space activities around the world, essentially boosting private investment, and capitalize on its unique engineering and manufacturing strengths, like satellite manufacturing. But Sol tau said the study, which stems from a government-sponsored innovation “competition,” could also offer international insight through its stakeholder-reviewed findings, which were gleaned over a six-month period and encapsulated two phases: one focused on technical opportunities and challenges, and the other on costs
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