Space Solar Power To Other Renewables: Hold My Beer

The idea of beaming solar power down to Earth from satellites seemed like a nutty scheme when it first surfaced about 15 years ago, but the science behind space solar is sound and a team of Caltech researchers is ready to prove it so. Earlier this week they launched a test prototype into space and they are eagerly awaiting the results.

Why Space Solar Power?

The space solar race hit the CleanTechnica radar back in 2014, when we noted that the US Navy had been exploring the field.

“One key advantage of generating solar power from space is the idea that it can be transmitted to remote locations where transmission lines would be difficult or impossible to build,” we observed. “Once the pieces of the technology puzzle are put together, getting space solar power to your location would be as easy as setting up a portable receiver, making it the ideal mobile power source for the US Marine Corps as well as ships at sea.”

The very next year Northrup Grumman got into the act and set up the Space Solar Power Initiative in a partnership with the California Institute of Technology. “To ice the cake, a network of space-based solar arrays would provide a steady stream of solar power day and night, regardless of weather on Earth, reducing the need for expensive energy storage facilities,” CleanTechnica noted.

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