whether it covers Deserts, ugly parking lots, canals, or even sunny lakes with solar panels have clouds sometimes getting in the way and the sun has to set every day. Just put a solar array in space.
The agency recently announced a new exploratory program called Solaris. It aims to determine whether it is technically and economically feasible to launch solar structures into orbit and use them to harness the power of the sun and transmit energy to the ground.
If this concept comes to fruition, by some point in the 2030s, Solaris could start offering always-on, space-based solar power. Ultimately, it could account for 10-15% of Europe’s energy use and contribute to the EU’s goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. What more can space do to mitigate climate change beyond just monitoring from above, as we have been doing for decades?” asks Sanjay Vijendran, who plays the role of
According to Vijendran, the main driver for Solaris is the need for a continuous source of clean energy. Unlike fossil fuels and nuclear power, solar and wind power is intermittent. Even the sunniest solar power plants sit idle most of the time. Until battery technology improves, it will be impossible to store large amounts of energy from renewable sources. However, according to Vijendran, the efficiency of a space solar array he could be over 90%. (The remaining 10 percent or so of his time, the Earth is directly between the Sun and the array, blocking light.)
Unrelated to Stanislaw Lem’s sci-fi novel of the same name, the program is considered “preliminary”, meaning that ESA has already completed pilot studies, but is not yet ready for full-scale development. not in order. An orbital demonstration of this technology should be designed and launched in 2030, with a smaller version of the space solar power plant in the mid-2030s, and then dramatically scaled up. For now, ESA researchers start by investigating what it takes to robotically assemble modules of a large solar array, say, in geostationary orbit at an altitude of about 22,000 miles. In this way, the structure remains continuously above a particular point on the ground regardless of the rotation of the earth.
To move forward with the project, Vijendran and his team must determine that achieving space-based solar in a cost-effective manner by 2025 is indeed possible. NASA and the Department of Energy considered the concept in his 1970s and his 80s, but set it aside due to cost and technical challenges. Still, a lot has changed since then. Launch costs have fallen, largely thanks to reusable rockets. Satellites have become cheap to mass produce. And the lower cost of solar power, which converts sunlight into electricity, makes orbital solar power more competitive with terrestrial energy sources.
