How to get solar power from space

BY: ANCA GURZU

Imagine you wake up and it’s raining outside. Your rooftop solar panels won’t be much help today. But you flick your lights on and start the coffee anyway, knowing the electricity reaching you through the grid is still powered by the sun — except via solar panels out in space.

That’s the promise of space-based solar power: low-carbon, flexible and reliable electricity that could provide clean power even when the sun is not shining on Earth. It would act as a backup power source, like batteries, fossil fuel or nuclear plants, while also complementing existing clean energy sources in an energy-hungry world.

The idea of powering the planet with energy from space is revolutionary and intriguing. Until recently, it seemed unfeasible.

Now, though, with the increasing impacts of climate change, growing energy demand and a rapidly developing space industry, various international efforts are emerging to make the concept, once confined to science fiction storylines, a reality.

Check out Anca’s two-part series on space-based solar power! Full stories can be found here and here.

Highlights:

Changing math and international interest

Space-based solar is a “disruptive technology on the cusp of being commercialized,” said Martin Soltau, co-CEO of Space Solar, a leading company in the field backed by the British government. It’s “really going to provide that global-scale clean energy we need,” he said.

The concept of sending solar power to Earth from space has been around for decades. But researchers have consistently found it was just too expensive.

Those calculations are looking completely different today, proponents say.

The cost of launching a rocket and the cost of making the necessary equipment have gone down by 99% over the last five to 10 years, said former NASA physicist John Mankins, known as the godfather of space solar power due to his nearly three decades of work in the field.

Not everyone is convinced, however.

While NASA doesn’t actively work in this field, earlier this year the agency released an assessment that found space-based solar designs “may have lifecycle costs per unit of electricity that are 12-80 times higher” than terrestrial solar systems.

Several countries, including Japan and China, are pushing ahead with plans for space solar demonstrations in the coming years. Space Solar is planning to commission the first commercial solar power satellite within the next six years.

How it would work

Accessing those constant sun rays would involve sending a large satellite into space to about 22,000 miles above Earth — a distance known as the geostationary orbit where the satellite moves at the same speed as Earth, appearing fixed from the ground — and then attaching tens of thousands of solar panels to it.

The panels would capture power from the sun that would be converted into microwaves. Those microwaves would then be beamed back down to a receiving antenna — or 'rectenna' — on Earth and reconverted into electricity.

Artistic rendering of Space Solar's concept, CASSIOPeiA, beaming energy back to Earth in the form of microwaves. Image credit: Space Solar.

A space power plant as large as Space Solar’s proposed plant, which would be one mile in diameter, would require about 100 launches of materials from Earth and would have to be assembled in orbit using robots controlled remotely, which has never been done before.

The rectenna would be a wire mesh, similar to a giant flat soccer net stretching over about eight miles, made up of hundreds of millions of receptors similar to the ones in our mobile phones that receive radio signals, said Sanjay Vijendran, who leads the space solar program at the European Space Agency (ESA), on a recent podcast.

“You have to build this billion-euro thing in space and a billion-euro thing on land at the same time, and they have to be ready at the same time,” said David Ferguson, head of net zero innovation at EDF U.K., a subsidiary of the Paris-based energy company EDF Group. “On paper, it looks amazing. But it's not ready today.”

Read part one here and part two here.

Lunchtime Reads and Hot Takes

At the presidential debate, fossil fuels and energy politics took center stage — Grist
Amena’s take: When asked about action on climate change, Harris talked about the Biden administration’s accomplishments in energy jobs and manufacturing. Former President Trump sidestepped the question, focusing instead on electric vehicle manufacturing. Earlier in the debate, Harris also emphasized she would not ban fracking and supported “diverse sources of energy.”

Shocked by Extreme Storms, a Maine Fishing Town Fights to Save Its Waterfront — The New York Times
Cat’s take: Key quote: “That storm surge in January — we never thought it could happen here,” said Travis Fifield, a lobsterman in Stonington. “When you’re smacked in the face with it, it’s hard to deny.”

EV Leases Go as Low as $20 a Month to Help Dealers Clear Their Lots — Bloomberg
Bill’s take: Leasing is a way to take advantage of EV subsidies that aren’t available to buyers. The trend underscores there’s underlying demand for EVs at the right price, which few EV makers manage to meet.

Draghi Says EU Itself at Risk Without More Funds, Joint Debt — Bloomberg
Anca’s take: Draghi's much-awaited competitiveness report (over 300 pages long) was the talk of the town Monday in Brussels. He said the EU needs to work to create the next generation of technology champions.

White House Races to Lend Billions in Climate Funds Before Election — The Wall Street Journal
Amy’s take: The unique graphics help tell this complex story. Worth emphasizing: This office mostly sat dormant under then-President Trump.

These bakers want to make your bread tastier — with climate-resilient wheat — NPR
Amena’s take: Truly amazing, as swapping whole wheat for refined white flour would reduce 20% of environmental impacts of growing and processing wheat. I am curious, though, how this blend would fare in arid and semi-arid regions of the world.

EPA proposes first-of-a-kind CO2 storage permits in Texas — E&E News (subscription)
Cat’s take: The storage wells would be able to store 722,000 metric tons of CO2 per year and will store CO2 pulled from the air with Occidental's direct air capture facility called Stratos.

More cleantech companies fail as fundraising challenges emerge — Financial Times (subscription)
Bill’s take: The sector has seen an explosion of innovation in recent years, but its persistent funding problem — the need for patient funding in an industry focused on big short-term returns — hasn’t been solved.

A $20M federal grant will help provide reliable electric power to 900 Hopi homes — AZ Central
Amena’s take: One of 34 recipients of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's climate pollution reduction grants, the Hopi Tribe is among many on this list that will benefit from clean and reliable energy.

US approves offshore wind project off Maryland coast — Reuters
Cat’s take: This project brings the U.S. halfway to its goal of building 30 gigawatts of wind power by 2030. "We never thought this exercise would be easy or smooth sailing," a government official said.

More of what we're reading:

DOE Report Finds More Than 60 Gigawatts of New Nuclear Capacity Could Be Built at Existing Nuclear Power Plants — U.S. Energy Department
California’s Crushing Power Bills Challenge Its Climate Goals — Bloomberg
This IRA Program Spawned 50,000 Solar Projects In Low-Income Communities. Who Benefited? — Heatmap (subscription)
G20 countries turning backs on fossil fuel pledge, say campaigners — The Guardian

We denote ‘(subscription)’ when publications don’t provide any complimentary articles, but many others may ultimately allow you to read only a limited number each month before subscribing. We encourage those who can afford it to support the journalism you love most!

DATA DIVE

Very big batteries are coming to a grid near you

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration • Data for 2024 goes through July. Annual data are end-of-year operational nameplate capacities at installations with at least 1 megawatt of nameplate power capacity.

BY: BILL SPINDLE

Large batteries are rapidly connecting to the power grid in the United States as costs fall and the need to store electricity soars, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Through July of this year, grids in the U.S. added five gigawatts of battery capacity, 10 times the amount added in 2020 when installations began to gain momentum, the EIA said. The country has 20.7 gigawatts of battery capacity as of this summer.

California and Texas lead the country in battery installations.

The batteries are critical to stabilizing power grids as wind and, particularly, solar energy provide a growing share of power generation. As winds blow stronger and weaker over the course of a day and the sun ducks in and out of clouds and disappears at night, power grids must adjust quickly to surges and drop-offs in the power coming from these variable renewable sources.

Large batteries, defined as capable of storing at least one megawatt of electricity, are adept at evening out the grid. Increasingly, they are also being used to soak up wind and solar power when it is available, then dispense it later — after dark, when electricity demand often picks up in homes after work as people switch on air conditioners and other appliances, or during longer wind droughts.

The trend is expected to gain momentum. Currently, most power utilities use lithium-ion batteries, similar to the batteries in smartphones and electric vehicles. New battery chemistries using, for example, plentiful and cheap sodium and designed specifically to pair with large-scale utility renewable energy are coming onto the market.

AND FINALLY...
Canal boat solar

Cipher's associate editor Jillian Mock snapped this photo while on a run along Regent's Canal in London. The canal boats are outfitted with solar panels on their roofs; it would be interesting to know if they have battery storage systems on board as well!

Each week, we feature a photo that is somehow related to energy, the thing we all need but don’t notice until it’s expensive or gone. Email your ideas and photos to news@ciphernews.com.

Editor’s note: In addition to supporting Cipher, Breakthrough Energy also supports and partners with a range of entities working to tackle climate change, including nonprofits, corporations, startups and research firms. For more information on Cipher’s editorial policy, click here.

How to get solar power from space

Very big batteries are coming to a grid near you

AND FINALLY...Canal boat solar

AND FINALLY...
Canal boat solar