Refusing to cave to the “that’s far too crazy to ever work” crowd, Japan took a step forward this week in the country’s scheme to develop a giant solar power station in Earth orbit. JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, selected major Japanese firms like Mitsubishi Electric, Fujitsu, and Sharp to help develop the gargantuan project.
JAXA wants a system that can produce 1 gigawatt of electricity by 2030, and at one-sixth the cost Japan currently pays for electricity. The solar cells would capture the solar energy, which is at least five times stronger in space than on Earth, and beam it down to the ground through clusters of lasers or microwaves. These would be collected by gigantic parabolic antennae, likely to be located in restricted areas at sea or on dam reservoirs [AFP]. There the energy would be converted to electricity.
Japan isn’t alone; California utility Pacific Gas & Electric asked for regulatory approval of a similar project in April, though both schemes must confront a mountain of challenges. Sending equipment up to space is one. Operating and maintaining the system cost effectively is another. How about minimizing losses during conversion and transmission of energy [Greentech Media]?
And even if space solar power works, proponents might need to hire some talented public relations professionals: JAXA said the technology would be safe but conceded it might have to dispel fears of laser beams from above roasting birds or slicing up aircraft in mid-air [Sky News].
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November 9th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
It looks like Japan has an efficient solution for conversion and beaming solar energy from space to Earth.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
I wonder how they plan to protect it from space debris?
November 10th, 2009 at 5:41 am
@Wesley – probably the same way everything else is – monitoring what we can, moving out of the way when possible and hoping nothing bad happens ;)
November 10th, 2009 at 10:23 am
How will they transmit the power back to earth? If by microwave, they better have foolproof aim, lest they miss their target and end up frying some people.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:03 am
What are they going to do about eclipses? Are they going to locate it at near the Sun-earth L1 position and beam it via Earth-moon L4 or L5 positions and then on to a geostationary satellite? (I said “near the L1″ since L1 and 2 or the others are unstable.)
November 10th, 2009 at 11:55 am
It might take some experimenting and it will have its fair share of problems, but fair play to them for trying. Who knows what other breakthroughs we’ll make because of this? Plus if we can start to harness the sun directly from space then we have a brilliant source of energy!
As Richard said though, getting the power back to Earth is a bit worrying.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Maybe they could use the microwaves to charcoal some organic trash; charcoal is the best soil conditioner there is.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Bansai!
November 10th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Sure it’s cool and all, and anything is great that moves us away from all the soot and gas producing energy sources, but we have so many deserts that are perfect for solar farms, all nations should utilize those to capture power before we add more junk to space….it will wear out and become more junk one day….
How about all high rises have wind turbines and solar collectors on them..turbines that spin in rivers and in the ocean, taking advantage of tides and waves. It’s insulting that every house in the developed world does not have a working wind energy capturing device on its roof. We could have had these technologies in place and working long ago.
We sometimes seem to shoot “too high” – perhpas to outdo or impress other nations, when easier and cheaper solutions are right in front of us, in our backyards, on our roofs, etc.
November 10th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Correct me if I am wrong, wouldn’t the net effect of capturing extra energy from the sun translate into increased heat generation when the energy is used on earth. This would add to the heat load and potentially increase global temperatures.
The same could be said for solar collectors in desert regions since a significant amount of the sun’s energy hiting the desert is reflected back into space. Capturing that energy increases the heat load on the planet.
November 10th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Is the net result always similar regarding alternative means of production?
For example:
Which uses more water; washing my hands the normal way, or manufacturing and using hand sanitizer, both of which require water?
How much energy will be burned in the form of fossil fuels trying to get the solar collector into orbit, as opposed to just producing the energy on Earth?
Maybe someone will read this:
Please advocate single stream recycling and classified waste disposal!
Why are we putting all of our trash in the same place when it could easily be separated?
Why not start with the simple stuff then we can worry about putting giant solar cells into orbit?
November 10th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
i think that the japanese are on the cutting edge of thinking outside the box. we have to think in untraditional ways to solve energy problems of the future. all life on this planet uses the power of the sun in some fashion ie: photosynthesis, to sustain life. we should be looking at solar power for a clean way to solve energy demands. we should be considering a multinational effort to set up photocells on the moon to direct energy back to earth. the waves can be directed at recipient dishes located in the polar regions, and redistributed to lessen environmental impacts.
November 10th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Who was that gentleman in the 1970’s, he had the idea of putting up space stations to collect solar power on a mass scale? The whole idea was a bit utopian; make energy so cheap it was almost free, then the whole world changes for the better.
Anyhow this proposal sounds much like that earlier idea. Although I’m guessing that the JAXA system is unmanned and likely very much a for-profit arrangement. They’ve probably lost the utopian ideology too.
Still it’s interesting that this idea may have legs after all.
November 11th, 2009 at 3:48 am
I wonder how they plan to protect it from space debris?
November 11th, 2009 at 3:56 am
>How about all high rises have wind turbines and solar collectors on
>them..turbines that >spin in rivers and in the ocean, taking
>advantage of tides and waves. It’s insulting that every house
>in the developed world does not have a working wind energy
>capturing device on its roof. We could have had these
>technologies in place and working long ago.
>We sometimes seem to shoot “too high” – perhpas to outdo or impress other nations, when >easier and cheaper solutions are right in front of us, in our backyards, on our roofs, etc.
Those methods aren’t cheaper than 1/6 th of the current energy costs. Miniature wind turbines might actually take more energy to manufacture than they produce in their lifetime because their position is often far from optimum.
November 11th, 2009 at 4:39 am
Beam energy could work but not the way that the Japanese want to do it, way too expensive and to much mass to carry into orbit. Beam the energy from earth bounce it off a reflector back down to the customer.
Imagine what all that money for the pipeline from nowhere could do, the 40 billion dollar Alaska 5,000 mile long pipeline, it could build hundreds of reflectors in space.
Process the energy at the source and beam it to the customer. Pipelines loose over 13 percent of the gas they pipe, natural gas is 23 times more heat absorbing than CO2 therefore 23 times more dangerous global warming gas…..
See Beamed energy here:
http://shineinnovations.com/6112.html
November 11th, 2009 at 5:20 am
Would make a neat weapon if Japan fealt threatened. .
November 11th, 2009 at 10:10 am
The article says that the sun light is about 5 times stronger in space from a solar collector perspective. And while the cost of a program is not really discussed here, I would have to guess that generating power in this manner is going to be prohibitively expensive (as opposed to land based solar collection). I think this idea is great for when we finally develop colonies on the moon, but I can’t really see this approach displacing earth based energy collection methods due to the cost and potential complications.
November 11th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Jarkko – maybe you are right, but I would think/hope that scientist could figure it out and make it work. Maybe if our trillions of $ did not go to fund wars and could be used for research and development they could make it worth while. If we can use crazy math to describe parallel universes, worm holes and build complex probes that fly to Pluto, I think someone can figure out a decent wind power device for a roof of an average house. If we can’t then we are not as smart as we think we are and are doomed to be covered in coal soot and space trash.