China has unveiled its most innovative solar power plan ever and it’s so ambitious that it’s caught the attention of renewable energy researchers all over the world. The project involves planting a 0.6-mile-wide solar array 22,400 miles away from the Earth that will function as an entire space station. The technology involves the use of microwaves to beam constant energy to Earth to convert into electricity and the efficiency is expected to be 10 times greater than what’s able to be achieved down here.
China has an ambitious plan to deploy a solar array 22,400 miles away in space
China is known as a heavy-hitter in the world of solar power generation, but its latest plan to install a giant array in space is far beyond anything researchers have envisioned before. The structure will be 0.6 miles wide, which is around the size of 10 football fields, including endzones.
The components of the platform will be carried 22,400 miles away from Earth piece by piece using China’s new heavy-lift rockets, which appear to be ideal for the job, and then assembled in space to form an entire station.
The nighttime limitations of solar panels on Earth will be overcome
The solar array is expected to be 10 times more efficient than land-based installations in terms of converting sunlight into electrical energy because of its location far above the Earth. It will also be able to harvest energy every second due to not being carried into shadow with the rotation of the Earth. This is one of the most significant benefits of the system, as the inability of solar panels to function at night or under cloud cover is the biggest limitation of solar electricity.
in more news about solar developments in Asia, Japan has unveiled what’s being described as the world’s first solar super-panel. The country is reportedly going to develop the technology until the equivalent power of 20 nuclear reactors is being generated and added to the grid.
There are still hurdles to overcome before solar power can be beamed from space
Despite recent advancements in lowering the costs and raising the efficiency of space-based solar power generation systems, there are two significant limitations to be worked out before China can start microwaving solar energy to Earth.
- Moisture: The presence of moisture in the atmosphere and in the clouds will absorb a lot of the microwave energy before it can be received on the ground.
- Rocket power: It would require many launches using heavy-duty rockets to transport the components needed to build such a sizeable space station.
The moisture issue is complex and not much is being reported about how its effects are going to be mitigated, but the rocket challenge is close to being solved. Chinese researchers are working on Long March-9 (CZ 9) reusable heavy-lift rockets with a capacity of a minimum of 150 tons. These models are capable of serving several purposes aside from assisting satellites, including being eyed for China’s mission to the moon to build a lunar research base by 2035.
Will all regions of the world benefit from solar power sent from space?
There are political factors to consider when looking at the context of China’s plan to beam large-scale solar energy from space. The question is, would China share its renewable energy with the world? If yes, at what price?
Another serious question is, what security could be provided in space to stop powers with shady political or terrorist intentions from hijacking a massive installation 22,400 miles away from Earth and holding a large portion of the world’s energy for ransom?
There are also safety and environmental concerns. It would take a lot of complex work to protect people, fauna, and flora from being accidentally caught in the way of powerful beams of microwave energy being focused from above.
In an ideal world, all nations would invest and share in space-based solar installations and reap the benefits of renewable energy as a collective species rather than using it to pull power moves. It remains to be seen whether China’s giant solar station in the sky will get off the ground, literally, but if it does, the implications are far-reaching.
China is working on another major project called the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST), or the “artificial sun,” a nuclear fusion reactor with huge implications for energy generation. The research team just broke a record for the longest sustained, stable, high-containment plasma.