THE company behind behind a landmark orbital solar farm has reached a key milestone in its mission to power homes with limitless green energy from space.
Space Solar has managed to light up an LED sign of its name by beaming power through the air in a special anechoic chamber at Queen’s University, Belfast.
The ability to beam power through air alone marks a big step forward for the company.
Space Solar wants to commission a 2,000 ton power station in space – which would be the first of its kind, and power more than a million homes by the 2030s.
This is really going to have a substantial impact on our future energy systems.
Martin Soltau, Space Solar founder
The Oxfordshire-based company wants to harvest constant sunlight, closer to the source.
This way, it can collect solar energy outside of cloud cover, which can block light and damage power production on Earth.
That’s why solar panels capture roughly 13 times more energy in space than they do on the ground.
“This is a world first. You can get constant energy all the time,” Martin Soltau, the company’s founder, told Sky News.
“This is really going to have a substantial impact on our future energy systems.”
While some energy will inevitably be lost on the journey back to Earth, it still bests ground-level solar generation.
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The system, once set up, will also help cut the reliance the grid has on nuclear energy and gas turbines.
Which, in turn, would reduce the amount of radioactive waste and carbon dioxide produced.
And according to Mr Solatau, it will even save households money on their energy bills.
“This is this is why the government is so excited by the prospect of space-based solar power,” Mr Soltau added.
“Not only is it very, capable in that it’s helping to make the whole energy system work more effectively.
“But the cost (of electricity) is about quarter of that from nuclear.”
The company isn’t alone in wanting to take energy production off-Earth.
Rolls-Royce tabled plans several years ago for a nuclear reactor on the Moon, which is hopes will help power permanent living bases on the lunar surface by 2030.
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