PG&E announced that they will be placing solar panels in space and beam the energy down to Earth. by 2016. The west coast energy giant is committed to bring renewable energy to its customers, and has embraced a wide array of technology, such as geothermal, wind, biomass, tidal, wave and solar.
The company is now seeking the approval from the state to allow them to enter into an agreement with Solaren Corp. The contract is to deliver 200 megawatts over the next 15 years. Solaren Corp’s plan is to generate energy by sending solar panels into space and to converting it radio frequency energy that will be received by a station in Fresno Country. Then the radio frequency energy will be converted back to electricity and will be fed back to the main power grid.
It is said that solar power in orbit is eight to ten times stronger than on the earth’s surface. Plus, factors such as cloud interference and bad weather are non-existent in space. Solar power can be harvested at any time by a satellite. That would translate into more solar energy, which can then be used by the consumers.
Another advantage Solaren has with their plan is that they don’t need to purchase acres of land for their solar arrays. The only real estate they need is for the receiving station. This can be built near the existing transmission lines, which reduce the delays that other renewable power projects are facing. While their idea makes a lot of sense, making it into a reality can cost a fortune. But Solaren promises that they can make it affordable.
Solaren CEO Gary Spirnak has this to say about the project:
While a system of this scale and exact configuration has not been built, the underlying technology is very mature and is based on communications satellite technology. For over 45 years, satellites have collected solar energy in Earth orbit via solar cells, and converted it to radio-frequency energy for transmissions to Earth-receive stations.
This is one project that can be a giant leap for solar energy. Once implemented, it can produce around 800 gigawatt-hours of electricity in its first year and 1,700 gigawatt-hours for the following years. More than 250,000 houses will benefit from this project. Hopefully the state regulators find nothing anomalous with the contracts.
For more information regarding the contract, you can check out this article in Next 100.
Tags: Light up Earth, solar panels, Solar Panels in Space
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Source Article: Solar Panels in Space to Light Up the Earth
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