2009-11-03

Space-Based Solar Power

clipped from www.popsci.com


Japan Wants to Power 300,000 Homes With Wireless Energy From Space


Japan's Wireless, Power-Generating, Solar Satellite
Inhabitat

Japan has serious plans to send a solar-panel-equipped satellite into space that could wirelessly beam a gigawatt-strong stream of power down to earth and power nearly 300,000 homes.

A Step Closer to Solar Power in Space

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and IHI Corporation are undertaking an ambitious project of $ 21bn. They are aspiring to design and develop a Space-based solar farm that would generate 1GW of power. This will require an area of four square kilometer consisting of rows of solar panels. This space solar farm will be housed 36,000km above the surface of the earth.
clipped from www.youtube.com
clipped from www.bloomberg.com
Bloomberg
Mitsubishi, IHI to Join $21 Bln Space Solar Project (Update1)


A research group representing 16 companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., will spend four years developing technology to send electricity without cables in the form of microwaves, according to a statement on the trade ministry’s Web site today.
MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC Changes for the Better
Space Systems
Replicating Space on Earth

Mitsubishi Electric's space technology includes the manufacture and implementation of satellites, satellite components, and ground systems. Over the past four decades, we have completed more than 330 satellite projects for communications concerns, government agencies, and other large-scale clients that make us the leading company of space systems in Japan.
clipped from www.treehugger.com
space-based solar power image

While the project might sound like science-fiction now, it likely that the landscape will be more favorable in 30 years (strict carbon emissions caps will make clean energy more cost-competitive, for example).

space based solar power photo

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Sources:
  1. Japan Wants to Power 300,000 Homes With Wireless Energy From Space | Popular Science
  2. A Step Closer to Solar Power in Space
  3. YouTube - Space Based Solar Power
  4. Mitsubishi, IHI to Join $21 Bln Space Solar Project (Update1) - Bloomberg.com
  5. Space Systems - MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC
  6. Japan's Moonshot? $21 Billion Invested in Space-Based Solar Power : TreeHugger
Related:
  1. Solar Power Farms In Space - A Step Closer : Renewable Energy News
  2. Mitsubishi Electric Corp. To Install A Huge Solar Farm In Space - Green Diary
  3. Stock Watch | RCR Wireless News
  4. ISAS | Institute of Space and Astronautical Science
  5. Wireless energy transfer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia