California gives green light for space-based solar
California regulators on Thursday approved an ambitious project to beam solar energy from space starting in 2016.
Under a power purchase agreement approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, utility Pacific Gas & Electric will purchase electricity from technology provider Solaren if it successfully deploys its space-based solar collectors, which would be the first of its kind.
PG&E has contracted to buy 1,700 gigawatt hours per year for 15 years from Solar for its space-based solar arrays, which will have a generating capacity of 200 megawatts. That's smaller than a full scale nuclear or natural gas plant but enough to supply thousands of homes. The anticipated date of operation is June, 2016.
(Credit:
PG&E)
Space-based solar, an idea that has been around for decades, is being pursued by companies and researchers around the world. Its key advantage over land-based solar or wind power is that can generate renewable energy around the clock. The California Public Utilities Commission gave the go-ahead to the project in an effort to meet the state's aggressive renewable energy goals.
Solaren's plan calls for using satellites equipped with solar photovoltaic panels and mirrors to generate electricity, which is transmitted via microwaves to a ground receiver station in Fresno County, Calif. The receiver then converts the radio frequency energy to electricity and it is fed into the power grid.
Based in Southern California, Solaren is run by veterans from aerospace companies. Engineers have designed a relatively lightweight system around a Mylar mirror that's 1 kilometer in diameter to concentrate light onto the solar panels to squeeze more electricity from them, according to an article in Grist.
A PG&E representative on Thursday said that the utility will only pay Solaren if it delivers the power. The cost of the electricity is competitive with land-based renewable energy sources, he added.
"If this works, it would be a real game changer. But for our customers, there's really no or little risk, so it's worth supporting something that has credible people behind it with years of experience who think they can make it work," said Jonathan Marshall from PG&E.
When announcing the PG&E deal in April, Solaren CEO Gary Spirnak said the company plans to run pilot tests before an actual launch, drawing on company employees' experience in aerospace.
"Once in geosynchronous orbit, a series of SSP (space solar power) pilot plant system tests will validate the satellites and ground receive station functions and verify performance, safety and key parameters to ensure successful operations. When we complete these steps, we will then be ready to deliver power to PG&E in 2016," Sprinak said.
Martin LaMonica is a senior writer for CNET's Green Tech blog. He started at CNET News in 2002, covering IT and Web development. Before that, he was executive editor at IT publication InfoWorld. E-mail Martin. 
Yikes!! :)
Bob
www.energyidealist.com
"Every time we have dealings with Star Fleet I get nervous. We are dealing with something here that can be perverted into a dreadful weapon."
Not hard to imagine this being used to vaporize people, things. Everytime your lights blink, you know somebody just got fried.
This sounds like a really good idea until something goes wrong and then it's going to be a big smoking mess.
What is wrong with putting lots of solar panels on earth. We have a free clean (beautiful) nuclear reactor already in space - the sun! We need to capture only about 1% of its energy that reaches the surface of the earth to power humanity.
Stop building weapons - start building solar panels.
And the new thin film plastic panels are down to around 30 cents / watt, for the first time cheaper than fossil fueled energy.
There is a revolution coming to energy - solar panels - lots of them!
Cheers,
Geoff
http://www.spaceandmotion.com/evolution-ecology-nature-culture-society.htm
Maybe because "Its key advantage over land-based solar or wind power is that can generate renewable energy around the clock."
2) Rooftops, waves etc. are part of the earth's surface (if the panels are mounted/floating etc. on them) and hence do not affect the percentage of sunlight hitting the earth's surface. The cloud part is very valid though.
3) The article mentions the satellites as being geosynchronous implying that they would also be subject to the daily solar cycle of sunrise/day/sunset/night. Can't see how they would be generating electricity 24/7 then.
In Brief.
1. It is a matter of quantum mechanics. Atoms and Molecules only absorb wavelengths that excite characteristic atomic shell, vibrational or rotational changes in energy. Wavelength that do not excite one of these modes are not absorbed.
The wavelength used for power transmission is NOT the same that is used in Microwave ovens, it has been chosen specifically because it does not interact with water or carbon bonds. It passes right through biologics just as incrediably energetic cosmic rays do, because the energy is not the right wavelength to be absorbed. It interacts only with certain materials and those are what the receiver is made of. Transmission trials via a collimated beam centered by a phase locked loop were held in the Antelope Valley during the Carter Administration and they were successful.
Barry Commoner wrote a disinformation peice warning about a sweeping microwave path of destruction if something went wrong, but that was BS. If the system looses lock, the beam disburses in all directions and the power density goes from gigawatts per meter when it is focused to miliwatts when focus is lost and the energy is disbursed over thousands of square miles.
Reagan killed the program by convening a National Research Council and assuming only silicon PV cells could be used, ( not the copper iridium cells that were developed for the program), that they would be 10 times as heavy as they were, that the Sattlite structure would then have to be 10 times as heavy, that the efficiency would degrade rapidly from 12 to 5 %, and that a significant part of the sattilite's power would have to be used to re-anneal the silicon solar cells to restore their efficiency. Then they derated everything all over again to get the numbers they wanted and make it appear that it required more energy to put into orbit than it would yield over the life of the satellites.
While Californians are complaining about global warming, and the whole world worrying about excess heat, why the heck would we want to beam extra energy back to earth where it would end up as heat?
Solutions have been presented to reflect the radiant energy to cool the planet, and here we are trying to cook us up with microwaves.
Since Californians support the global warming or global climatic change theory, the reason for proposing a microwave beam from outer space is only for weaponry and not for serious energy source.
They wanted a weaponry funding in the guise of energy production and would be funded by the taxpayers money to test such weaponry, and not counted as a defense budget.
Unless they're planning on running a 22,000 extension cord up to geostationary orbit, even designing a space power satellite is a waste of time and money (not for the engineers who get paid to build it , of course... which is the whole point here)
Wireless power transmission has NEVER been proven energy efficient over anything more that 1 mile... END OF STORY. If these guys were presenting proof of concept results of a successful long range wireless test BEFORE signing up to supply imaginary energy, they might have some credibility, but they aren't.
These Space Power companies play of the ignorance and gullibility of the press and public. There are strict laws of physics that these guys are ignoring (Inverse square law for one), they might as well be trying to sell cold fusion!
Look up what happens if you run a current through heavy water and palladium wafers. :)
http://lenr-canr.org
tech_crazy wrote that cold is not practical. This is true, but significant progress has been made and it might soon be practical. For details. see the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) review featured on the main page at LENR-CANR.org, or read the proceedings of the recent conference on cold fusion in Italy. Note that this conference was sponsored by the ENEA (the Italian DoE), the Italian Physical Society, Chemical Society and National Research Council. These people, and the experts at the DIA and U.S. Navy know much more about cold fusion than you do.
I'm always amazed at how some people think they know more about certain subjects than the experts who have spent their entire lives researching and engineering the topic. Is this an effort to make yourself feel better that you are not as educated as these scientists and engineers? That you are jealous you cannot contribute to society in such a meaningful way?
For good research, hit up your closest university's library. Check out some academic journals, plop down in a comfortable chair and dig in.
"Microwaves -- don't they use microwaves to cook popcorn." - And admirable attempt at a comparison, but a human head is not the same as a kernel of popcorn.
"Solutions have been presented to reflect the radiant energy to cool the planet, and here we are trying to cook us up with microwaves." - California is not attempting to vaporize terrorists, the energy would end up as electricity, and do you really think the energy would be beamed directly to your house? Is there a ground receiver station located on your roof?
"Everytime your lights blink, you know somebody just got fried." - That type of paranoia will earn you a one-way trip to a mental institution.
"Wireless power transmission has NEVER been proven energy efficient over anything more that 1 mile... END OF STORY." - It is not "end of story" just because you say so. For just one reference, refer to the following link. Check academic sources for more:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast23mar_1.htm
/endrant
Geo Sync is the only way, otherwise the beam would be moving across the planet. Say they can confine the beam to a limited area with out leakage. I still want to see one of your academic sources detail what happens to anything that is going to move thru this high energy beam.
By the way, the DoD has a high energy microwave device to use in crowd dispersal as a non-lethal weapon.
The people building these things are experienced, knowledgeably engineers, not idiots who would risk "frying" people.
Also, by the way, the scientist who replicated cold fusion are also experienced and knowledgeable, and there is no chance they are all wrong. Results that have been replicated thousands of times at high signal to noise ratios in hundreds of labs are real, by definition. There is no other standard of truth in experimental science.
People should do their homework and read legitimate, mainstream sources of technical information before spouting off about things like this. Many excellent books and publications describing space-based microwave systems have been published.
I don't think technology is there.
This sounds like a ploy to get VC funding... yet another absolutely ridiculous project which is likely to vanish into thin air in a couple years (including the directors along with all the investors capital).
Good Luck.
There are various scientific journals that prove that they are not safe, particularly when exposed over a long period of time. So when I talk about tumours, I'm not saying that you will get one after being exposed for a few seconds, I'm talking about long term exposure.
Interference to electrical devices, on the other hand, will be almost instantaneous after being subjected to Microwave radiation.
So lets split the biological effects and the effects on electronic circuits. Both needs to be addressed... along with the atmospheric effects on a concentrated microwave signal.
- by gggg sssss December 7, 2009 3:53 PM PST
- There was a james bond movie about this. Those guys need to stay away from blockbuster.
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- by Haasbat December 9, 2009 12:00 PM PST
- Popcorn, large energy beams from the sky. Doesn't sound like James Bond. Sounds like a Real Genius.
- Like this
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