UK invests $5.4 million to transmit solar power to Earth

Universities and technology companies in the UK will receive $5.4 million in government investment to develop solar power in space.

The United States is the first country to successfully transmit solar power to Earth. Photo: Science Photo Library — The United States is the first country to successfully transmit solar power to Earth. Photo: *Science Photo Library*

Technology to harvest energy from the Sun through solar panels placed on satellites and transmitted back to Earth has huge potential to enhance Britain's energy security, the Guardian reported on June 12.

While the idea of building commercial power plants in space may seem far-fetched, the space industry has long been at the forefront of solar power development. In fact, the need to power satellites is a major driver of increasing the efficiency of solar panels, which are used to generate electricity for homes and businesses, according to Dr. Mamatha Maheshwarappa, a payload systems expert at the UK Space Agency.

Among the schools and organisations receiving funding from the UK government's space solar innovation competition are the University of Cambridge, which is developing ultra-light solar cells that can withstand the high radiation in space, and Queen Mary University of London, which has a wireless system that can transmit harvested solar energy back to Earth.

In early June, a team of scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in the US announced that they had successfully transmitted solar energy from space to Earth for the first time, using a prototype spacecraft called Maple that was launched into orbit in January. The spacecraft used a series of ultralight transmitters to convert electricity into microwaves before transmitting them to a specific location on the ground, in this case a receiver on the roof of a building on Caltech’s campus in Pasadena. There, the microwave beams were converted back into electricity.

If the technology can work at scale, space solar farms would have several key advantages. Because there is no atmosphere in space, sunlight is not diluted, meaning each panel can produce more energy than it does on Earth. Solar power is also more predictable and can be produced continuously because it is not disrupted by day-night cycles, cloud cover, and seasonal variations in light.

An independent UK government study in 2021 found that space solar could produce up to 10 gigawatts of electricity a year, a quarter of the UK's electricity needs, by 2050. The Department for Energy Security said this could create a multibillion-dollar industry and 143,000 jobs.

"We are taking a huge step forward to put the UK at the forefront of this emerging industry. By winning the race to produce solar power in space, we can transform the way we power the country and create cheaper, cleaner and safer energy for future generations," said Grant Shapps, UK Energy Security Minister.

An Khang (According to Guardian )

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