California Gives Green Light for Space-Based Solar
According to an article from CNET, California regulators have approved on Thursday approved a very ambitious project to get energy right from the space. There has been a power purchase agreement that was signed by California Public Utilities Commission.
The statement mentions that Pacific Gas & Electric is going to buy electricity from the tech provider called Solaren. But this will only happen if Solaren will manage to successfully deploy the solar collectors into space. They will be the first ones to be sent into space.
Pacific Gas & Electric has approved to buy the 1,700 gigawatt hours / year for almost 15 year. The space based arrays will be able to give away 200 megawatts. But that is smaller than a nuclear plant can do. Still, the Space Energy says the operation will begin in June, 2016. This idea, with collecting energy from the space has been on researcher’s mind for ages and they have always tried to get new ways to make that happen. They also needed companies to sponsor their activities. But it seems that now is the right moment for this kind of project and we might just have another way to get power using the outer space.
Solaren wants to equip the satellites with many solar photovoltaic panels and they will generate electricity. That energy will be transmitted using microwaves. The waves will go to a receiver station located in Fresno County, California. That receiver will then convert the frequencies into electricity and then place it into the power grid.
Solaren is located in Southern California, and it has been created by veterans from many aerospace companies. They are the ones that first saw the potential of space energy. Now the main purpose is to get the first test project online and then to reduce the costs.
“If our project works, then it will be great for the customers because this procedure has few risks,” told Jonathan Marshall from PG&E. Right now it is the beginning of a new era and these people are there to facilitate the project. More news about their progress will come for sure in the following months.
