Could we one day put our solar parks in space?

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-04-24 01:00

International

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Solar power is limited by days when the sun doesn't shine, but international researchers say we could one day skip this challenge by putting solar panels in space. The team say space solar power was proposed decades ago but considered too technologically difficult and expensive, however recent advances in solar panel technology, microchips and decreases in the cost of a space launch could make the proposal more feasible. The researchers have presented a theoretical system using high-efficiency solar cells distributed in space that beam power down to Earth, which they say could be economically competitive with today's energy sources after another decade of technological advancement.

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Journal/
conference: Joule

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: California Institute of Technology, USA

Funder: The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the Caltech Space Solar Q14 Power Project and the Donald Bren Foundation, without which these efforts would not be possible.

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