Caltech's Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD-1) experiment marks a historic first in transmitting solar power from space to Earth, addressing the challenge of the variability of renewable energies by harnessing continuous solar power from space.
that its experimental Space Solar Power Demonstrator successfully beamed solar power from space back down to Earth in a historic first which could spark major interest in what many think is the next frontier in clean energy production.
It’s become increasingly clear that one of the biggest hurdles for scaling solar and wind power is that these forms of energy are , meaning that their production rates wax and wane according to the time of day, the time of year, and weather patterns. And usually the rates of peak energy production are the opposite of peak energy demand; for example, just as the sun is setting on solar panels, ending their productivity for the day, most households are switching on the lights.
Finding a way to either work with or somehow sidestep the variability of renewable energies is therefore a crucial part of the pathway to a successful green energy revolution. While most of the focus is on developing better and longer-lasting forms of which could capture surplus production and feed that energy back into the grid when it’s needed, other scientists are trying to find a way to turn renewable energies into baseload powers.
The idea of building solar farms in space is not a new one. Scientists have been talking about the possibility of space-age solar for 100 years, but until now it’s been far more fiction than fact. But thanks to the falling cost of space launches and infrastructure, there is a new space race unfolding around the world. Private interests are increasingly becoming involved in space-based technologies and exploration, and the field has never been more ripe for innovation.
This breakthrough is of enormous significance and shows that solar in space could be a viable option which would seriously improve our chances of a speedy transition away from fossil fuels. But the technology still has a long way to go. In order to be commercially viable and environmentally significant, space-based solar power will have to be deployed on a massive scale.
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