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"Space-based solar power is moving closer to becoming a reality, inspiring both hope and skepticism."
Imagine you wake up and it’s raining outside. Your rooftop solar panels won’t be much help today. But you flick your lights on and start the coffee anyway, knowing the electricity reaching you through the grid is still powered by the sun — except via solar panels out in space.
That’s the promise of space-based solar power: low-carbon, flexible and reliable electricity that could provide clean power even when the sun is not shining on Earth. It would act as a backup power source, like batteries, fossil fuel or nuclear plants, while also complementing existing clean energy sources in an energy-hungry world.
The idea of powering the planet with energy from space is revolutionary and intriguing. Until recently, it seemed unfeasible.
Now, though, with the increasing impacts of climate change, growing energy demand and a rapidly developing space industry, various international efforts are emerging to make the concept, once confined to science fiction storylines, a reality.
Indeed, setting up a solar farm in space is no easy feat: it would involve assembling hundreds of thousands of photovoltaic modules as part of a mile-wide structure thousands of miles away from Earth while also building a massive receiver system on Earth in densely populated areas and integrating it into the country’s grid system.
