FA+
Shop
This concept has been spurred by the recent efforts from the European Space Agency about space-based solar power [1] which would use stations in geostationary orbit to convert sunlight into microwave then beam it down to the ground. However, the basic economics is not favorable : you can get 3 to 4 times more sunlight in GEO thanks to the lack of clouds and day-night cycle, but the installation costs are much more than 3-fold.
But why not collect solar energy above the clouds in the stratosphere (25-30 km high) instead of geostationary orbit (36.000 km) ? You won't get energy at night, but the capacity factor would still be better than on the ground and the system could be launched as a balloon.
In this case, I reused elements from my previous inventions : the microwave version is based on my solar-microwave power plant concept and the infrared version on my ive selective-emission cooling system.
[1] https://hackaday.com/2022/08/24/spa.....oke-of-genius/
But why not collect solar energy above the clouds in the stratosphere (25-30 km high) instead of geostationary orbit (36.000 km) ? You won't get energy at night, but the capacity factor would still be better than on the ground and the system could be launched as a balloon.
In this case, I reused elements from my previous inventions : the microwave version is based on my solar-microwave power plant concept and the infrared version on my ive selective-emission cooling system.
[1] https://hackaday.com/2022/08/24/spa.....oke-of-genius/
293
Views
6
Comments
1
Favorites
General
Rating
On pourrait utiliser des petits ballons intermédiaires pour soulever chaque section de câble sans impacter la station finale, mais cela augmente la complexité du système et sa maintenance.