Solar Power From Space!


	Solar Power From Space!

Elizabeth Woyke

4-16-2009 11:30 AM

299 views

tags:

solar, space, satellite, energy, electricity

Elizabeth Woyke says:

Cool idea: collect solar energy via satellite, convert it into radio signals, beam it down to Earth, and convert it into electricity.

As commenters note, it's an idea that's been kicked around since the 1960's. But a new agreement between PG&E and Solaren Corp. means it's likely to actually happen.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/71b54c01-e13b-4830-8a58-72198d293090/022D5218-42B7-487B-BF46-0CA80816C3EA/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/42029/178/" href="http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/42029/178/" style="font-size: 11px;">www.tgdaily.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/42029/178/">This one may make you speechless. It is so obvious in its idea that you wonder why no one else has thought of it before, yet it sounds like a plot from a 1960s science fiction movie: Collect solar energy in space, convert it into radio signals, send it down to Earth and change it into electricity.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/42029/178/"><DIV>We hear about new innovative ways to create electricity in alternative, more environmentally friendly and more efficient ways at least a couple times every week. PG&E is a hot candidate for the prize for the most adventurous way so far: The company wants to provide solar power that has been sent from a satellite to Earth. </DIV><BR /><DIV>According to a company <A mce_href="http://www.next100.com/2009/04/space-solar-power-the-next-fro.php" target="_blank" href="http://www.next100.com/2009/04/space-solar-power-the-next-fro.php">blog </A> post, PG&E has contracted a Southern California-based Solaren, to deliver 200 megawatts of power within a 15 year period through Solaren’s satellites. Those satellites act as small solar power plants, convert it into radio frequency, send it to a base station on Earth, where it is converted to electricity.</DIV></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/022D5218-42B7-487B-BF46-0CA80816C3EA/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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