Breakthrough May Allow Japan to Beam Solar Energy From Satellites in Space By 2025

As Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and Twitter, pushes the limits of space exploration with his company SpaceX to take humans back to the moon and eventually to Mars, Japan is attempting to tap solar energy from satellites in space and transmit it wirelessly to Earth.

Japan and the Japanese space agency Jaxa have been working on the technology for many decades and according to a report by Nikkei, scientists are ready to test the technology in space by 2025.

The much-awaited experiment will see solar energy tapped in space and beamed to Earth for the first time since the breakthrough Jaxa announced in 2015 when its scientists wirelessly transmitted 1.8 kilowatts to a receiver placed 50 meters away.

Although the energy transmitted in 2015 could only be enough to run a kettle, the same principle will be enhanced to transmit solar energy tapped in space to dedicated receiver stations on Earth – ten years later.

Japan’s Public-Private Partnership Eyes Beamed Solar Energy from Space

If successful, Japan’s public-private partnership could be a drastic paradigm shift for the clean energy industry, especially in regions where sunshine is scarce or during the cold winter months.

japan will try to beam sun solar energy
from space to our planet eart
Davide Spagocci#SolarEnergy #power #energy #science #earth pic.twitter.com/hh9tMbANgk

— LetMeOut.ZipDavide Spagocci (@DavideSpagocci) May 29, 2023

Naoki Shinohara a professor at Kyoto University, who has experience working on space-based solar energy as far back as 2009 leads the ambitious project.

The first step in the project would entail launching several small satellites, equipped with photovoltaic modules into orbit.

As the satellites orbit the earth, they would be expected (programmed) to beam the solar energy arrays collected to ground-stationed receivers.

The energy collected by the photovoltaic cells will be converted to microwaves, allowing the transmission to ground receivers, hundreds of miles away.

Is Solar Energy Beamed from Space Viable?

Research into beam solar energy technology started around 1968 and has consistently been researched by several other countries, including the United States and China.

Last year, the European Space Agency (ESA) recommended investing in space-based solar energy technology. According to a report by Futurezone, ESA conducted two studies that showed that the efficiency of photovoltaic systems in space was significantly higher than those on Earth.

Satellites have the ability to harness energy continuously, irrespective of the time of day or weather conditions. Furthermore, they can be positioned to receive sunlight at a perfect 90-degree angle, ensuring optimal electricity production.

Although the technology is appealing at a fast glance, some critics argue that efficiency may not directly translate to higher electricity yields. The technology requires the energy to be converted to microwaves for wireless transmission before changing it back to usable power.

Another stumbling block would be the number of satellites that must be deployed to space in order to achieve commercially viable levels of electricity.

In other words, even if Japan and Jaxa succeed, it is estimated that they will spend roughly 7 billion dollars to build a system able to generate 1 gigawatt of electricity.

If costs are compared in a rather rudimentary manner, constructing a nuclear power plant like Block 3 of the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant in Finland, which has an output of 1.6 gigawatts, could cost approximately 11 billion euros (though some are built for as low as $5 billion).

However, building wind or solar panel systems with the same output would only cost a fraction of that amount, around 5 times less according to estimates shared by Futurezone.

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