China is on the verge of testing a potentially revolutionary technology that would allow it to harvest large amounts of solar energy at any time of day. The method would use an orbital station to send a powerful beam of solar energy down to Earth from space, a report by the South China Morning Post explains.

All going as planned, the tests, which will take place in Chongqing city in Southwestern China, will lead to the construction of a huge 1-megawatt solar power station in space by 2030. China, the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panel cells, also plans to gradually grow that station’s output after launch, with the goal of increasing its capacity to 1 gigawatt by 2049.

interestingengineering.com/china-wants-a-huge-orbital-solar-power-station-in-space

Spiny Norman said:

China is on the verge of testing a potentially revolutionary technology that would allow it to harvest large amounts of solar energy at any time of day. The method would use an orbital station to send a powerful beam of solar energy down to Earth from space, a report by the South China Morning Post explains.

All going as planned, the tests, which will take place in Chongqing city in Southwestern China, will lead to the construction of a huge 1-megawatt solar power station in space by 2030. China, the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panel cells, also plans to gradually grow that station’s output after launch, with the goal of increasing its capacity to 1 gigawatt by 2049.

interestingengineering.com/china-wants-a-huge-orbital-solar-power-station-in-space

I sense the hand of Blofeld in this…

I haven’t seen the full specs for this.

There was a mooted plan in the UK for a 2 GW space power station that would require 2000 tonnes to be placed in geostationary orbit. It also required a huge ground station: about 100 square km.

I looked at the specs and wondered … what’s the point of this? Putting something in geostationary orbit requires launches whose emissions are about 40 times the mass of the object. If the UK had 100 sq km to spare, somehow, they could produce more power than that by turning that land over to ordinary terrestrial PV. I mean I do appreciate that such a station would be always on, zero intermittency or unpredictability, but you would have to weigh the costs over the benefits compared to just installing various kinds of storage. The price tag was 17 billion pounds … and these days, 8.5 pounds per installed W is not too flash.

dv said:

I haven’t seen the full specs for this.

There was a mooted plan in the UK for a 2 GW space power station that would require 2000 tonnes to be placed in geostationary orbit. It also required a huge ground station: about 100 square km.

I looked at the specs and wondered … what’s the point of this? Putting something in geostationary orbit requires launches whose emissions are about 40 times the mass of the object. If the UK had 100 sq km to spare, somehow, they could produce more power than that by turning that land over to ordinary terrestrial PV. I mean I do appreciate that such a station would be always on, zero intermittency or unpredictability, but you would have to weigh the costs over the benefits compared to just installing various kinds of storage. The price tag was 17 billion pounds … and these days, 8.5 pounds per installed W is not too flash.

And of course whatever the final cost was would be even less flash.

regardless surely the question is whether it will pay for itself

SCIENCE said:

regardless surely the question is whether it will pay for itself

Well as long as they include all the future costs of all the GHG emissions generated in getting it working in their assessment.

The Rev Dodgson said:

SCIENCE said:

regardless surely the question is whether it will pay for itself

Well as long as they include all the future costs of all the GHG emissions generated in getting it working in their assessment.

we agree that it’s plausible that carbon pricing mechanisms can exist

SCIENCE said:

regardless surely the question is whether it will pay for itself

Well, no.

The first examples of any technology never pay for themselves. Wind turbines, for example, didn’t pay for themselves at first.

mollwollfumble said:

SCIENCE said:

regardless surely the question is whether it will pay for itself

Well, no.

The first examples of any technology never pay for themselves. Wind turbines, for example, didn’t pay for themselves at first.

so research and development never pay for themselves or are we considering that they actually have value which can actually be accounted

I should probably be more open minded about the potential for this stuff but these days I am kind of feeling about orbital solar the same way I do about fusion energy. They were more interesting ideas before plain old renewables reduced in price by 90%.

dv said:

I should probably be more open minded about the potential for this stuff but these days I am kind of feeling about orbital solar the same way I do about fusion energy. They were more interesting ideas before plain old renewables reduced in price by 90%.

yeah but how are humans going to progress beyond* Kardashev I if they don’t show any aspirations or initiative eh

*: or even up to

SCIENCE said:

dv said:

I should probably be more open minded about the potential for this stuff but these days I am kind of feeling about orbital solar the same way I do about fusion energy. They were more interesting ideas before plain old renewables reduced in price by 90%.

yeah but how are humans going to progress beyond* Kardashev I if they don’t show any aspirations or initiative eh

*: or even up to

At the moment we’re at Kardashian.

sibeen said:

SCIENCE said:

dv said:

I should probably be more open minded about the potential for this stuff but these days I am kind of feeling about orbital solar the same way I do about fusion energy. They were more interesting ideas before plain old renewables reduced in price by 90%.

yeah but how are humans going to progress beyond* Kardashev I if they don’t show any aspirations or initiative eh

*: or even up to

At the moment we’re at Kardashian.

good grief, sibeen doing popular culture.

Boris said:

sibeen said:

SCIENCE said:

yeah but how are humans going to progress beyond* Kardashev I if they don’t show any aspirations or initiative eh

*: or even up to

At the moment we’re at Kardashian.

good grief, sibeen doing popular culture.

Osmoses – Sprogs.

Spiny Norman said:

China is on the verge of testing a potentially revolutionary technology that would allow it to harvest large amounts of solar energy at any time of day. The method would use an orbital station to send a powerful beam of solar energy down to Earth from space, a report by the South China Morning Post explains.

All going as planned, the tests, which will take place in Chongqing city in Southwestern China, will lead to the construction of a huge 1-megawatt solar power station in space by 2030. China, the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panel cells, also plans to gradually grow that station’s output after launch, with the goal of increasing its capacity to 1 gigawatt by 2049.

interestingengineering.com/china-wants-a-huge-orbital-solar-power-station-in-space

It would be tempting to write this off as science fiction.

But with China, anything is possible.
When China proposes a massive “impossible” project, sometimes it happens.

mollwollfumble said:

It would be tempting to write this off as science fiction.

But with China, anything is possible.
When China proposes a massive “impossible” project, sometimes it happens.

like spreading disease worldwi… w… wait

mollwollfumble said:

Spiny Norman said:

China is on the verge of testing a potentially revolutionary technology that would allow it to harvest large amounts of solar energy at any time of day. The method would use an orbital station to send a powerful beam of solar energy down to Earth from space, a report by the South China Morning Post explains.

All going as planned, the tests, which will take place in Chongqing city in Southwestern China, will lead to the construction of a huge 1-megawatt solar power station in space by 2030. China, the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panel cells, also plans to gradually grow that station’s output after launch, with the goal of increasing its capacity to 1 gigawatt by 2049.

interestingengineering.com/china-wants-a-huge-orbital-solar-power-station-in-space

It would be tempting to write this off as science fiction.

But with China, anything is possible.
When China proposes a massive “impossible” project, sometimes it happens.

hope it has a reverse cycle feature

transition said:

mollwollfumble said:

Spiny Norman said:

China is on the verge of testing a potentially revolutionary technology that would allow it to harvest large amounts of solar energy at any time of day. The method would use an orbital station to send a powerful beam of solar energy down to Earth from space, a report by the South China Morning Post explains.

All going as planned, the tests, which will take place in Chongqing city in Southwestern China, will lead to the construction of a huge 1-megawatt solar power station in space by 2030. China, the world’s largest manufacturer of solar panel cells, also plans to gradually grow that station’s output after launch, with the goal of increasing its capacity to 1 gigawatt by 2049.

interestingengineering.com/china-wants-a-huge-orbital-solar-power-station-in-space

It would be tempting to write this off as science fiction.

But with China, anything is possible.
When China proposes a massive “impossible” project, sometimes it happens.

hope it has a reverse cycle feature

and don’t let it point in my direction, or let it get of control and start wandering around, causing fires and whatever

transition said:

hope it has a reverse cycle feature

> Reverse cycle solar power.

Well there’s a thought. I’m not sure if you’re joking or not.

Perhaps should put that thought this way. With a large scale solar power plant, what do you do with the excess heat?

mollwollfumble said:

transition said:

hope it has a reverse cycle feature

> Reverse cycle solar power.

Well there’s a thought. I’m not sure if you’re joking or not.

Perhaps should put that thought this way. With a large scale solar power plant, what do you do with the excess heat?

Incinerate Taipei?

captain_spalding said:

mollwollfumble said:

transition said:

hope it has a reverse cycle feature

> Reverse cycle solar power.

Well there’s a thought. I’m not sure if you’re joking or not.

Perhaps should put that thought this way. With a large scale solar power plant, what do you do with the excess heat?

Incinerate Taipei?

Incinerate East China!!
Quick Boy Wonder we’ve got no time to lose, slide down this pole.

Peak Warming Man said:

captain_spalding said:

mollwollfumble said:

> Reverse cycle solar power.

Well there’s a thought. I’m not sure if you’re joking or not.

Perhaps should put that thought this way. With a large scale solar power plant, what do you do with the excess heat?

Incinerate Taipei?

Incinerate East China!!
Quick Boy Wonder we’ve got no time to lose, slide down this pole.

https://tokyo3.org/forums/holiday/posts/1893099/