Solar Frontier: the UK shoots for the stars as space-based solar power prepares for lift-off
It’s London Tech Week in the UK’s capital city this week, and whilst worldwide tech leaders are joining forces to discuss the next chapter in clean energy, they’re also taking action. At the enterprising event, the Uk’s Energy Security Secretary Grant Shapps announced government funding worth £4.3 million, and it’s being awarded to a host of clean energy innovators. Curious to find out how the technologies of tomorrow are aiding our environment, and becoming a reality today? Then you’ve come to the right place.
As featured on the Government’s website GOV.UK, Shapps is uniting the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the UK Space Agency in a bold bid to deliver solar energy from closer to the source, collecting energy from the sun using satellites and beaming it directly back to Earth. It has huge potential to boost the UK’s energy security, but what does that mean?
Technologies of tomorrow, today
Space-based solar has the power to collect energy from the sun more efficiently, using panels on satellites and beaming it safely back to Terra Firma with wireless technology. It might sound like high-sky sci-fi, but scientists working diligently at Cambridge University have developed ultra-lightweight solar panels for satellites; they can function in the high-radiation conditions of space. New plans couple Cambridge’s efforts with work conducted by Queen Mary University in London – its researchers have developed a wireless system that enables solar power to be wirelessly transmitted.
“This technology – which is in the early stages of development – has huge potential to boost the UK’s energy security, reduce the need for fossil fuels and drive down household bills by providing solar power all year round, as the Sun is visible for over 99% of the time.” – GOV.UK
Carry the fire
An independent study in 2021 found that space-based solar power could generate 10GW of electricity a year by 2050 – that’s a quarter of the UK’s current electricity demand! It could create a nascent, multi-billion pound industry, generating unprecedented energy and 143,00 jobs too… better for the economy (a major Conservative Party goal), and the environment. We’re not the only ones shedding light on this impressive tech, either: both Japan and the United States have experimented with solar energy. Just earlier this month, scientists at California’s Institute of Technology achieved the previously impossible, drawing power to Earth from space.
On the UK’s breakthrough, Shapps beamed, “I want the UK to boldly go where no country has gone before – boosting our energy security by getting our power directly from space.” He continued, “We’re taking a giant leap by backing the development of this exciting technology and putting the UK at the forefront of this rapidly emerging industry as it prepares for launch.”
“By winning this new space race, we can transform the way we power our nation and provide cheaper, cleaner and more secure energy for generations to come.”
– Grant Shapps
It’s all part of the Government’s Space-Based Solar Power Innovation Competition, and it’s changing the way we see the night sky. Humans have gazed upward for millennia, but we never could have imagined our brightest star could empower our lives in such a fascinating way!
What’s your favourite of the eight projects awarded in the Space-Based Solar Power Innovation Competition? Click through and let us know today!
Source: UK shoots for the stars as space-based solar power prepares for lift-off.
Centrica’s First Solar Farm Opens in the UK, paving the way for a brighter future – read more here.
