Solar panels in space could power UK by 2035

Dispatchable, baseload solar power could be beamed down from space by 2035, a UK company developing the technology has claimed.

Space-based solar uses large panels, located in Earth’s orbit, to generate electricity which is then converted into microwaves that are beamed into receivers on the ground.

In written evidence to the House of Commons energy security and net zero committee (ESNZ), which is conducting an inquiry into the UK’s future power technology mix, Oxfordshire-based Space Solar says the orbiting panels can generate 13 times as much electricity as those located on the Earth’s surface.

This is partly because they can generate nearly constantly and the solar energy they receive is more powerful because it does not have to pass though the Earth’s atmosphere.

It comes as academics in California carried out the first successful test of space-based solar power last week.

On Wednesday (24 January) Space Solar co-chief executive Martin Soltau told the ESNZ committee that his company’s technology will be able to generate dispatchable, baseload power in just over a decade.

“We will have both developed, commercialised and be scaled up rapidly by 2035,” he said, adding that space-based solar power is “firm, continuous and dispatchable”.

In its written submission to the committee, Space Solar claims that its technology could provide 30% of the UK’s electricity needs,.

Soltau also said the company is engaging with Ofcom on securing dedicated frequency in the spectrum, which the telecoms regulator has indicated will be allocated.

But he warned MPs that the government must step in to support the technology, which requires around £800 million of investment to get to proof of concept stage.

“We can’t expect private finance to take undue risks, government must come in early to derisk,” Soltau said, while adding that investors will “come in behind” once support is in place.

He further stated that Space Solar’s “market leading concept” and the UK’s capabilities in photonics and robotics means that Britain can play an “international leading role” in developing the fledgeling sector.

He also said that the growing use of reusable rockets is reducing the cost of launches to within what is required to ensure that space-based solar can compete with other sources of power.

Kate Gilmartin, chief executive at the British Hydropower Association, told the same evidence session that research being carried out for her organisation by engineers Jacobs shows that the cost of generating tidal power is comparable to nuclear.

She said that tidal power could provide 15GW of electricity for £60 billion, which she described as “far better value than nuclear”.

But Richard Arnold, policy director at the Marine Energy Council, said that investment in tidal power is being held back by uncertainty about how it will be treated in future Contracts for Difference (CfD) auctions.

While the government has ringfenced a portion of the CfD budget for tidal power, decisions on allocations are made annually, he said.

Meanwhile Clare Jackson, chief executive at Hydrogen UK, said that Britian’s abundant offshore wind resources gives the country an opportunity to become an “international hub” for the technology.

This could put the UK in a good place to help Europe, which will need to import about half of its hydrogen, she said.