Can we generate electricity from space?

Can we generate electricity from space?

The goal is to build a large commercial solar power plant capable of producing two gigawatts of electricity by 2050. NicoElNino / stock.adobe.com

Decryption – China is continuously researching to develop solar power plants in orbit to improve the performance of photovoltaic panels.

According to information published in the local media at the end of June CGTN, TheResearchers at Xidian University in China have taken an important step in advancing research into building a solar power plant in space. But what exactly is it?

The idea isn’t entirely new, as NASA has been thinking about it since the 1970s, installing solar panels on geostationary satellites (i.e. always perpendicular to the same point on the Earth’s surface) at an altitude of 36,000 km. There are at least two reasons for this: night never falls on a geostationary satellite (there is no need to fear passing clouds) and solar radiation is much more intense in space. In the long run, the efficiency of the panels will be increased tenfold. A solar power plant in orbit would theoretically make it possible to recover 7.6% of the Sun’s energy, compared to 1.8%…

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