Global Clouds & Solar

One of the challenges with solar powergeneration is cloud cover. Clouds are the reason that solar capacity factors, the ratio of peak output to actual output are low, especially in locations where most people live. Its also one of the reasons that many solar plants are located in desert regions to avoid clouds and require long transmission lines to deliver power to populations centers.

Clouds need to be considered in thinking about space based solar power (SBSP) as an alternative to terrestrial renewables. There are three ways move power from space to earth. Mirrors in orbit can redirect sunlight to solar farms. Lasers can be powered by solar cells and beam energy to solar farms at all times. And, radio waves can to beam power to receivers on the ground.

Beaming power with radio waves from orbiting solar power satellites can solve the intermittency problem with renewables. This is because radio waves can travel through clouds and rain. By using this approach, space based solar can compete with nuclear as a clean and firm energy source that can scale to power the world. Additionally, unlike nuclear, it can be both dispatchable and renewable.

Virtus Solis Technologies

Video courtesy of NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration earth observatory.