The European Research Council has committed €2.5 million to a project to develop an orbital system to keep solar farms running after dark.
The grant was received by engineers from the University of Glasgow,who propose to install in space huge reflectors that direct light to large solar power plants on the surface of the Earth. This will significantly increase farm productivity, especially at sunset and dawn, when energy generation drops and consumption increases.
Within five yearsSolspace project participants will developvarious concepts and solve complex technical issues. For example, how to place reflectors in low Earth orbit to transmit light efficiently enough, but still capture radiation and keep solar farms in view at all times.
Modern technologies use only partsolar energy available in space and the delivery of additional clean energy is still poorly understood. Previously, China, Japan and Russia proposed various options for using cosmic radiation to produce energy in open space and then send it to Earth, but so far none of them have been implemented.
The Glasgow team proposes to leave the maininfrastructure on the surface, deploying only huge light reflectors in orbit. At the same time, they are considering the possibility of producing structures directly in space using 3D printing technologies.
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