At an altitude of 22,240 miles above the earth, orbital solar stations would be one of the biggest steps undertaken for governments and energy companies. However, orbital solar stations would give a constant deliverance of sunlight, even more than 2,000 MW of clean solar power in some proposed projects.

Orbital solar stations have three advantages over normal earth based solar stations. First of all it must be daytime for an earth based solar stations to get its energy from the sun, next to that the solar array must be pointed towards the sun without any obstacles between the array and the sun. Finally, the sunlight powering the solar array must pass through the bulk of the atmosphere and the sky must be clear for optimal use. Because of all these factors an earth based solar array produces almost 80 percent less energy then orbital based solar stations. Furthermore, the sun shines continuously in space and because of the lack of an atmosphere, sunlight carries 35 percent more energy.

A number of countries, including the United States and Japan, have showed interest in building an orbital solar station. Back in 2007, a report suggested that the Pentagon is serious about the built of an orbital solar power station. The United States Department of Defense has even called on the government and private sector to support the construction of a 10 billion dollar pilot station in low earth orbit. Where the United States are aiming for the construction of a pilot station, the Japanese want to built a 21 billion dollar, 1 GW solar power station within the next three decades.

Also see: Could space solar power beam its way to Earth by 2016?

Source: Environmentalgraffiti, adAstra

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