David Homfray

I do wish these people would just ask about SBSP instead of trying to design it and then find problems

What if we could power the entire planet with continuous clean energy from space? 🌍☀️🛰️

This isn’t science fiction—it’s a concept called Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP). Let’s break it down. 🧵👇

Space Solar, developing and commercialise Space-Based Solar Power Delivering a revolutionary vision to enable Net Zero and global energy security with Space-Based Solar Power

You've missed the UK www.spacesolar.co.uk

Agreed, I hope it didn't come across like I was being disparaging that was not my intention. I was just highlighting in heightened geopolitical tensions energy soverignty is of interest to governments around the world

Imperial College London also reported that just 8GW of SBSP could save £4B a year to the UK in overcapacity building. Of course please take the numbers with a pinch of salt, I like to think of it as a really exciting engineering margin. We can build baseload which is competative.

The numbers come from London Economics and Frazer Nash. Because we are closer to the source of energy and outside the atmosphere we need significantly less stuff. For example we need 2 orders of magnitude less active material than a terrestrial equivalent

londoneconomics.co.uk/blog/press-e...

Yes they could, we also think from a agriculture perspective blocking big swathes of land for renewables or SBSP for that matter could be problematic so we are open for the heighest value dual use whether that is renewables or food production

On the specifics of HVDC cables, I think we will end up needing both. A few years back we lost one of our major cables from Europe and was a headache for a while. Also the issue of power being generated elsewhere in a more heightened geopolitical environ. Still important but should be considered

Something that excites me is the dispatchability of SBSP, I can see a quarter of the globe, so if renewables are doing well I can almost instantly move the beam to another country/continent is not doing so well. If you lose a power station we can pick up the slack before losing frequency

HVDC cables are as much about material use as they are about expense. Our current work puts SBSP about quarter the CAPEX of nuclear and similar LCOE to renewables when you take the underlying infrastructure costs.

Current baseline look a little like solar panels but with open nets ifor onshore and floating panels off-shore. Still lots of work to do but are engineering problems rather than physics. One of the exciting bits is that we should be able to make the land dual use, terrestrial PV underneath

We are really excited about SBSP, I have been working on trying to get us out of this mess for over 20 years (fission, fusion and now SBSP) and this is the first time, I see we have enough solutions to do it. It will take a lot of head scratching and drinking of tea, but I can build the thing

Also the amount of resources that will be needed to take advantage of a low watts of output vs kg of stuff needed is significant. As I said it we are desperate for low carbon sources but I think it will take everything, renewables, storage, carbon capture, energy efficiency, fission and SBSP

Definitely need renewables accelerating you will get nothing but support from me. I do think relying on one type of thing is a recipe for trouble especially as renewables could be affected by the thing it is trying to counteract i.e. changing climate may have an effect on that assett.

Space Solar - FAQs Delivering a revolutionary vision to enable Net Zero and global energy security with Space-Based Solar Power

If you are interested we hav quite a good FAQ's if you are interested www.spacesolar.co.uk/faqs/

We need to do it all including the next generation of energy sources. At Space Solar we are very confident that SBSP could be deployed in time to meet the transition, we have designs and demonstrators that provide that confidence and have several solutions to the valid points you have raised

battery technology is extremely important but due to the low power density of renewables, storage becomes quite a volumetric challenge, requiring lots more mining to dig up valuable materials. They are definitely needed but becomes more of an issue

You are correct we choose a low overall W/m2 for flora/fauna and man made objects such as aircraft, but the beam spot is still significantly smaller than the equivalent terrestrial solar or wind farm.

It shows that there is potential for sustanability and economics and that it should be researched. Debris is a good point and our design is incredibly thin, we would tear and not create debris, our distributed system means we can take lots of damage and still work

Hi Robert, Thanks for the post I am the CTO for SPace Solar developing SBSP. You have picked on some good points that are all very valid. Like anything thats being developed from the internal combustion engine, fission and PV. You need to make assumptions, do the maths and refine over time.

“How space-based solar power can fuel our Earth” https://www.bbc.com/reel/video/p0ly0hnd/how-space-based-solar-power-can-fuel-our-earth

EP 323 Pablos Holman on Deep Tech - The Jim Rutt Show Jim talks with Pablos Holman about the ideas in his new book Deep Future: Creating Technology That Matters.

🎙️ w/ Pablos Holman on *Deep Future: Creating Technology That Matters.*

Deep tech vs shallow tech, computational modeling and simulation for real-world problems, space-based solar power, energy storage limitations, the transformation of the apparel industry through automation, and much more.

I was a fusion scientist (and an engineer in charge of JET) for 2 decades so I do understand the difficulties of it 😀

Space Solar, developing and commercialise Space-Based Solar Power Delivering a revolutionary vision to enable Net Zero and global energy security with Space-Based Solar Power

Agreed www.spacesolar.co.uk

Space Solar, developing and commercialise Space-Based Solar Power Delivering a revolutionary vision to enable Net Zero and global energy security with Space-Based Solar Power

www.spacesolar.co.uk

Hi Marcelo, you're quite right to start with healthy scepticism. I'm the CTO for Space Solar developing Space Based Solar Power, I too was extremely sceptical. We've now trialled the high risk items and are really excited for SBSP to make a significant impact on the energy transition

Space Solar, developing and commercialise Space-Based Solar Power Delivering a revolutionary vision to enable Net Zero and global energy security with Space-Based Solar Power

With the UK (and therefore Europe) with the best design too! www.spacesolar.co.uk

Politically NASA not interested in pursuing SBSP as they think there already dwindling budget needs to be focussed on Artemis. But SBSP is coming and we in the UK are developing it

Europe could use space-based solar power to slash land-based energy needs by 2050 - Bytes Europe Solar panels placed in space could meet up to 80% of Europe’s renewable energy demand by mid-century, offering a potential solution to the challenges of

Europe could use space-based solar power to slash land-based energy needs by 2050

https://www.byteseu.com/1320438/

Solar panels placed in space could meet up to 80% of Europe’s renewable energy demand by mid-century, offering a potential solution to the challenges of weather-dependent power …

Space-based solar power could significantly advance net zero efforts in Europe Solar panels situated in space could reduce Europe’s requirement for land-based renewable energy by up to 80%, expediting the journey to net zero, according to new research from King’s College London. The study, published in Joule, analysed the potential of...

Space-based solar power could significantly advance net zero efforts in Europe
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