
Published 23/01/2025 15:42 | Edited 24/01/2025 16:02
China has announced a bold project to build an Earth’s solar plant capable of generating enough energy to compete with the largest terrestrial sources. The initiative, revealed by Long Lehao, chief designer of Long March rockets and member of the Chinese Engineering Academy, intends to place a solar matrix of a kilometer wide in a geostationary orbit at 36,000 kilometers in altitude.
The Chinese proposal aims to take advantage of sunlight in space, which is about ten times more intense than on the earth’s surface, eliminating interruptions caused by climate or daytime cycles. The energy captured would be transmitted to Earth without the need for cables, through high -energy radio waves, reaching terrestrial receptors and thus supplying cities and industries.
To scale the impact of the project, Long Lehao compared it to the grandeur of the three throat dam, the largest hydroelectric plant in the world, which generates 100 billion kilowatt hours annually. He even said that the space plant would be like “moving the three throat dam to a geostationary orbit.”
Technical challenges and ambition
Despite the revolutionary potential, the project faces major technological and logistics obstacles. The transfer of energy on a large scale of space to the earth has not yet been fully dominated. So far, experiments such as the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 2023 have managed to transmit only small energy volumes on the Miliwatt scale, far below the necessary to supply cities.
The construction of the space plant will require multiple releases to transport the components to orbit. For this, China is developing the Long March-9 rocket, which will be reusable and capable of loading up to 150 tons, consolidating the country as a leader in the aerospace sector. The rocket will also be critical for plans to establish a lunar research base by 2035.
In addition, China has already taken concrete steps: by 2021, it began building an experimental spatial solar energy station in Bishan. More recently, researchers at the Xian University of Science and Technology in 2023 presented promising soil testing results with the Chasing The Sun Project system.
GLOBAL RACE FOR SPACE ENERGY
Although China is at the forefront of this field, other countries and companies are also competing to explore the potential of space solar energy. Iceland, in partnership with UK Space Solar, plans to launch a solar matrix by 2030, enough to supply up to 3,000 homes. In the United States, companies such as Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman invest in similar research, while the European space agency (ESA) and Japan space agency Jaxa also advances in the development of prototypes.
JAXA, for example, aims to launch a 2025 test satellite, which will be an initial step to validate the viability of energy transfer.
The future of clean energy
Although China has not yet released a date for the completion of its space plant, the potential impact of the project is significant. If technical challenges are overcome, technology could offer a renewable and reliable energy source on a global scale, reducing dependence on fossil fuels and expanding access to clean energy.
With the planet facing the climate crisis and the need for energy transition, the Chinese project symbolizes a milestone in the search for innovations that can redefine the ways of producing and consuming energy.
Source: vermelho.org.br