Solaren has inked a deal with PG&E to provide 200 megawatts of power transmitted from orbit in 2016 — but the really out-there element is their proposed Hurricane Reduction System:
“The present invention relates to space-based power systems and, more particularly, to altering weather elements, such as hurricanes or forming hurricanes, using energy generated by a space-based power system,” Jim Rogers and Gary Spirnak write in their 2006 patent application.By heating up the upper and middle levels of an infant hurricane, they say they could disrupt the flows of air that power the enormous storms. Air warmed by tropical waters flows up through a hurricane and is vented through the eye into the upper atmosphere. Theoretically, you could heat up the top of the storm and lower the pressure differential between layers, resulting in a weaker storm.
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But Solaren’s patent-pending scheme is perhaps a hair more ambitious than dragging icebergs to the Caribbean or nuking a storm. They propose to launch a 1.5-gigawatt plant (more than seven times the proposed PG&E project) into space. The plant would assemble itself, and then a precision guidance system would direct all that energy onto a patch of the Earth between .6 and 6 miles across.
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Not that any kind of space-based solar power system is likely to be charging up the grid any time soon either. Despite the PG&E agreement, Solaren’s team has yet to raise the billions of dollars necessary to get their project into orbit. And that could be tough, given the dubious profitability of the technology, particularly in comparison to ground-based green tech. Energy analyst Chris Nelder calls the technology a “pure fantasy.”“Why would anyone be interested in space-based solar power when utility-scale solar technology on the ground today costs 0.3 percent of its price, with far less risk and far safer proven technology, and is just beginning to exploit its commercial potential?” Nelder asked in a recent analysis.