California utility PG&E has signed a deal for the world’s first space-based solar power plant to be built by a secretive Southern California startup staffed by veterans of the U.S. Air Force, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
In papers filed Friday with the California Public Utilities Commission, San Francisco-based PG&E asked for approval of a 15-year, 200-megawatt contract with Solaren, a Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based company that plans to put satellites in geosynchronous orbit to collect solar energy by 2016. The sunlight would then be transmitted to a ground station in Fresno, Calif., in the form of radio frequency power and converted into electricity to be distributed into the power grid. Since the sun shines in space 24/7, a Solaren solar farm could theoretically supply “baseload” green electricity to coal-dependent regions without access to abundant sources of renewable energy.
Whether regulators will be willing to risk utility customers’ cash on such unproven, bleeding-edge technology remains to be seen.
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