Construction of a giant celestial solar farm is underway in China, with a scale comparable to creating a “Three Gorges Dam project above the Earth”.
The solar farm, which would be launched into space using heavy-lift rockets, is expected to stretch one kilometre in width and continuously harvest renewable energy for Earth.
It would be positioned in geostationary orbit, meaning it has an orbital time equivalent to the Earth’s rotational period and always remains at the same point above the Earth’s surface.
When revealing plans for the structure, Chinese aerospace engineer Long Lehao referred to it as “another Three Gorges Dam project above the Earth”, South China Morning Post reported.
The 2,335-metre-long Three Gorges Dam, which crosses the Yangtze River in central China, is the largest producer of hydroelectric power in the world.
“We are working on this project now,” said Long.
“It is as significant as moving the Three Gorges Dam to a geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometres above the Earth. This is an incredible project to look forward to.”
Solar panels are engineered to harness the sun’s energy to generate electricity by turning light energy into usable power – a process known as the photovoltaic effect.
Unlike terrestrial arrays, space-based photovoltaics can provide continuous power as they are unaffected by seasons or daylight, allowing constant harvesting of energy from the sun.
They are also estimated to be 10 times more efficient at energy collection than photovoltaic panels on Earth.
According to Global Construction Review, work started on the space solar power station in Chongqing in 2019. It is expected that a reusable heavy-lift rocket, named the Long March-9, will be required to launch the solar farm into orbit.
Once in place, this one-kilometre-wide solar array is expected to harvest as much energy in a year as the total quantity of oil that can be extracted from the Earth, reported Sustainability Magazine. The energy is planned to be transmitted to ground using microwaves.
Other landmark solar projects recently featured on Dezeen include Australia’s “first building” to be powered on-site by a solar facade system and Bilgin Architects’ creation of one of Europe’s largest solar farms.
In 2022, we ran Solar Revolution, an editorial series that explored how humans can fully harness the power of the sun.
The main photo of the International Space Station solar array is by NASA via Wikimedia Commons.
