{"id":786913,"date":"2026-02-25T00:21:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T00:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/786913\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T00:21:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T00:21:17","slug":"could-britain-harness-the-suns-energy-from-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/786913\/","title":{"rendered":"Could Britain harness the sun\u2019s energy from space?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is an on-site version of our Energy Source newsletter.\u00a0Premium subscribers can sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to get the newsletter delivered every Tuesday and Thursday. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here<\/a>, or explore<\/a> all FT newsletters<\/p>\n

Hello and welcome to Energy Source, coming to you from London, where we are closely watching how oil markets are reacting to US-Iran tensions.<\/p>\n

The price of Brent crude climbed on Monday to $72.50 \u2014 its highest level in more than six months as market expectations of a strike increased \u2014 before paring to $70.69 as of Tuesday morning. <\/p>\n

The International Energy Agency\u2019s meeting of energy ministers in Paris last week highlighted growing divisions over energy policy between the US, which wants to drill more fossil fuels, and European countries that are focusing on renewables. <\/p>\n

Chris Wright, the US energy secretary and critic of net zero policies, said European countries had gone \u201coff track\u201d and ministers failed to agree a joint position following the talks. <\/p>\n

As my colleague Ian Johnston reported,<\/a> the US has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the IEA over its analysis on net zero policies, but also does not want to cede influence to China. <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s newsletter looks at new research on the costs of an emerging technology that sounds more in the realms of science fiction: space-based solar power. Enjoy reading \u2014 Rachel<\/p>\n

Space-based solar: small is beautiful<\/p>\n

Solar panels are being laid across large parts of the world as countries make use of ever cheaper prices to harness the sun for electricity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The technology produced about 7 per cent of the world\u2019s electricity in 2024 and figures for last year are expected to show a further increase.<\/p>\n

But the quest continues for non-intermittent sources of low-carbon power \u2014 and one idea gaining traction is to launch solar panels into space, where they can harvest almost constant sunlight and beam electricity back to Earth (as microwave radiation).<\/p>\n

As with many emerging technologies, there is a debate between those who think space-based solar power<\/a> is humanity\u2019s great hope and those who believe we\u2019d be better off pouring resources into developing traditional wind, solar and batteries for storage.<\/p>\n

But interest has gathered pace in recent years thanks to reductions in the costs of both making and launching satellites to host the solar panels. Companies such as Space Solar, based in Oxford, England, are working on the technology as well as governments.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The latest contribution to the debate comes via a report from Frazer-Nash Consultancy, in partnership with Space Solar and Imperial College London, looking at whether it would be more viable to launch smaller projects, given the costs and technical prowess required.<\/p>\n

The report was commissioned and published this month<\/a> by the UK government, which is committed to cutting the UK\u2019s emissions to net zero by 2050. That will require vastly more low-carbon power, though the country does not have abundant sun.<\/p>\n

It concludes that \u201cwith the right investment and support\u201d, small-scale space-based solar power (ie in the hundreds of megawatts rather than gigawatt range) could become \u201can economically competitive source of power by 2040\u201d and help provide a pathway towards larger, more expensive systems.<\/p>\n

The Frazer-Nash study found that small-scale solar was most effective in highly elliptical orbits, as opposed to the equatorial ones shown here:<\/p>\n

\"Diagram<\/p>\n

Specifically, the report believes the technology\u2019s levelised cost of electricity could fall to \u00a387-\u00a3129 per megawatt hour by 2040, which it says would make it competitive with costlier low-carbon options such as nuclear power and tidal stream.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c[A] smaller-scale SBSP system [\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009] would have a much lower upfront cost, potentially allowing faster commercialisation and unlocking the benefits of SBSP earlier while also de-risking the later implementation of a large-scale system,\u201d the paper says.<\/p>\n

Frazer-Nash argues the technology could also generate export revenues for Britain, if antennas to receive energy from the space-based panels were also positioned in other parts of the world, such as Canada and Japan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It would need to overcome many hurdles to reach that point, however \u2014 chiefly \u201csignificant public and private support\u201d. The consultancy says the first systems could cost as much as \u00a3595 per MWh \u2014 about seven times more than current power prices. British government budgets are tight.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Britain in particular there is also a question as to whether its inhabitants would welcome the huge antennas \u2014 potentially spanning several kilometres \u2014 needed to convert microwave radiation back into electricity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Diagram<\/p>\n

The cost trajectory in Frazer-Nash\u2019s report also depends on SpaceX\u2019s planned Starship satellite launcher, which it assumes will be commercially operational by 2030.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And last year, Frazer-Nash warned that<\/a> satellites were at risk of attack as well as colliding with other satellites or debris in increasingly congested space.<\/p>\n

All those challenges sit alongside the dramatic reductions in the costs of grid-scale batteries over the past year, suggesting earthly solutions to consistent low-carbon power are not as hard to find as feared.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the meantime, wireless electricity transmission is being explored for use on the ground, in the hope of being able to cut down on costly infrastructure \u2014 in a project launched this month<\/a> by Space Solar and National Grid Electricity Distribution in Britain. (Rachel Millard) <\/p>\n

Power Points<\/p>\n