Space-Based Solar Power for U.S. Energy Independence
Space-based solar power (SBSP) could prove transformative to global energy demand by providing price-efficient, continuous clean energy from orbit (Figure 1). Recent developments, including low-cost space access, mass-produced satellites, robotics, and other commercial-led innovations, will unlock this capability within the next 10 to 20 years.
While both U.S. allies and adversaries are rapidly advancing their own SBSP initiatives, the U.S. currently lacks a cohesive national strategy to develop this technology. Engaging key stakeholders across various industries—both public and private—is critical to harnessing SBSP’s full potential while maintaining U.S. energy independence and leadership in the coming century. This paper draws on insights from experts across various fields that serve as potential early use cases for SBSP.
Outlining the Need for SBSP
While greater electrification plays a key role to U.S. energy independence, it requires the supply side of the electricity market to provide and deliver exactly the amount of power consumers want at all times and at all locations, needing constant grid monitoring. However, a massive overhaul of America’s antiquated electric infrastructure is required in order to meet the nation’s energy demand and withstand increasingly frequent severe weather. Transmission bottlenecks and increasing load growth from power-intensive applications will continue to challenge electrification. Furthermore, solar and wind renewables require grid management approaches that account for intermittency.
This is where the unique selling points of SBSP provide an opportunity for it to be considered in the energy portfolio. In the 1960s, SBSP was first proposed as placing satellites in Earth orbit to collect sunlight 365/24/7, generate clean energy, and wirelessly transmit to any ground point on Earth as microwaves, bypassing transmission bottlenecks and powering the grid irrespective of inclement weather and cloud cover. Unlike terrestrial solar and wind, SBSP offers uninterrupted power generation and delivery, which can help alleviate grid intermittency and reduce the strain on existing infrastructure. As it can be used as a baseload and dispatchable energy source, SBSP ensures that energy is available where it’s most needed, hence bolstering grid resiliency and energy security.
This technology is a major piece of the puzzle to solving the growing global demand for zero-carbon energy and is an important addition to the energy portfolio needed to achieve renewable energy independence in the U.S.
Recent Developments in SBSP
Acknowledging the rapidly falling costs of launch to orbit, NASA’s January 2024 study highlighted SBSP’s potential to deliver nearly unlimited electricity in the competitive price range of $30/MWh to $80/MWh by 2050, with greenhouse gas emissions in the range of 3,600 grams of CO2 equivalent per MWh (gCO2e/MWh) to 4,200 gCO2e/MWh—low enough to contribute significantly to global carbon reduction goals. For comparison, ground-based utility-scale photovoltaic collection with lithium-ion storage is predicted to achieve a similar price range per MWh, but with about 10 times the emissions.
Experimental demonstrations from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 2023, and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) since 2019, have successfully explored the feasibility of this technology by beaming power in space and over long distances respectively. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is planning to conduct of a series of integrated demonstrations and technology maturation efforts to develop SBSP collection and transmission capabilities
The European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) SOLARIS initiative recently published independent cost-benefit studies that concluded SBSP would provide substantial environmental, economic, strategic, and energy security benefits for Europe when deployed at scale. In addition to the ESA, the UK, China, Japan, and South Korea each have national programs to develop kW- to GW-scale space solar power stations orbiting the Earth in the upcoming decades.
The U.S. remains the only major space power-contributing nation without a multi-pronged, consolidated national strategy dedicated to SBSP research and development. Early adopters of this technology will profit economically and geopolitically, positioning themselves as leaders in innovation and net export of renewable energy. It is imperative that the U.S. now engage a critical group of government and private sector stakeholders in discussions about including space-based solar power in the U.S. energy portfolio to achieve zero-carbon energy independence and bolster national competitiveness. Bringing these sectors together will raise awareness and provide a platform to acknowledge the cross-disciplinary constraints and solutions.
Although the desired future state of a national strategy is clear, the current trajectory for SBSP development in the U.S. is uncoordinated. Leadership in key U.S. energy and defense sectors, including the Department of Energy (DOE), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), and Department of Defense (DOD), largely lacks awareness of the benefits of investing in space-based solar power. U.S. utility providers, energy investors, and major tech companies with data centers, who stand to gain as customers, remain uninformed about this technology.
Exploring Possibilities with SBSP
The Space Frontier Foundation (SFF) collaborated with the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP) to host a Chatham House Rule format SBSP workshop at the AI Expo for National Competitiveness in Washington, D.C., on May 8, 2024. Professionals from a wide range of interests and organizations were brought together with the objective of increasing the inclusion of space-based power as an energy option in strategic planning for their organizations.
The sectors represented a diverse array of industries, ranging from defense, high-tech, and venture capital to humanitarian aid. Each sector had specific ideas for the potential uses of SBSP, not only demonstrating their interest in developing and utilizing this technology, but also showcasing the near-future applicability of SBSP in their respective industries as well.
Enabling Data Centers. A representative from a data center company in Virginia brought attention to the current crisis plaguing the energy sector, with the data industry being particularly threatened due to the lack of energy availability to support computations, cooling, and facility construction. Many counties in the state—and around the nation—are running out of power due to the high energy cost of building and maintaining data centers; local and state governments have begun curtailing data center construction. The representative underscored the necessity for reliable clean energy and asserted that the industry would be supportive of this new clean energy source. If implemented, SBSP could prove vital to the industry’s future, especially given the increasing necessity of large-scale data centers (Figure 2) amidst drastic technological change, such as the development of power-intensive systems like artificial intelligence.
Enabling Humanitarian Aid Efforts. Humanitarian aid representatives stressed the game-changing possibilities that SBSP could provide in disaster relief, pointing to the difficulties of current operations in transporting generators and fuel across disaster zones today. If implemented, SBSP could allow easy and widespread energy access within such zones, revolutionizing humanitarian operations as we know them. Moreover, experts pointed to the climate crisis and the impact of exacerbating heat conditions on human migration, especially from impoverished nations lacking air conditioning and other cooling technologies.
Given the fragility of the power grid and the necessity for affordable, clean energy sources in nations around the world, SBSP could prove crucial to mitigating forced migration. The humanitarian aid representatives also referenced organizations like the Red Cross, and other United Nations–affiliated humanitarian organizations that would highly benefit from SBSP (Figure 3). The challenge of getting running water and clean water to places without power was explicitly brought up as a foreseeable use of SBSP in the context of desalination, with the representatives actively describing potential technology that, with the help of SBSP, would solve this issue.
Enabling Reliable Energy Supply. While listening to the humanitarian representatives discuss the possibilities SBSP had for disaster zones, venture capital fund investors echoed the premise that SBSP could prove revolutionary to investing in areas that lack reliable energy infrastructure. There are many areas on Earth where the transmission of electricity—let alone carbon-free electricity—is challenging. In the context of carbon-free energy, venture capital managers alluded to SBSP’s ability to operate during inclement weather. SBSP’s ability to power receivers during the night, as well as dispatch energy to any location (Figures 4 and 5), would allow the powering of remote geographic areas inaccessible to traditional energy transmission lines.
Enabling U.S. National Security. Representatives from the U.S. defense industry raised several questions regarding SBSP and its impact on U.S. security and national competitiveness. They voiced concerns over the ownership of SBSP systems, highlighting the potential geopolitical consequences of SBSP, such as offering power generated through SBSP to countries as a soft power negotiating tool. Experts also suggested that because SBSP systems are in orbit, if these systems were a U.S. asset, they would become a liability that the U.S. would be obligated to protect. Participants were unsure whether the U.S. has the current capability to protect these large systems, but also recognized that allowing adversaries to monopolize or control SBSP wouldn’t align with the U.S.’s national interests.
Discussing SBSP Implementation
Alongside discussing the myriad possibilities that SBSP offers to the future of their industries, the attendees also pondered the logistics, development, and implementation of SBSP technology, as well as how their respective visions align.
International Working Groups. In dialogue with the concerns raised by people from the defense industry, representatives working for international groups discussed possibilities of pursuing international cooperation while maintaining national competitiveness. Representatives pointed out that these systems would be under the protection of the International Space Treaty, but that a well-orchestrated international collaboration would naturally dissuade attacks on the technology.
In addition to security, such international collaboration would further help in the development of standards, navigating regulatory aspects of spectrum management, and other international protocols. In light of the defense industry’s concerns regarding the U.S.’s involvement, they suggested the possibility of the countries developing SBSP establishing an OPEC-like system, where member nations collaborate on the utilization of the technology.
National Security. Representatives from the defense industry also highlighted the necessity of establishing multiple centers of gravity with regard to the development of SBSP. Competition between these centers would drive the pace of research. One participant shared an anecdote from a conversation he had with a British organization concerning SBSP research: when he asked if he could collaborate on their existing project, they advised him to instead start his own project in the U.S., stressing the importance of creating competition from multiple, strong centers of gravity. Beyond merely accelerating innovation, they believed that doing so would also serve to align the interests of various stakeholders, ranging from private companies to government agencies, ensuring the U.S. can achieve and sustain technological competitiveness in SBSP in the coming years.
Venture Capital. The discussion on how SBSP would be best developed, while concerned with creating the most stable and efficient development plan, also emphasized tactics to receive greater investment funding. Though investors made clear that more funding would come when the technology was closer to fully functioning, they also discussed the implementation of regulatory structures in the power sector, so that SBSP would see an easier transition into the existing power grid. Venture capital experts said that putting these regulatory structures in place would attract federal funding. They recommended implementing short-term technological goals, such as building high-altitude platforms to demonstrate progress and attract investment in the near future.
A Worthwhile Mission
The workshop co-hosted by SFF and SCSP revealed that, despite some skepticism regarding SBSP’s implementation and operation, attendees overwhelmingly viewed the technology as transformative and integral to the future of their organizations. Participants saw SBSP as a connecting force between disparate industries, providing opportunities for inter-organizational collaboration and innovation. Attendees shared the belief that SBSP would be a crucial component in the pursuit of American energy independence and energy security, underlining the necessity for further investigation and investment in the technology. Thus, consistently engaging key stakeholders across various industries to envision the potential it upholds is critical to raising awareness and enabling support toward developing a consolidated U.S. national strategy.
—Sam Berryessa and Shuai Li are Space-Based Solar Power interns with the Space Frontier Foundation, and Srikanth Raviprasad is the Space-Based Solar Power project lead with SFF.