Upbeat on Solar Power

摘要

Starting in IN 2016, California's Pacific Gas & Electric will buy electricity from Solaren Corporation, a California company that will generate power from solar panels in orbit ("Where the Sun Does Shine," June/July 2008), convert it to radio-frequency transmissions, beam it to receivers in Fresno, and convert it to electricity to feed into PG&E's grid. Solaren's Cal Boerman says his company has spoken with United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, and envisions four heavy-lift launches to get the power-generating elements in orbit, where they will automatically dock. But can the company get a space-based solar power system up and running in seven years? "Quite a few hurdles to leap," says the RLV and Space Transport News Web site.