Value chain · CLM-1223
In plain terms
In 2019 China's state news agency said the country's main space-technology academy planned a megawatt-scale solar power station in space by 2035, weighing about 200 tonnes, and was spending about 28 million US dollars on a ground test site in Chongqing.
The claim as recorded
Xinhua reported on 2019-12-02 that China "plans to accomplish a 200-tonne megawatt-level space-based solar power station by 2035, according to the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST)", and that China was building a testing base in Bishan, Chongqing, with an investment of 200 million yuan (28.4 million US dollars), for research on high-power wireless energy transmission and its effect on the environment.
Evidence behind this: T5, a state news agency reporting a research fellow of the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) at an engineering forum; it permits "CAST stated Y on date Z" only, not that the plan is funded or on schedule.
Scope and limits
A one-person statement at a forum, reported by state media; no budget for the 2035 station, no orbit, no first-power date, no rating beyond "megawatt-level" and no intermediate milestones are given. "Megawatt-level" is not a grid-connected rating. The 28.4 million US dollar figure is Xinhua's conversion. The Bishan base cost is a construction investment, not a programme budget. Later Chinese statements (CGTN 2022, SRC-607, CLM-1227) give a staged plan with 10 MW by 2035 and over 100 kW by 2030, consistent with "megawatt-level" by 2035.
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
text, PDF p.1: China "plans to accomplish a 200-tonne megawatt-level space-based solar power station by 2035, according to the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST)"; the statement was made by a CAST research fellow at the sixth China-Russia Engineering Forum in Xiamen. PDF p.2, paraphrased: an investment of 200 million yuan (28.4 million US dollars) in a testing base in Bishan, Chongqing, for high-power wireless energy transmission research and its environmental impact.
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-027 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1223
CLM-1223, Energy Aperture, as of 2019-12-02.