Value chain · CLM-1436
In plain terms
A UK study says that one space solar power system would typically deliver about 2 gigawatts to the grid, and it compares this with the output of a nuclear power station.
The claim as recorded
Frazer-Nash's 2021 summary of space based solar power for the UK states that in a typical system "The rectenna converts the radio waves into electricity and typically around 2GW of power is delivered into the grid. Each SPS is thus comparable in power output to a nuclear power station."
Evidence behind this: T4: a consultancy summary (SRC-023) and a consultancy feasibility report (SRC-024), both by Frazer-Nash. The summary says the study was done under contract to the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (SRC-023 PDF p.2). The comparison with a nuclear power station is the summary's own wording, not a measured or modelled result.
Scope and limits
The comparison is the summary's own. It names no plant and gives no capacity, so it is a match in order of magnitude only, not to any one plant. Power stations differ widely in size. SRC-024 PDF p.101, table B.1.24, states that "The UK has electrical machinery installed at power stations up to 3.96GW, as used at Drax", citing a 2019 list of UK power stations. The page does not say whether 3.96 GW is one unit or the whole station. The same table says that the largest solar PV stations in commercial use have a capacity of more than 2 GW. The 2 GW is a design figure in a consultancy summary, not an output that any system has delivered. Both documents are by the same firm, so they are not independent of each other.
What it assumes
That "a nuclear power station" means a whole station of ordinary size. The summary names no station and gives no output for one.
Where it comes from
PDF p.14, section 2.2 "Space Based Solar Power overview", verbatim: "The rectenna converts the radio waves into electricity and typically around 2GW of power is delivered into the grid. Each SPS is thus comparable in power output to a nuclear power station." The same section describes the satellite as "typically in Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO)", with solar panels "generating over 3 Gigawatts (GW)" of electricity on the satellite. CLM-0796, from a source independent of Frazer-Nash (SRC-243), records Britain's system operator using "a 2 GW coal-fired power station" as its reference for scale.
Basis: GW of electrical power delivered to the grid
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1436
CLM-1436, Energy Aperture, as of 2021.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-023
- CLM-0002The summary report says the beam is strongest at the middle of the receiving site, at about 240 watts per square metre, and argues that...CLM-0003The report gives the receiving site as an ellipse roughly 7 km by 13 km, and states a beam strength of 245 watts per square metre.CLM-0005A second figure of 29 watts per square metre appears in the same report, but it measures electricity produced per unit of land, not beam...CLM-0006None of the five main studies mentions the international radio-frequency exposure limits, or any safety standard, or a restricted area...CLM-1441Documents give the size of the CASSIOPeiA satellite design as anything from 1 to 2 km across. For a full-size version delivering 2...CLM-1442A 2021 study for the UK government shows one design, CASSIOPeiA, as about 1.7 km across and 2,000 tonnes, sending 2 gigawatts to the grid...CLM-1443The 2021 study for the UK government says the leading designs need no new materials, but that building them at a sensible cost needs two...CLM-1444The 2021 study for the UK government concluded that space-based solar power is technically feasible, affordable at a competitive cost per...More on the source page.
- Also from SRC-024
- CLM-0001The UK government's own feasibility study describes a system beaming microwaves at about 230 watts per square metre onto the ground.CLM-0006None of the five main studies mentions the international radio-frequency exposure limits, or any safety standard, or a restricted area...CLM-0007The UK study's own experts expect the beam to interfere with electronics in its path, and think it unlikely to have much effect outside the...CLM-0235A 2020 UK study rated the UK behind other countries in many technologies for a solar power satellite. For three key ones, large mirrors...CLM-0714The 2021 UK study by Frazer-Nash Consultancy proposed that the satellite fly itself to its final orbit, using its own solar panels to run...CLM-1441Documents give the size of the CASSIOPeiA satellite design as anything from 1 to 2 km across. For a full-size version delivering 2...CLM-1452By our rough arithmetic, the beam of the UK's full-size reference design would carry about a million times more power than the...CLM-1472The designer of the UK's CASSIOPeiA satellite says it has no moving parts and is built from many small identical pieces, so when pieces...More on the source page.