SRC-264

Assess space-based solar power for European-scale power system decarbonization. Joule vol. 9 no. 9, article 102074, September 2025.

Published claims resting on this source

• CLM-0286 A 2025 peer-reviewed study modelled space solar power inside a detailed model of Europe's future electricity system, using the more favourable of NASA's cost projections for the year 2050, the one that needs several improvements together. It found that one satellite design using mirrors (called RD1) could lower the total cost of Europe's power system by 7 to 15 percent and replace much of the wind and solar power otherwise needed, but only if its projected costs are actually achieved. A second design using flat panels (called RD2) came out too expensive to be worthwhile at its projected 2050 cost.
• CLM-0843 Other research groups around the world are publishing on space solar power, but none of the works this search found takes a position on the argument about which carbon-accounting method is right, and this search found no new carbon-per-kilowatt-hour figure published since 2023.
• CLM-1429 A search on 13 October 2026 found no published model of Britain's power system that is free to decide how much space solar power to build. One British government study valued small space solar plants in a model by scaling down a much larger assumed plant; the only free-choice model found covers the whole of Europe.
• CLM-1476 The European study states that it used a 3 per cent interest rate for the cost of the space solar satellites. It does not say, in the paper itself, what rate it used for wind, solar and the other power sources, so it is not possible to tell from the paper whether space solar was given an easier test than its rivals.

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