Japan aims to generate solar power from space by 2025

Japan aims to become the first country in the world to send solar energy to Earth from space to generate electricity.

A public-private partnership led by Japan’s space agency JAXA will see the establishment of the first satellite transmitter by 2025, according to local reports.

Satellites will convert solar energy into microwave ovens and send it to ground receiving stations, which will then convert it into electric power.

Naoki Shinohara, a professor at Kyoto University in Nikkei, said: “If we can show our technology before other countries in the world, it will be a bargaining chip for space development with other countries.”

This concept, which was first theoretically developed in 1968, has many advantages compared to terrestrial solar settings, especially the ability to harvest solar power over much longer periods of time, unrestricted by the normal cycle of the sun.

Microwave ovens can pass through clouds, so the technology is able to work even in stormy weather.

Japan has already made many first steps in the 1980s in sending microwave energy into space.

In 2015, JAXA scientists followed this up with another breakthrough that saw 1.8 kilowatts of power sent to a ground receiver – almost enough to power an electric kettle.

Many other countries and regions are also working on this technology, with the European Space Agency last year unveiling a plan to test the feasibility of space-based solar energy.

ESA plans to explore space-based solar energy through SOLARIS