Will space-based solar power ever make sense?

I doubt that wireless energy transmission at this scale and distance will ever be practical. It will probably never be economic compared to terrestrial panels and batteries.

If/when we build space elevators, then orbital solar might make sense to use the tether to transfer power. Even with the lower cost of putting mass in orbit, I don't think it'd be any cheaper than terrestrial solar.

Besides, by the time we figure put space elevators, we'll already have commercial fusion, right?

Will it make sense? One of the first things coming to mind is that if we harvest energy outside of Earth and send it towards Earth, the planet will eventually need to dissipate extra energy as heat back to space. Given that we're currently fighting with raising temperatures, it could be a matter of concern given enough scale.

Solar system in space enjoy potentially 24 hours per day of sun - so they can be more effective than land-based systems. Downsides of course are the necessity to build in space, to deliver payloads to space. We need good numbers to determine.

Hope we'll soon make solar panels in space - maybe on the Moon - so won't need to use Earth resources for that. But "soon" here is of course relative.

We can surely use orbital power for space-related needs - running data centers in space could be one of the interesting applications. Space manufacturing, making fuels and metals... Sending energy to Earth usually has more efficiency the longer the sent waves are - microwaves are better to catch than light - but we also have the requirements of rectennas. It's definitely interesting application area from the engineering point of view.

> Vijendran said he expects the cost of space-based solar power will eventually fall to a point where it is competitive with solar and wind power on Earth, which is below $50 per megawatt-hour

Anyone have a link to his math? Curious how launch cost and cadence relate to LCOE.

People will do anything to avoid nuclear

Space based solar power was proposed decades ago when solar panels were expensive. The 1977 price was $77/W. It made sense to launch the expensive solar panels and have full utilization of them.

Now, solar panels are cheap, $1/W in bulk. Even with really cheap Starship launch price of $50/lb, getting to orbit is more than the cost of the panels. That doesn't include costs of assembling array or transmitting the power. It effectively means that the extra utilization of space power isn't worth it.

What about beaming monochromatic red or near infrared light down toward existing solar installations? Silicon can have up to 50% efficiency at these wavelengths and it's much safer than microwaves, especially visible red light is.

Just use the cable of the space elevator.

I mean, maybe after we fill up all the rooftops? It costs a couple thousand a pound to lift things into orbit. It costs basically nothing to lift things onto your roof (the installers are mostly needed for the electrical work). For $15k per home you can deploy on 80% of homes in the US. It works and is cost-effective today.

A space based system would cost billions.

Yes, as a weapon.