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NEOM To Witness Solar Power Generation From Space | |
| Sumita Pawar |
The news says that Saudi Arabia is helping a British company come up with a way to beam unlimited solar power from space to Earth.
Saudi Arabia officials met with UK Business Secretary Grant Shapps last week to discuss ambitious plans for collaboration in space and innovation, including the potential to invest in the development of space-based solar power, the report added.
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Now a $500 million Saudi megaproject has stepped forward to help fund the project being developed by the UK’s Space Solar Ltd.
According to the Times, NEOM and the UK government have partnered to invest $4.3 million (£3.5 million) in the project's development.
The initial funding is to further develop the science and feasibility of the project.
Any successful project would require an investment of tens of billions of dollars and not be completed before 2040, according to consultants Frazer-Nash.
Space Solar is developing high-tech, futuristic plans that could see solar energy collected using a very large satellite in orbit above planet Earth.
From attached solar panels, unlimited solar energy could be beamed back to the planet using advanced radio technology.
The report says that NEOM is looking into how it could get carbon-free energy for its projects by using solar power from space.
Its main advantages over wind and terrestrial solar energy are its ability to deliver clean energy day and night, throughout the year, and through all weather conditions.