Space-based reflectors could boost solar farms on Earth

That is the aim of a project at Glasgow University that has received €2.5m from the European Research Council (ERC) to take the idea forward.

Solar absorber concentrates efforts on solar power plants

Professor Colin McInnes of Glasgow University’s James Watt School of Engineering has received the ERC Advanced Grant to support five years of research into new ways of maximising solar power generation.

Professor McInnes’ project - ‘SOLSPACE: Enhancing Global Clean Energy Services Using Orbiting Solar Reflectors’ - will employ four postdoctoral researchers to work with him to devise, develop and demonstrate strategies for increasing the amount of energy produced by future large-scale solar power farms around the world.

According to Glasgow University, their work will outline the potential benefits of creating a constellation of gossamer-thin satellite reflectors which would redirect sunlight from orbit towards these large solar facilities on earth at the start and end of each day, when consumer demand for power is at its peak but the output of solar farms is weakest.