FYI,

"New Company Looks to Produce Space Based Solar Power Within a
Decade"
Universe Today
http://www.universetoday.com/2009/02/18/new-company-looks-to-produce-
space-based-solar-power-within-a-decade

: Is space-based solar power (SBSP) a technology whose time has
: come? The concept and even some of the hardware for harnessing
: energy from the sun with orbiting solar arrays has been around
: for some time. But the biggest challenge for making the concept
: a reality, says entrepreneur Peter Sage of Space Energy, Inc.,
: is that SBSP has never been commercially viable. But that could
: be changing. Space Energy, Inc. has assembled an impressive team
: of scientists, engineers and business people, putting together
: what Sage calls "a rock-solid commercial platform" for their
: company. And given the current looming issues of growing energy
: needs and climate change, Space Energy, Inc. could be in the
: right place at the right time.

: "Although it's a very grandiose vision, it makes total sense,"
: Sage told Universe Today. "This is an inevitable technology;
: it's going to happen. If we can put solar panels in space where
: the sun shines 24 hours a day, if we have a safe way of
: transmitting the energy to Earth and broadcasting it anywhere,
: that is a serious game changer." If everything falls into place
: for this company, they could be producing commercially available
: SBSP within a decade.

: The basic concept of SBSP is having solar cells in space
: collecting energy from sun, then converting the energy into a
: low intensity microwave beam, sending it down to Earth where it
: is collected on a rectenna, and then fed into the power grid to
: provide electricity. Almost 200 million gigawatts of solar
: energy is beamed towards the Earth every second, which is more
: energy than our civilization has used since the dawn of the
: electrical age. We only need a way to harness that energy and
: make it usable.

: Space Energy, Inc.'s vision is to help create an
: energy-independent world, and improve the lives of millions of
: people by bringing a source of safe, clean energy to the planet
: from space. They are looking to become the world's leading, and
: perhaps the first, SBSP enterprise.

: Solar collector beaming energy to Earth. Image courtesy Mafic
: Studios.

: "The biggest challenge for SBSP is making it work on a
: commercial level in terms of bottom line," said Sage, "i.e.,
: putting together a business case that would allow the enormous
: infrastructure costs to be raised, the plan implemented, and
: then electricity sold at a price that is reasonable. I say
: 'reasonable' and not just 'competitive' because we're getting
: into a time where selling energy only on a price basis isn't
: going to be the criteria for purchase."

: Currently, there are times in the US when electricity is sold
: wholesale for close to a dollar a kilowatt during peak usage or
: times of emergency when power needs to be shipped around the
: national grid. Sage said SBSP will never be cost comparable with
: the current going rate of 6 or 7 cents a kilowatt due to the
: enormous set-up costs.

: "We believe we can get it to a reasonable price, a fair market
: price as the demand for energy increases," Sage said.

: A huge energy gap is looming for our world, and that too, will
: change the energy game.

: According to a white paper written by aerospace engineer James
: Michael Snead, "The End of Easy Energy and What Are We Going To
: Do About It," in order to meet the world's projected increase
: in energy needs by 2100 which likely will be at least three
: times what is being produced today, today's sustainable energy
: production must expand by a factor of over 25. Under that
: scenario, even if the US were to build 70 new nuclear plants,
: add the equivalent of 15 more Hoover Dams, expand the
: geothermal capacity by 50 times what it is today, install over
: a million large land or sea wind turbines covering
: 150,000 square miles, build 60,000 square miles of commercial
: solar voltaic farms, and on top of that convert 1.3 billion dry
: tons of food mass to bio fuels, still only 30% of the power
: needs would be filled by 2100, or perhaps even earlier.

: "Looking at every single technology we can as a civilization to
: try and fill the energy gap in a clean and resourceful,
: sustainable way, technologies like SBSP have to be made to
: work," said Sage.

: He says this is an important point. "We're not setting ourselves
: up to compete with coal, or nuclear, or ground based solar or
: wind. I don't want to pick a fight with any of those industries
: saying that we're trying to take a piece of their pie. What
: we're saying is that right now, from a responsible perspective
: in terms of being a good steward for the environment, we need
: to look at every single source of energy that we can get our
: hands on, primarily green, and develop it regardless, because
: we're going to need it. SBSP is one of the few forms of energy
: that has the ability to be base-load, i.e., 24-7, and it's the
: only form of energy that can be broadcast on demand."

: The first phase of Space Energy, Inc.'s plan is to launch a
: small prototype satellite into low Earth orbit. "This will help
: validate the numbers we are speculating on at this point, but
: also validate several different aspects of what SBSP can do,"
: said Sage. "From a successful demonstration, we are hoping to
: close power purchase agreements with one of several entities we
: are in discussions with at present. And on the strength of that
: we should be able to put the first commercial satellite in
: orbit."

: With regards to the timetable, Sage was hesitant to commit to
: a schedule. "As timetables go, everything needs to be flexible,
: but we are looking to close the financing for the demonstrator
: during the first quarter of this year (2009). The demonstrator
: is a 24 to 36 month project and, from there, we will start the
: commercial build-out of the main satellite, which could take up
: to four years to be operational."

: That's an aggressive schedule. But Sage said since their plan
: is being driven from a commercial basis, they can run their
: operation differently than government agencies who don't
: necessarily operate with the bottom line in mind. "Our board
: members and entrepreneurial group certainly have a lot of
: experience running commercial entities. We know what we're
: doing. We're in a market that we hope to pioneer, and everyone
: feels confident that we have what it takes. We certainly have
: the passion, vision and enthusiasm to make this happen."

: What are the biggest hurdles to overcome in this project? "If
: you would have asked me that question a few months ago," Sage
: replied, "I would have said a combination of meeting the right
: people who could understand the vision and scope of what it is
: what we're doing, and raising the initial financing for the
: demonstrator. Those hurdles, at this point, really seem to be
: taken care of. The more we have our technical teams talk with
: investors, the more people understand that we're real and this
: isn't some sort of Star Trek giggle factor. Right now, with the
: level of due diligence that's been done not only on SBSP itself,
: but with ourselves as a commercially viable entity, we're on
: the forefront of many people's agenda in terms of how to move
: this forward. We see a straight path to making this a reality."

: Sage said no new technology is needed for the demonstrator,
: which will be a working, small prototype, but challenges do
: remain to move forward beyond that. "Obviously, there are
: technical challenges because something of this scale has never
: been done before. We know we can do wireless power transmission,
: as NASA did some pretty significant tests on this in the 1970s.
: We know the physics of wireless power transmission, and how
: everything should work from geostationary orbit."

: While the demonstrator won't be of any scale where energy could
: be sold commercially, it would be a proof of concept.

: "Once we've demonstrated that we can wirelessly beam power
: accurately to the ground in a safe, controlled, effective
: manner, and in a way that can be metered and measured," said
: Sage, "we will have taken a massive step forward to prove that
: SBSP is a technology of the future that has the potential to
: really fill a gap in the world's energy needs."

: Some have equated developing SBSP to what was accomplished with
: the Apollo program.

: "There are so many positive spinoffs to SBSP as a game changing
: foundation of space commerce, that just by addressing a lot of
: the challenges that lay ahead, we will be blazing a trail for
: many other opportunities for a low earth orbit economy," Sage
: added.

: Space Energy, Inc. recently attended the World Future Energy
: Summit and has been overwhelmed with the response.

: "We've had discussions with many different entities, both
: governmental and private, in the Middle East; Abu Dhabi,
: United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Dubai, many areas around Europe,
: and many of the world's top investment firms. I don't think
: we're going to be short of people that will want to support
: us." Sage added that in general, SBSP has strong support in
: Washington DC, and that SBSP recently was added to a list of
: technologies being studied by the Obama administration.

: SBSP has ability to literally change the course of history,
: and impact the quality of life for people everywhere. Sage
: said this project is an entrepreneurs' dream.

: "I speak for our entire team here, we're not just focused on
: how much money are we going to make," Sage said. "We're focused
: on the fact that this is an inevitable technology and someone
: is going to do it. Right now we're the best shot. We're also
: focused on the fact that, according to every scenario we've
: analyzed, the world needs space based solar power, and it needs
: it soon, as well as the up-scaling of just about every other
: source of renewable energy that we can get our hands on."

: "Space based solar power will happen whether we crack cold
: fusion, or whether we suddenly go to 80% efficiency on ground
: based solar power (currently its only at 50%)," Sage continued.
: "It has to happen based on the nature on what it is. With that
: in mind, I've been willing to put everything I have on the line
: to be able to make this work, and that was three years, ago. To
: see how far we've come in the past six to eight months has been
: amazing."

: "This is going to happen."

: For more information:

: Space Energy, Inc.
http://www.spaceenergy.com/s/Home.asp

: Space Energy, Inc.'s interactive flash presentation
http://www.spaceenergy.com/Discovery

: Video presentation on Space Based Solar Power by Mafic Studios
http://www.spaceenergy.com/s/DiscoveryPresentation.asp

Mark Reiff