A giant light pipe that stretches 20 kilometers into the atmosphere and sports concentrated solar panels at the end of it seems bit of a far-fetched idea. But look again and it does not look as unbelievable as it sounds. The best part of “StratoSolar” is that it puts the giant concentrated solar panels into the stratosphere using materials that are all available in the market today and with technology that is at hand. That makes the StratoSolar a practical solution to the global energy needs!
A giant light pipe with hydrogen inside (for buoyancy) is used to suspend the concentrated solar panels in the stratosphere. The pipe is connected to ground and controls both the alignment of the CSP for energy collection and the transfer of obtained heat energy from the giant structure to the ground control. This heat energy is then converted to energy using conventional methods already in use.
The new technology is apparently 15 times cheaper than any of the conventional energy options that are available today. Also, StratoSolar takes up little ground space and offers 3 times more efficiency than CSP units on ground. It holds the potential to produce 1 GWe and can function without any weather constraints all round the year. Now if we can have one of these up and running to shoot down the skeptics…
Via: Next Big Future
