This competition will provide grant support to projects to develop technologies, energy systems and mission architecture needed for space based solar power.
Space Based Solar Power (SBSP) is the concept of collecting solar power in a high earth orbit and beaming it securely to a fixed point on the earth and could deliver clean baseload energy day and night throughout the year. A recently published independent report Space based solar power: de-risking the pathway to net zero found SBSP to be technically feasible, potentially economically competitive and aligned with UK government priorities.
The Competition will provide from £3 million with potential for an additional amount of up to £3 million in grants to fund innovation in SBSP. The Competition will support technologies at Technology Readiness (TRL) Level 1 to 6 at the start of the project.
Funding is divided into 4 lots:
- wireless power transmission
- high concentration solar PV
- SBSP energy systems engineering
- SBSP space mission architecture feasibility studies
The Competition is funded jointly by the BEIS Net Zero Innovation Portfolio (NZIP) under the Energy Research and Disruptive Technologies theme, and the UK Space Agency.
Published 20 July 2022
