Beam It Down, Scotty: The Regulatory Framework for Space‐Based Solar Power

• Author: Deliana Ernst
• Published date: 01 November 2013
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12041
• Date: 01 November 2013

Beam It Down, Scotty: The Regulatory Framework

for Space-Based Solar Power

Deliana Ernst

The idea of collecting solar energy in space and

beaming this energy to Earth has been around since

the late 1960s. Based on existing technologies, space

solar power (SSP) could become an economically

viable alternative to today’s commercial energy

sources within the next thirty years. This article

describes the legal environment for SSP and examines

whether the current available legal tools are sufficient

to protect the interest of both SSP operators and

the public. It examines the international regulatory

framework, European Union law and the national

legal regimes of the United States and China – both

major players in space and both having SSP ambi-

tions. It concludes that one of the main legal challenges

will be how to frame liability, from the perspective of

both the operator and the public. The article provides

suggestions on how to frame liability for SSP.

INTRODUCTION: SPACE

SOLAR POWER

The idea to collect solar energy in space and then beam

this energy to Earth is not new, and was already raised

in the late 1960s by Peter Glaser.1The concept of space

solar power (SSP) is in theory quite simple: it suggests

collecting solar energy in space, where the sun’s energy

is strongest and continuously available, using solar

panels or mirrors to redirect it to Earth by wireless

energy transfer. A recent report of the International

Academy of Astronautics (IAA) concluded that space-

based solar technologies currently being developed

would be technically feasible and ready within the next

two decades and could become an economically viable

alternative to today’s commercial energy sources

within the next thirty years.2Most recently, the former

President of India, Abdul Kalam, announced the cre-

ation of a ‘World Space Knowledge Platform’ in which

specialists from the United States, India and other

space-faring nations will join forces to develop an SSP

mission.3Various actors have already been experi-

menting with SSP. The University of Surrey, together

with aerospace group EADS-Astrium, is studying the

best way to beam power from a solar satellite to

the ground by conducting infrared laser experiments.4

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA),

together with Mitsubishi, is working on a space-based

solar plan with satellites scheduled to be launched by

the end of the next decade, and with a full pilot system

expected to be ready by 2030.5Finally, Pacific Gas

& Electric (PG&E), a Californian utility company,

entered into a contract with Solaren, an American

company, to purchase space solar power for 150,000

households by 2016.

Due to the very high upfront costs, launching a large-

scale SSP system may not be the best way to start.

Instead, SSP may seem a more practical solution if it is

first targeted towards places where power is in short

supply, such as military sites or disaster relief efforts.

George Friedman predicts that SSP will, due to a next

war, rapidly translate from prototype to reality,

freeriding on the American military similar to the Inter-

net and railroads in the past.6

By far the biggest concern regarding SSP, from the

public as well as authorities, will be whether the energy

transmission via microwave or laser can be considered

safe from a health and environmental perspective. Col-

lected solar energy would likely be transmitted via

microwave or laser technology to Earth-based receiving

antennas. In fact, microwave beams do not create mea-

surable health threats and are virtually impossible to

1P. Glaser, ‘Power from the Sun: Its Future’, 162:3856 Science

(1968), 857.

2J.C. Mankins, Space Solar Power – The First International Assess-

ment of Space Solar Power: Opportunities, Issues and Potential

Pathways Forward (International Academy of Astronautics,

2011), found at: <http://iaaweb.org/iaa/Studies/sg311_finalreport

_solarpower.pdf>.

3A.P.J.A. Kalam and M. Hopkins, ‘Space Solar Power: Key to a

Liveable Planet Earth’, National Space Society (1 June 2013), found

at: <http://www.nss.org/news/releases/NSS_Release_20130610

_LivableEarth.html>.

4C. Binns, ‘Space-based Solar Power: Satellites Could Gather

Energy from the Sun and Beam It Down to Earth’, Popular Science (6

February 2011), found at: <http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/

2011-06/satellites-could-gather-energy-sun-and-beam-it-down

-earth>.

5See <http://www.jaxa.jp/article/interview/vol53/p2_e.html>.

6G. Friedman, The Next 100 Years; A Forecast for the 21st Century

(Anchor Books, 2009), at 8.

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Review of European Community & International Environmental Law

RECIEL 22 (3) 2013. ISSN 2050-0386

© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.

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