Terrestrial transparent green energy receiving system designed for Space Solar Power Station

Abstract

In this manuscript, we proposed the concept of a terrestrial transparent energy receiving system for a Space Solar Power Station (SSPS), aiming at solving the problems of environmental destruction and the waste of land resources caused by the construction of large area rectenna arrays at the traditional terrestrial receiving system. We also fabricated a demonstration model of the new system. The system’s energy receiving and converting device consists of many rectenna arrays that are flexible, transparent, and matching network eliminated to harvest the microwave energy averaging about 80 mW/m² on the ground from the Solar Power Satellite (SPS). The rectenna unit of the system operates at 2.45 GHz, and the measured RF to DC conversion efficiency reaches 20% at −10 dBm and up to 64.65% at 6.8 dBm. As the rectenna array of the system has the advantages of both microwave energy harvesting and light transmittance, conventional solar panels can be placed underneath to collect sunlight and convert it into electricity. It is also feasible to build “self-powered” smart agricultural greenhouses for vegetable cultivation underneath so that the collected energy can be utilized locally to avoid the waste caused by long-distance transmission. The proposed system is of great significance to the research on environmental protection and efficient utilization of land resources at the terrestrial energy receiving system of the Space Solar Power Station.