US report proposes orbital solar power station

The Pentagon is pushing for the creation of a solar power station in space that would meet all the Earth's future energy needs and avoid conflict over oil.

The US Department of Defence (DoD) has called on the government and private sector to support to construction of a $10bn pilot station that would orbit the Earth, collect energy from the sun and transmit it back to the ground using microwave beams.

The move follows the publication this month of its report into the viability of such a project by the National Security Space Office, which showed that a station could generate in one year the same amount of energy as that provided by the world's total oil reserves.

"The study group concluded that space-based solar power does present a strategic opportunity that could significantly advance US and partner security, capability and freedom of action, and merits significant further attention on the part of both the US government and the private sector," the report said.

It added: "In addition to the emergence of global concerns over climate change, American and allied energy source security is now under threat from actors that seek to destabilise or control global energy markets."

The report concluded that collecting solar power from space was far more effective, clean and powerful than from the ground and compared to other alternative energy solutions.

It also pointed out that with technology around solar power at an advanced stage and with oil prices soaring, there was never a better time to finally get the idea off the ground.

However, the DoD cautioned that such a project - which could be operational by 2012 - would require joint government and private sector co-operation and funding, with businesses taking on the project's development and management.

It also expressed concern about the ability to transfer many gigawatts of electrical energy from space to the Earth, and with the prohibitive cost of launching the 3,000 tonne stations into the cosmos.

A consortium of 13 environmental and space related organisations have pledged to join forces to drive the initiative.

Should the project go ahead, companies involved in solar power and other green technology could tap into a massively lucrative new market.

However, the proposals are likely to attract the ire of many environmentalists who have long argued that investing in "sci-fi style" renewable energy programmes detracts attention, investment and expertise from low carbon technologies that already exist.