Space-based Reflectors for Night-time Illumination and Enhancing Solar Power Generation over India

Space-based Reflectors for Night-time Illumination and Enhancing Solar Power Generation over India | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Space-based Reflectors for Night-time Illumination and Enhancing Solar Power Generation over India Sai Krishna V. S. Sakuru, M. V. Ramana This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5588435/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Climate change agreements to contain global warming caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fossil fuel-based sources necessitate a shift to renewables for energy generation. India's growing population drives her energy consumption and is predicted to peak by 2060. However, India’s per capita consumption of primary energy (7,129 kWh/yr in 2022) and electricity (1,311 kWh/yr) is much lower than for developed countries. Parity in per capita consumption by 2060 implies an increase in primary energy consumption by 56,277 TWh and the installed capacity for power generation by 2,482 GW from 2022 levels, and requires innovative carbon-neutral/low-carbon solutions. Sunlight reflected from space-based orbiting satellite reflectors (OSRs) can provide night-time illumination and enhance power generation from Solar Power Parks (SPPs) during dawn/dusk when natural sunlight is minimal. A constellation of 9 (34) pairs of OSRs with a mirror diameter of 1 km can provide continuous illumination ≥ 2 lux (≥ 8 lux) over New Delhi and illuminate other significant cities. OSRs in sun-synchronous dawn/dusk orbit at 1000 km altitude can increase power generation from SPPs by about 72.8 kWh/km 2 during overhead passes. Our results indicate the potential for OSRs to meet future energy demand and reduce GHG emissions from the power sector. Renewable Resources Climate Analysis and Modeling Energy Engineering Orbiting solar reflectors Renewable energy Space-based solar energy Sustainable development Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files OSRSupplementary.docx Supplementary Material: Space-based Reflectors for Night-time Illumination and Enhancing Solar Power Generation over India Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. 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India's growing population drives her energy consumption and is predicted to peak by 2060. However, India\u0026rsquo;s per capita consumption of primary energy (7,129 kWh/yr in 2022) and electricity (1,311 kWh/yr) is much lower than for developed countries. Parity in per capita consumption by 2060 implies an increase in primary energy consumption by 56,277 TWh and the installed capacity for power generation by 2,482 GW from 2022 levels, and requires innovative carbon-neutral/low-carbon solutions. Sunlight reflected from space-based orbiting satellite reflectors (OSRs) can provide night-time illumination and enhance power generation from Solar Power Parks (SPPs) during dawn/dusk when natural sunlight is minimal. A constellation of 9 (34) pairs of OSRs with a mirror diameter of 1 km can provide continuous illumination\u0026thinsp;\u0026ge;\u0026thinsp;2 lux (\u0026ge;\u0026thinsp;8 lux) over New Delhi and illuminate other significant cities. OSRs in sun-synchronous dawn/dusk orbit at 1000 km altitude can increase power generation from SPPs by about 72.8 kWh/km\u003csup\u003e2\u003c/sup\u003e during overhead passes. 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