high-altitude airship solar power stations?

Check out this article, advocating the use of airships to loft optical
telescopes: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2006/07/14.html

Then ponder this: under what conditions might it make sense to put large
banks of solar panels on such airships, and beam the energy to the
ground?

They're above all clouds and weather, and above 95% of the atmosphere.
The cost would be substantially lower than even a LEO satellite, I
think. Unlike a LEO satellite, it could maintain a stationary ground
position. Unlike a GEO satellite, it could do so even at high latitudes.

Of course, like a LEO satellite (and unlike one in HEO), it would be
eclipsed every day, just like solar panels on the ground. But that
weather issue may still make it interesting. If you have a location
which is frequently overcast, and has high peak power demands during the
day, then such a high-altitude station could provide clean power right
where it's needed.

If it also happens to demonstrate the feasibility of beamed solar power,
and get people wondering how to eliminate that pesky diurnal cycle, then
so much the better.

Any comments?

Best,
- Joe

Joe Strout wrote:

If it also happens to demonstrate the feasibility of beamed
solar power, and get people wondering how to eliminate that
pesky diurnal cycle, then so much the better.

Any comments?

Would it be "so much the better" if it turned out that airborne solar
panels could deliver electric power much cheaper than orbital solar
panels? Or a disaster? :-)

Jim Davis

Joe Strout wrote:

Then ponder this: under what conditions might it make sense to put large
banks of solar panels on such airships, and beam the energy to the
ground?

About 1.28 grams of Tijuana Gold per proponent should produce about
the right conditions.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

In article ,
Jim Davis wrote:

Joe Strout wrote:

If it also happens to demonstrate the feasibility of beamed
solar power, and get people wondering how to eliminate that
pesky diurnal cycle, then so much the better.

Any comments?

Would it be "so much the better" if it turned out that airborne solar
panels could deliver electric power much cheaper than orbital solar
panels? Or a disaster? :-)

I'd expect that to be a temporary situation. Ultimately, we need clean
baseline power too, delivered 24/7. Airborne solar just can't do that.
But having accepted airborne solar and beamed power, orbital power
stations should be a much smaller conceptual leap for the public and
powers-that-be.

Best,
- Joe

you are better off just using the blimp as a giant
reflector (half transparent, half reflective) and
concentrating all that solar goodness onto a
'steam' turbine

would help to keep it aloft as well

solar cells weigh too much, and are too inefficient

better off treating the whole blimp as one giant
closed cycle - stay aloft indefinitely just cruisin'
on solar insolation, and pure thoughts...