Uninterrupted power generation with solar panels

Proposed form of storage-free continuous photovoltaic production to power future lunar colonies.

Continuous photovoltaic production on the Moon

The scientist proposed a form of continuous photovoltaic production on the Moon without the use of any storage.

The proposal includes installing photovoltaic panels around a 360-degree latitude ring near one of the moon’s poles. With this arrangement, there would be no shading between the arrays, stationary vertical PV arrays and PV arrays mounted on single axis vertical trackers became viable designs.

This proposal would allow oxygen plants to be installed on the Moon without the need for energy storage. The study was published under the title “Uninterrupted photovoltaic power to colonize the moon without the need for storage”, on an overview of renewable energy sources.

Applicability of permanent photovoltaic production project

The factories will need 10 MW of continuous solar power to continuously produce oxygen, according to the study. The researcher says that installing photovoltaic panels in a 360-degree latitudinal ring near one of the moon’s poles could provide a continuous supply of oxygen to oxygen plants without the need for storage.

Thus, there will be no shading between the arrays, both static vertical PV arrays and PV arrays mounted on single-axis vertical trackers will become viable designs.

This strategy exploits the lack of a lunar atmosphere, the almost zero tilt of the Moon’s polar axis with respect to the plane of the ecliptic, lunar conditions that allow low-cost, low-mass transmission lines to be laid, and the Moon’s diameter, which is much smaller than that of the Earth.

colonize the moon

The goal of colonizing the moon is to have a constant supply of energy to produce oxygen.

The possibilities of using nuclear or solar energy with storage have already been explored, but this new study shows that continuous production of photovoltaic energy without storage will be the most effective solution.

The researcher confirmed this… “My solution has a specific gravity far below all alternatives presented so far, namely low kg/WK, which is necessary for affordable and viable lunar installations, with initial and installation costs in excess of $1,000,000/kg. .

This new solution is 100 times better than storage photovoltaics. It can also be considered a factor 6 times higher than the solution presented now NASA use nuclear reactors to drive turbines and conventional generators.”

NASA has already signaled a possible intention to change its plan to power lunar colonies from nuclear power to photovoltaic power without storage.