Microwaves or Lasers? A Side-by-Side Comparison
Which way of sending power to Earth is better, and for whom?
Chapter summary
microwaves for large plants supplying grids, lasers for small, mobile and military uses.
Key takeaways
- 1
Microwaves pass through clouds and rain with little loss, convert back to electricity efficiently in rectennas, and at plant scale reach Setcoin's reference chain efficiency of 18% from sunlight to grid.
- 2
But they need very large antennas in space and on the ground: a 1 km transmitter in geostationary orbit makes a 4.5 km spot at 5.8 GHz.
- 3
Lasers produce small spots (~87 m from GEO through a 1 m aperture) and small receivers, but clouds block them, the chain efficiency falls to about 5.5% in Setcoin's reference, and eye safety becomes a central design concern.
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