Solar Cells for Space Solar Power
Which solar cells would a space solar plant use, and what does that mean for supply?
Chapter summary
the cheapest cells that survive long enough.
Key takeaways
- 1
Satellites today mostly fly high-efficiency III-V multi-junction cells at around €200–350 per watt for arrays (Study S3) or, for large low-orbit constellations, cheaper silicon (Study S7).
- 2
A gigawatt plant needs gigawatts of cells, far beyond the few megawatts a year of III-V capacity in the world.
- 3
Designs therefore look to thin silicon, perovskite or perovskite-silicon tandem cells, or to concentrating designs that use small areas of expensive cells.
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