A Japanese company proposes to solve Japans (and the world’s) energy problems by Installing solar panels on the moon. Shimizu Corp, based in Tokyo, wants to lay a line of solar panels 400 kilometres wide around the equator of the moon and relay the constant supply of energy generated to collecting stations on Earth by laser or microwave transmission.

This solar power installation would be capable of sending 13,000 terawatts of power to Earth. In 2011, the US generated just 4100 terawatts of power according to Shimizu Corp.

”A shift from the use of limited fossil fuel resources to the unlimited use of clean energy is the ultimate dream of mankind,”  states the company.

”The luna ring … makes this dream achievable through ingenious ideas coupled with advanced space technologies.”

Until the tsunami that devastated Japan and crippled the Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan had relied heavily on nuclear power.

Opposition to atomic energy has hardened in the prevailing years, as the government and Tokyo Electric Power Company struggle to bring the incapacitated plant’s reactors under control.

There is a general acceptance that Japan, will need to restart its nuclear plants in the short term to help with the high demand for electricity, but the disaster has brought new attention on safer forms of energy.

The  luna ring proposal was drafted before the accident at Fukushima, but the crisis means the scheme is attracting interest once again. A cost has not yet been revealed but if enough funding is sourced we could see work begin on this project as soon as 2035.

Robots would be used to mine the moon’s resources and produce concrete and the solar cells required for the scheme. The belt would span 11,000 kilometres around the equator so the panels would be constantly exposed to the sun – without cloud cover. This would naturally mean a steady supply of power down to Earth.
The Sydney Morning Herald has more.