Solar Powered Balloon

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A different approach: A solar powered balloon to generate electricity

When you think of solar power, you likely pull several stereotypical images of the industry into your head. Long fields of black solar panels gazing skyward may come to mind or small road signs with their little solar panel tower. However, you should also be thinking about balloons.

Yes, balloons! Taking a slightly different approach, power companies are looking at a truly low impact solution to the power shortage. Instead of looking down glumly and wondering what to do, they are raising their eyes and looking to the skies.

How do concentrated solar power balloons work?

Solar balloons address a number of the limitations to new power generation faced by power companies and consumers alike. A large solar panel system, suitable for powering a large home or a series of homes, requires a fixed amount of space. Less ecologically friendly solutions, such as coal power of nuclear energy, require legislative approval in addition to large tracts of land.

A solar powered balloon is simply inflated. The solar balloons are filled with helium, just like a get-well balloon from the corner store. The difference is that these concentrated solar power balloons have more than ribbon dangling down from their tails.

The balloons are tethered with three cords. They have a helium supply cable, a power cable, and an anchoring cable which generally also contain control technology for raising or lowering the balloon's level and its electrical output. Researchers have estimated that one or two of the balloons could power your average home.

Of course, the average home does not usually have a 10-foot solar powered balloon overhead. Yet with the relatively low price points targeted for the balloons, it is a possibility. Developers want to get costs down to about $4,000 per balloon, with each balloon putting out enough power to be the equivalent of a 25 square meter (75 square foot) solar panel field.

Solar balloons can be a fast energy solution in emergency situations

The other reason that developers want to keep costs low, in addition to building a consumer market, is that they envision these balloons being used for emergencies, refugee relief, and off grid power solutions. Even if an area has been completely flooded, burned, or bombed out of it usual infrastructure support, a balloon could be dropped into the zone in a matter of hours and provide the needed power. The strategy eliminates construction costs and helps people get back on their feet in short order.

The process also helps avoid restrictions on new power construction. In California, notorious for both its brown outs and its restrictions on new power plant building, balloons are being seriously pursued by some of the biggest names in the business. Venture capitalists are funding development of a multitude of styles of balloon fields up and down the state in an attempt to overcome the current power shortage.

In short, while solar powered balloon systems are not a typical green energy approach, they are an available option. In the future, they may be the most space and cost effective option on the market. Only time will tell, but it pays to keep an open mind to different green initiatives!