Solar power satellite offshore rectenna study

It was found that an offshore rectenna is feasible and cost competitive with land rectennas but that the type of rectenna which is suitable for offshore use is quite different from that specified in the present reference system. The result is a nonground plane design which minimizes the weight and greatly reduces the number of costly support towers. This preferred design is an antenna array consisting of individually encapsulated dipoles with reflectors supported on feed wires. Such a 5 GW rectenna could be built at a 50 m water depth site to withstand hurricane and icing conditions for a one time cost of 5.7 billion dollars. Subsequent units would be about 1/3 less expensive. The east coast site chosen for this study represents an extreme case of severe environmental conditions. More benign and more shallow water sites would result in lower costs. Secondary uses such as mariculture appear practical with only minor impact on the rectenna design. The potential advantages of an offshore rectenna, such as no land requirements, removal of microwave radiation from populated areas and minimal impact on the local geopolitics argue strongly that further investigation of the offshore rectenna should be vigorously pursued.