Beidu, in a small reception room.

"Old Sun, what's the matter with calling me over so suddenly?"

Zhang Xingyang's eyes looked at Sun Hongtao, who had gray hair, with a somewhat deep gaze.

Zhang Xingyang's tone was not kind.

Yesterday, he was also at the Bishan wireless transmission base, preparing for a long-term wireless transmission experiment.

However, it was close to midnight.

Yang Yi suddenly told him that Sun Lao wanted to meet him as soon as possible.

The sooner the better.

There was no flight back to Beidu that day.

Zhang Xingyang still took the first batch of flights and returned to the northern capital in the morning.

Sun Hongtao smiled kindly and said:

"You have a grudge knowing that you were called back so suddenly."

"But this matter is really important to you and the Institute."

After Sun Hongtao finished speaking, he stretched out his hand to introduce Zhang Xingyang, a middle-aged man who sat on the side and didn't speak.

"This is Lu Zhenghe, the head of the Energy Bureau."

Zhang Xingyang looked at this middle-aged man who was not good-looking.

It looks like just an ordinary middle-aged man.

However, just now, Sun Lao said that he was from the Energy Bureau.

Zhang Xingyang was keenly aware of Sun Lao's intention to come to him.

I'm afraid it has a lot to do with the Energy Bureau.

Combined with their own ongoing power satellite projects.

The purpose of the other party.

It's almost out of nowhere.

However, Zhang Xingyang is not very clear about what his goal is.

quietly shook hands with the other party:

"Hello, Director Lu."

Lu Zhenghe is as his name suggests, very kind and authentic:

"Dean Zhang, I've heard of the name for a long time!"

"How old am I older than you, just call me Lao Lu."

After the two finished greeting.

Sun Hongtao finally began to talk about the reason why he was in such a hurry to find Zhang Xingyang back.

"Xiao Zhang, I heard that your power satellite wireless transmission project has achieved a lot of success?"

Sun Hongtao knew about this, and Zhang Xingyang was not surprised at all.

"A couple of experiments were just conducted yesterday and are doing well so far."

Zhang Xingyang explained their current progress and inventory.

"Experiments have been carried out for several hours, and the power supply to the satellite is stable."

"If it runs at full power, it can currently generate 140,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a day."

When Zhang Xingyang talked about the specific power supply data.

Lu Zhenghe's eyes lit up.

Write down all these detailed data in your mind.

"Is satellite transmission more affected by time?"

After Zhang Xingyang finished speaking, Lu Zhenghe hurriedly asked.

At present, whether it is solar power generation, hydropower generation, or wind power in China, the power generation power is unstable.

It is greatly affected by a variety of factors.

"The power of the power generation satellite is very stable throughout the whole time, and the impact is not very large."

Zhang Xingyang glanced at the other party and then said.

Lu Zhenghe obviously also wanted to continue to ask about some specific information about power satellites.

However, he was stopped by Sun Hongtao on the side.

"I'm not in such a hurry, I can understand the same data later."

Sun Lao glared at Lu Zhenghe and said.

"I called you over today, I still want to talk to you about the future of energy."

"You also know that our country has been lacking all kinds of energy for so many years."

"In the past, there was a lack of oil, now there is a lack of electricity."

"Last year, the power generation for the whole year was about 2.2 trillion kWh.

This may seem like a huge number, but the gap is also huge.

We have at least a few hundred billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. ”

Sun Hongtao has been in charge of specific work in industry.

For these overall data, almost all of them are readily available.

In addition to this, he was able to cite a large number of examples to support his data.

"This summer, more than 10 major cities had to take power rationing because of power shortages.

This has had a great impact on our production and life. ”

After decades of development.

At this time, quite a few homes have already installed air conditioners.

Especially in some southern cities, the demand for air conditioning has been strong.

In the summer when the weather is over 40 degrees, there's nothing more comfortable than staying in an air-conditioned room.

But because of the power rationing.

The factory must not be operating at peak hours, or even shut down.

People in office buildings and residential buildings can only endure the scorching heat in the reinforced concrete jungle.

Because of the heat island effect, the temperature in the city is already higher.

In such a situation, electricity is especially valuable.

"So if your satellite wireless power transmission can really be developed."

"For the country, it can be regarded as alleviating part of the problem of electricity shortage."

At this time, Sun Lao also said the purpose of this conversation.

"The key issue now is the cost of your power generation and your capacity."

For Zhang Xingyang, these data have always been in his heart.

Telling Sun Lao is not a problem at all.

"The current power generation satellite project is mainly composed of two parts: the cost of satellite construction and the cost of ground receiver."

Zhang Xingyang talked about this part.

Both Sun Lao and Lu Zhenghe listened very carefully.

It's like an elementary school student listening to a teacher's lecture.

"The cost of building a satellite, including the cost of the satellite itself, as well as the cost of launching."

Power-generating satellites themselves are actually very expensive.

A single satellite is worth more than a billion!

The cost of launching is slightly lower, about 100 million.

"All the satellites add up, and it will probably cost about 1.2 billion."

Zhang Xingyang said as usual:

"At present, this satellite is a bit more expensive as an experimental model.

The cost of subsequent launches will probably be reduced. ”

"How much can it be reduced?"

Lu Zhenghe asked impatiently.

Sun Hongtao glanced at Lu Zhenghe with some dissatisfaction and criticized:

"When Xiao Zhang finishes speaking, don't keep interjecting."

Lu Zhenghe smiled a little embarrassedly, and then sat down again.

"Xiao Zhang, let's talk about how much the cost can be reduced."

Zhang Xingyang's good-looking eyes narrowed slightly and said:

"It can probably be reduced to about 900 million."

"These are expenses that can't be saved."

"The investment at the fixed receiving end is slightly lower, about 300 million."

"Overall, the initial investment is about 1.5 billion."

In fact, the largest investment in this is the microwave-electric energy converter.

GaN as a third-generation semiconductor.

Limited by the current level of technology, the price remains high.

If you remove this part, the other costs are actually about half of what they are now.

Probably less than 800 million.

"And how long will it take to pay off?"

Lu Zhenghe was still frowning and thinking in his heart, Sun Hongtao asked directly.

Sun Lao knew that Zhang Xingyang must have calculated.

"At the current electricity price, it will take about ten years to pay back the cost of a complete power satellite."

Zhang Xingyang did a little mental arithmetic and reported a number.

Decade.

For other industries, it may be a relatively long investment cycle.

But in the field of new energy.

This time even feels a bit short.

Taking wind power as an example, the payback time of a wind turbine with an installed capacity of 700 kW.

In more than twenty years!

The average payback time for solar power plants is shorter.

But it's also common in about ten years.

Now, it looks like there's a lot more to invest in space power projects.

It only takes ten years to pay for itself.

This is for Sun Hongtao and Lu Zhenghe.

That's a huge piece of good news.

And this is only the payback time of the current power satellite.

If the cost of subsequent satellites can be reduced.

The payback time may even be compressed to about seven or eight years.

This is for the two.

Totally afford to wait.

"As you mentioned, the power limit of a single satellite is about 30,000 kilowatts.

Can this number be improved? ”

After thinking for a while, Sun Lao asked a question that Zhang Xingyang expected.

"At present, we are also working on the research and development of more powerful power generation satellites."

Zhang Xingyang nodded and said:

"It's really just the solar panels and satellite structures, and it's very simple to continue to grow bigger."

"The problem is actually in the core technology of the satellite, the microwave-to-power converter."

The low gravity environment in space makes the strength of the satellite structure much lower.

I want to continue to expand the size of the satellite.

It's not difficult structurally.

They were even able to hang more than 100 large solar panels around the satellite.

"Why do you say that?"

Neither of them knew much about electronic technology, and they were a little confused.

"At present, the working power of the converter has almost reached the limit."

"Unless we replace all the internal conduits with superconducting lines, the problem of heat generation alone is extremely difficult to solve."

The thermal circulation system of the power generation satellite is an extremely important part of it.

If the heat doesn't get out, the consequences can be catastrophic.

Heat build-up.

It doesn't look remarkable at all.

But over a long period of time, it will heat the core temperature of the satellite to an unacceptable level.

Therefore, the thermal circulation system of the power generation satellite adopts a very special structure.

Coolant flows between the huge solar panels.

by increasing the area of thermal radiation.

to speed up the cooling.

Not only that, but a lot of coolant is used to keep the core temperature in the right range.

"Are our current superconductors nothing more than applications?"

Although there is no room-temperature superconductor yet, there are still many low-temperature superconductors.

This is also the reason why Sun Hongtao asked.

"The cooling temperature of those superconductors is too low to be of practical use."

Zhang Xingyang glanced down at the plain floor tiles on the ground:

"Unless we can have room-temperature superconductors, it's going to be very hard."

Sun Hongtao also looked embarrassed at this time.

Even if he doesn't have much research on the technical side.

I also know how difficult it is to superconduct at room temperature.

At present, it is already remarkable to be able to achieve high-temperature superconductivity.

The operating temperature of these high-temperature superconductors is also above -100 degrees.

"Room-temperature superconductivity is still too difficult, and now it's actually a bit expensive, but it's actually good."

Lu Zhenghe saw that the scene was a little cold, so he hurriedly came out to play a round.

"If you are allowed to produce at full capacity, how much installed power can be added in a year?"

After the in-depth exchange just now, Lu Zhenghe has enough understanding of space power generation.

"At present, our production cycle is still relatively long."

Zhang Xingyang thought about it for a while, the key to this.

In fact, the main production problems are still concentrated in gallium nitride components.

Because GaN components are used in addition to microwave-to-power converters.

It is also an important material in radar components.

It is also needed for the current new active phased array radar.

"It's about a month to be able to produce two satellite cores."

"The rocket side is very generous and can meet the needs of launches."

Since the successful development of recyclable rocket technology.

In fact, there is little trouble with rocket capacity.

"It is possible to launch about 24 satellites a year, with a total installed capacity of 1 million kilowatts."

This figure is compared to the current power generation gap of tens of millions of kilowatts in China.

It's not huge.

But it can also play some unexpected roles.

"It could have done a little bit, but it's still too slow."

After Sun Hongtao listened, he said thoughtfully.

This power generation capacity is already comparable to the installed capacity of large thermal power stations.

However, compared with Sun Hongtao's expectations, it is still a lot smaller.

"The advantage of space transmission is that it is extremely stable in power generation, and it is very easy to adjust electricity."

Lu Zhenghe, who was on the side, didn't care.

In his opinion, the convenience of power regulation is very important.

One million kilowatts of installed capacity can at least meet the needs of more than one million people in urban areas.

"We still have to find a way to increase production capacity as soon as possible."

Sun Hongtao thought for a while and then said:

"Whatever you lack, just say."

"As long as I am an old man and can satisfy you, I will do my best."

Zhang Xingyang did not appear as happy as Sun Lao expected.

Instead, he frowned:

"Elder Sun, are we going to vigorously develop space solar energy?"

"Don't you think that space solar energy is the development direction of the energy industry?"

After listening to this, Lu Zhenghe said with interest.

"Space solar energy is the future, but maybe a little bit of a rush right now."

"This will touch the interests of many parties."

Zhang Xingyang is not afraid of these interest groups, and they can't do anything with him.

But he had to think about the consequences of doing so.

"At present, most of our power stations are still thermal power stations."

Sun Hongtao said a little blandly:

"Most of these power stations are coal-fired power stations."

"The pollution is just too bad."

"We have made up our minds for the sake of our children and grandchildren."

"We want to set off a big change in the energy industry!"

Although Sun Lao's words, the tone was very flat.

It seems that they are just discussing what they had for breakfast today.

But Zhang Xingyang can feel extremely firm determination from it.

No one can stop this from happening!

"As long as you make up your mind, then we will build a super-large space power station that attracts the attention of the world as soon as possible."

Zhang Xingyang smiled and said.

Since Sun Lao is not afraid, then he has nothing to fear.

The general trend of the world is mighty.

Those who go along with it prosper, and those who go against it die!

Who is the general trend, at a glance. (End of chapter)