Rebirth: Starting from Lighting Up the Tech Tree

Chapter 238 Smart Energy

After a year of operation, the data summary table from the ground receiving stations of the second-generation space photovoltaic satellite constellation was placed on the desk of the National Energy Administration.

The numbers in the last row of the table were circled three times in red by the director of the Energy Bureau.

The annual power generation of a single satellite is equivalent to that of a small nuclear power plant.

When Zuo Cheng received the report, his first reaction wasn't joy. He read it through from beginning to end, focusing on three key data points: power generation efficiency, stability, and degradation rate. Efficiency remained stable at 91.2%, exceeding the design target by a full percentage point. Regarding stability, the total downtime for the year was less than 72 hours, with 60 hours being planned maintenance and only 12 hours of actual accident downtime. The degradation rate was almost zero in the first year's data because the second-generation satellite used self-healing solar panels designed by Li Guodong's team; small-area damage caused by micrometeorite impacts could automatically heal in orbit.

These three data points combined lead to the conclusion that space photovoltaics is not an experimental project, but a mature power generation technology.

The decision to merge the networks came faster than expected.

Within two weeks of the assessment report's release, the National Energy Administration held three internal meetings. The first meeting discussed technical feasibility, which was approved without objection. The second meeting discussed grid connection schemes, concluding that the initial six receiving stations, distributed across Northwest, North, and Southwest China, corresponding to the country's three major load centers, and that the grid connection technical scheme had undergone multiple tests. The third meeting discussed the electricity pricing mechanism, and this discussion lasted the longest.

The cost per kilowatt-hour of space photovoltaics is a core issue.

After mass production of second-generation satellites reduced costs, the manufacturing cost per satellite decreased by 55%. Coupled with the continued decline in launch costs and the large-scale construction of ground receiving stations, the cost per kilowatt-hour of space photovoltaic power has dropped to 0.5 yuan.

0.5 yuan.

The national benchmark price for coal-fired power is 0.62 yuan per kilowatt-hour. The average cost of ground-mounted photovoltaic power is around 0.35 yuan per kilowatt-hour, but its actual output fluctuates greatly due to weather and sunshine conditions. The advantage of space-based photovoltaic power lies in its 24-hour uninterrupted power generation, unaffected by day-night cycles or cloudy/rainy days, with an output curve that is almost a horizontal straight line. From the perspective of grid dispatch, this stable power source is more valuable than a cheaper but fluctuating one.

Yuan 0.5 is lower than Yuan 0.62. For the first time, space photovoltaics has outpaced coal-fired power in terms of cost.

The night the news reached headquarters 402, Su Keqin sent a message. Su Keqin was a retired researcher from the Energy Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He had participated in the national key project for the first generation of photovoltaic technology in his early years and had been conducting independent energy policy research since retirement. He was not an employee of 402, but he had had several academic exchanges with Zuo Cheng, so their relationship was that of an advisor.

His message consisted of only one sentence: "I've been doing energy research for thirty years, and I never imagined that electricity generated in space would be cheaper than coal mined on Earth."

Zuo Cheng took a screenshot of that sentence and saved it on his phone.

The grid connection ceremony was held simultaneously at six receiving stations. In the first month after grid connection, power generation exceeded 300 million kilowatt-hours, and the operation was stable with no grid compatibility issues reported.

At the acceptance meeting, the director of the National Energy Administration did not read from a prepared statement, but spoke from the heart: "Space photovoltaics is not a thing of the future, it's something that's already generating electricity today. I've worked in the energy field for twenty years and have seen many new technologies look great in the lab, but then run into problems in the engineering phase. Space photovoltaics is one of the technologies I've seen that has gone from the lab to engineering implementation most smoothly. This smoothness is not accidental, but because 402 has made sufficient redundancy designs at every stage."

Zuo Cheng listened from below the stage. He knew the director was telling the truth. Redundancy was a principle he had adhered to from the very beginning; every core component had at least two backups. This strategy increased initial manufacturing costs by 30%, but in return, it resulted in zero major failures after a year of operation. In the end, the redundancy design actually saved money.

After merging with the network, Zuocheng launched the space-based energy network.

He sketched out a draft of this concept six months ago. Space photovoltaic power generation, data transmission in the sky, and quantum computing in the sky to perform global optimal allocation are linked together to form a complete energy network from space to the ground.

In practical applications, the national electricity trading system has shifted from annual agreements to real-time bidding. Tianyan Quantum Computing calculates the globally optimal allocation of national electricity supply and demand every 30 seconds, ensuring that every kilowatt-hour of electricity is delivered to where it is most needed. Since the system went live, the renewable energy consumption rate has increased from the national average of 95% to 99.7%. The curtailment rate of solar and wind power has dropped to a historical low.

What does 99.7% mean? It means that the amount of renewable energy wasted nationwide due to excess wind and solar power output has decreased from tens of billions of kilowatt-hours to less than one billion kilowatt-hours annually. This saved electricity is enough to power a city of ten million people for three months.

International responses came swiftly. Saudi Aramco sent a letter of cooperation, seeking to replace some of its oilfield's self-sufficiency with space-based solar power. Australia proposed a plan to power remote mining areas with space-based solar power. Norway wanted to replace the diesel generators on its North Sea oilfield platforms with space-based solar power. These three requests from different continents and different scenarios all pointed to the same need: in areas where traditional power infrastructure cannot reach, space-based solar power is the only option.

Han Lu placed the three cooperation letters on Zuo Cheng's table and asked him how to respond.

Zuo Cheng's answer was: "Energy is a cake everyone's scrambling for, but space is something only we're working on. Sometimes, the best competition isn't on the same track."

On the night the six receiving stations were connected to the grid, Zuo Cheng reviewed all the data on space photovoltaics from its inception to the present day in his office. Four hundred and sixty-three days—from the laboratory to grid-connected power generation; from single-point verification of the first-generation satellite to large-scale operation of the second-generation constellation; from a cost per kilowatt-hour higher than coal-fired power to achieving a cost advantage for the first time.

He opened the system panel.

Within the civilization perception interface, the pillar of light representing the energy direction was steadily growing. But what caught his attention wasn't the pillar itself, but rather a connecting line that had appeared between the quantum technology branch and the space photovoltaic branch. The two branches were naturally merging. This wasn't something he actively triggered; the system itself recognized the intersection of the underlying technologies of the two branches and automatically generated the connection.

The progress bar for the ninth branch didn't move. But the connecting line between those two branches followed the same logic as the data chemistry he'd seen in the flywheel model. The different branches weren't independent; they naturally reinforced each other.

He realized something.

The ninth branch may not need to be actively activated. It is waiting for a critical point. When the integration among the existing eight branches is deep enough, and when the flywheel of the industrial ecosystem is spinning fast enough, the ninth branch will light up on its own. Just like a seed that doesn't need to be urged, but only needs enough water and sunlight, it will sprout on its own.

He turned off the panel, stood up, and walked to the window. The city of Hangzhou was brightly lit. A significant portion of the electricity powering every streetlamp, every subway line, every piece of hospital equipment, and every mobile phone in this city comes from space.

Four hundred and sixty-three days. From blueprints to reality. From debate to consensus.