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Power Beaming | Cities | Envisioning
  1. Home
  2. Research
  3. Cities
  4. Power Beaming

Power Beaming

To tackle the limitations of traditional wired power systems, this solution uses electromagnetic waves to transfer energy over distances without physical connections. This technology eliminates the need for extensive cabling, reduces infrastructure costs and maintenance, and reaches remote facilities and hard-to-reach areas such as islands or farms while providing reliable power during emergencies and supporting renewable energy integration. It enhances urban resilience and sustainability by enabling efficient energy distribution, facilitating smart city developments, and promoting cleaner, more flexible power solutions.

Same technology in other hubs

Horizons
Horizons
Power Beaming

Wireless energy transmission using focused electromagnetic waves.

Connections

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BACK TO CITIESVIEW INTERACTIVE VERSION
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Energy Harvesting

This solution addresses the problem of reliance on finite energy sources like batteries and external power supplies. The aim is to capture ambient energy from sources such as solar radiation, thermal gradients, vibrations, and radiofrequency waves, converting them into usable electrical power. Doing so enables devices to operate autonomously, often for their entire lifespan, without the need for external power or frequent battery replacements. By integrating energy harvesting devices into urban infrastructure, cities can power smart sensors, public lighting, and transportation systems, enhancing sustainability and resilience.

Technology Readiness Level
6/9
Diffusion of Innovation
2/5
Technology Life Cycle
2/4
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Integrated Autonomous Energy Grid

To address the inefficiencies and sustainability challenges of traditional urban energy systems, this technology integrates renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power with existing energy infrastructures, managed by sophisticated AI and machine learning algorithms. These systems monitor, predict, and optimise energy flows in real-time, ensuring a stable and efficient energy supply. The IAEG aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance energy resilience, and improve energy equity by providing reliable power distribution, even in disaster-prone areas.

Technology Readiness Level
7/9
Diffusion of Innovation
3/5
Technology Life Cycle
2/4
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LraSdVa2SxO6f6elFo3w1w
Plug-and-Play Solar Panel

Designed to make solar energy more accessible and user-friendly, this solution addresses significant barriers to solar energy adoption, such as the high costs and complexity of traditional solar installations. These panels are pre-configured, easy to install, and can be plugged directly into a standard electrical outlet, allowing users to start generating their own electricity almost immediately. This technology helps reduce reliance on fossil fuels, lowers carbon emissions, and promotes energy independence, particularly in urban areas where space and infrastructure constraints often limit renewable energy options.

Technology Readiness Level
8/9
Diffusion of Innovation
3/5
Technology Life Cycle
2/4

In an era where urbanisation is rapidly expanding, the challenge of efficiently delivering power to vast metropolitan areas remains pressing. Traditional wired infrastructure is often expensive, cumbersome, and prone to wear and tear, which leads to frequent maintenance and disruptions. Power beaming, or Long-range wireless energy transmission offers a revolutionary solution to these persistent problems by eliminating the need for physical connections.

The system is composed of a transmitting antenna, relay panels, and a rectifying antenna made of metamaterials that convert electromagnetic energy into direct current. The energy is projected point-to-point into long-wave frequency beams. Such beams allow the energy to travel from transmitter to transmitter so it does not disperse or radiate where it is not channelled.

As cabled energy systems have expensive and time-consuming installation and maintenance costs, a wireless power infrastructure offers a more economically viable option. Power Beaming can power distant islands, farms, communities, refugee camps, and facilities such as remote and mobile hospitals. Also, in the future, it could transmit energy from Earth to space and vice-versa.

Wireless power could offer network resilience, ensuring energy after natural disasters and other emergencies, as the lack of wired lines reduces weather-related outages as well as electrocution risk. Atmospheric conditions such as fog, rain, or dust imperceptibly affect efficiency. In case there are transient objects such as birds or helicopters, a low-power laser safety curtain immediately and momentarily shuts the interrupted segment down.

Technology Readiness Level
5/9Field Validation
Diffusion of Innovation
1/5Innovators
Technology Life Cycle
1/4Emergence
Category
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