I was having a discussion with a friends about solar panels.He says that if there is a solar panel (sp) on the ground and a solar panel (sp2) high in the atmosphere (in the stratosphere) the difference in power output between sp and sp2 negligible. I said that there would be a large difference in power output because sp has all of the atmosphere to block the suns rays and sp2 has very little atmosphere because it is very high up (in the stratosphere) therefore more sun can get to the panel and more power is produced.who is correct? many thanks in advance, please leave sources if possible, for validity.
There will be a difference (44%, see below) but not a large one. The atmosphere is transparent to the wavelengths used by the solar panel. But no clouds, and a lot more hours of sunlight. wikipedia: Space-based solar power (SBSP) (or historically space solar power- SSP) is a system for the collection of solar power in space, for use on Earth. SBSP differs from the usual method of solar power collection in that the solar panels used to collect the energy would reside on a satellite in orbit, often referred to as a solar power satellite (SPS), rather than on Earth's surface. In space, collection of the Sun's energy is unaffected by the day/night cycle, weather, seasons, or the filtering effect of Earth's atmospheric gases.
you are right , the solar painel higher in the atmosphere , gonna receive more solar warm , your friends are totaly wrong ,
