The Chinese scientists hoping to use a space solar plant to power the world

Using a few mirrors, solar panels and a microwave transmitter, Fan Guanheng and his team can send power over 100 metres (330 feet) through the air. But they are dreaming much bigger – 36,000km (23,460 miles) bigger.

The team at Xidian University in Xian, capital of northwest China’s Shaanxi province, are testing hardware that could one day be used to generate power in space and send it back to Earth.

On a sweltering June morning, the team were measuring how well light was concentrated by a 4.8-metre, dome-shaped mirror suspended from a 75-metre-tall tower.

The futuristic technology boiled down to three steps, said Fan, an associate professor at the university’s school of mechano-electronic engineering.

First, the mirrors focus sunlight onto solar panels, generating electricity.

Then, the electricity is converted into microwaves and beamed to an rectenna, a kind of antenna.