“Grand Bassin” Case Study: An Original Proof-Of-Concept Prototype for Wireless Power Transportation

This article presents the synthesis of results to the case study that was carried out to the Reunion Island in 2001 on a Wireless Power Transportation (WPT) system. The objective was to demonstrate the feasibility of a point-to-point link transferring energy via a 2.45 GHz microwave beam to a small isolated mountain village (Grand-Bassin). The distance between the reception system and the emitter source was 700m. The emitter antenna was composed of an array of magnetron/reflector. The rectifying element in reception used an original wire antenna while integrated well in the natural environment and presented good performances. To validate this study, a WPT prototype has been built and publicly demonstrated in La Reunion. This prototype has exhibited an overall power transfer efficiency of 6 % from the main electricity grid to the load.