Star Trek Reality: Solar Power From Space

Pacific Gas & Electric, undaunted by California's drooping economy, deficit-ridden government, and whopping 9% sales tax, is going ahead with a project to produce 200 megawatts of solar energy by utilizing satellites in space.

Yep, they're gonna get solar power from space, man! The project is in collusion with Solaren, a "stealth space power company" and will take 15 years to complete. The result? Enough power to run two city blocks in LA. Or so.

Now, the last time I checked, solar power reach the earth's surface without much trouble in most parts of the world. So unless you live on Antarctica or the North Pole, you can probably use solar panels if you want. Wind, amazingly, is also a pretty common occurrence in most parts of the planet.

So what's the point of all this sending satellites into space to gather electricity? And what's the carbon offset of the average payload rocket noawadays?

I don't know about you, but if I were a PG&E customer, I'd be seriously questioning how these boys got their jobs and are spending the company's profits. Can't they come up with something better to do with them? Of course, PG&E was conceved by Enron, wasn't it? Ya, that explains a lot.

Anyway, the basic idea is this: use satellite arrays to gather sunlight through PV technology. Then take the generated electricity and use it to make a beam of radio that's send down to receiving stations on earth. Those convert the radio back into electricity and VIOLA! You've got power.

Want to know something even more amazing? Solaren isn't the only one planning to try this. Apparently, a company called Space Energy is doing the same, though they appear to be mostly privately funded.

What I can't figure is why this is somehow so important to pursue. At least, why it's important enough that a public utility would bother with it.