“The consensus at the moment is that space-based solar is possible, but a lot still has to happen before it will be economical. ‘Indeed, the concepts detailed so far all seem to stand on shaky technical ground,’ wrote Henri Barde, a veteran of the European Space Agency, in IEEE Spectrum in May.

But there may be more practical possibilities that are smaller and more limited in scope, and perhaps profitable with existing technology, space solar advocates say. Take, for example, a startup called Star Catcher, which announced plans in July to gather electricity with photovoltaic ‘power node’ satellites in Earth orbit. These wouldn’t send a single watt from space to the ground. Instead, the node satellites would help power other satellites. The energy would be beamed to the satellites’ photovoltaic panels in the visible to near-infrared parts of the spectrum, augmenting the solar power they generate on their own.”

From IEEE Spectrum.