Californians could soon be powering their homes from a space-based solar electricity program. The plan is made by the state's energy company PG&E. The plan calls for the generation of 200 megawatts of electricity over 15 years to be collected by space-based solar arrays and beamed down to earth via radio frequency. PG&E hopes to have the system running by 2016. It is seeking permission from regulators to contract with a company called Solaren to put the system in place.

 

Experts in the field of solar energy say that harnessing solar power in space has advantages over terrestrial systems since solar energy can be harvested around the clock and is never obscured by clouds or bad weather. In the proposed space based solar power station, Solaren's solar-power satellite would consist of mirror arrays up to several kilometers wide which would focus sunlight onto photoelectric cells.

 

The electrical power generated by solar-power satellite would be converted into a microwave beam directed toward Earth, where it would be converted back into electricity. According to the company, the system could generate roughly 1.2 to 4.8 gigawatts of power, at a price comparable to that of other renewable energy sources.