This may be a stupid question, but wouldn’t this be environmentally worse than terrestrial solar power? It’s essentially bypassing the reflectivity of the atmosphere to funnel solar energy directly to the surface. I guess since you’re converting it to microwave energy instead of light, maybe that can be converted into electrical energy more efficiently perhaps?

But that doesn’t account for all the rocket fuel you need to expend to lift the infrastructure into orbit.

I’d be quite interested to see the calculations for that and how it compares to various terrestrial power generation methods.

Edit:

“In addition to constructing a space energy grid and charging satellites, this technology could be used to power airships, drone fleets, mobile maritime platforms, and provide wireless power to remote areas and disaster zones,” the report said.

Ah, so it doesn’t look like the idea is to use it for mass residential/industrial purposes, but for more specialised applications. Cool.

I always wondered why the Microwave [Solar] Power Planet from Simcity 2000/3000 never made an appearance in the sequels or other city builders. This might actually change in the coming years.