However, it is not very efficient. A given place on Earth is dark half the time. All those reductions amount to eight times less solar energy reaching Earth's surface than arrives from the Sun. The obvious thing to do is to tap the Sun's energy in space. The idea of space power systems has been around since the late 1960s.
New technology makes it more attractive than it was at first.
Its biggest problem is the cost of launching lots of stuff from the ground to orbit. It just takes some manufacturing facilities to produce the needed parts and pieces. Solar power could be generated in space and beamed to the ground. The amount of material needed to construct a power satellite is large, hence expensive to transport from the surface of the Earth. Criswell believes that solar power stations should be located on the Moon.