Satellites in geostationary orbit can harvest sunlight and beam it to Europe as microwaves, according to work from King’s College London and Xi’an Jiaotong University published in the journal Joule.

The obvious advantages are in the sunlight being continuous and unaffected by cloud of other atmospheric barriers.
Two NASA concepts were studied with simulations showing that a swarm design could deliver electricity at six to nine times the projected 2050 cost of ground PV. At that price, space-based solar can displace up to 80 per cent of wind-plus-solar capacity and cut battery needs by more than 70 per cent, although the authors note that seasonal storage would remain essential.

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