I've never heard of solar satellites until you mentioned them, but I googled it and came up with this article from sept 2000 addressing the technology.... Cool stuff.
space.com
Solar Satellites Will Power Earth, Scientists Say
By By Alex Canizares
Special to SPACE .com
posted: 02:29 pm ET
08 September 2000
WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 (States News Service) – Solar-powered satellites will become a major energy source by 2030, scientists testified at a congressional hearing Thursday, helping to reduce reliance on dwindling fuel supplies.
With fuel supplies projected to fall and energy costs reaching historic highs, using satellites to transmit energy to provide electricity used to heat homes and run appliances is becoming technologically viable, scientists told the House Science subcommittee on space and aeronautics.
Electric energy use is projected to grow 75 percent worldwide by 2020, and oil production will slow due to depleting reserves after 2015, said Ralph H. Nansen, president of Solar Space Industries.
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Scientists say satellites powered by solar power will become a major energy source.
"Space solar power can solve these problems," Nansen said. "The time is now right for their development to begin."
A roadmap
John C. Mankins, manager of Advanced Concepts Studies at NASA, said the space agency is laying out a "roadmap" to develop satellite-powered energy using several technologies in the works.
High-voltage solar panels that could handle sunlight during 99 percent of a 24-hour day, wireless transmitters that can beam large amounts of microwave energy, and an "inflatable radiator" to absorb heat in space, are all under development, Mankins said.
Relaying power from ground stations to satellites and back to ground stations at another location is another, perhaps more readily available, application, Mankins said. A complete solar power satellite system to produce enough energy to be economically viable may not emerge until 2025 to 2035, he said.
The idea of transmitting solar energy from space to earth first emerged in the 1960s, but research efforts failed to gain ground until 1995, when NASA and other scientists began studying the idea more carefully using better technology. NASA spends $22 million annually on the research.
The next step, Nansen said, is building a ground test program to integrate various technologies, including 20 to 50 kilowatt solar arrays, antennas to transmit energy, and distribution grids, that would essentially transmit energy across a 1 to 5 kilometer range on the ground.
However, the scientists said, the costs of launching satellites and hardware into space represent a "significant challenge" to making solar space energy viable.
Mankins said there is no evidence yet that energy transmission from space using microwaves or lasers would damage the environment. In fact, the use of solar-derived energy may benefit the environment by reducing reliance on fossil fuels, he said.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., and the subcommittee chair, said he supported looking for "new sources of energy that are clean" so that energy costs are reduced and "so we won’t have blackouts in California."
Rohrabacher, who has introduced legislation aimed at reducing launch costs, said space solar power is "one reason why I am a strong advocate for cheap access to space."
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