[AstralStorm]

You do know that one can build the panels on the other hemisphere, right? It is all a small matter of building a long enough high voltage DC line. Mostly a political problem. Or you can use microwaves on ground if it is easier to build a bunch of antennas.

Ultimately also reflect off space mirrors (meshes) for much cheaper.

The main problem is theoretically weather. Space has the other kind of weather called space junk.

[adrianN]

HVDC lines are really neat tech and I fully support solar farms in the Sahara to supply Europe, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's cheaper to launch satellites than to build a global power grid that can provide solar power over night.

I think debris is not a terrible problem right now. We manage to have a large number of satellites in high orbits.