The California Public Utilities Commission approved yesterday Pacific Gas & Electric’s plan to purchase electricity from an orbiting solar panel plant in outer space, provided that it is successfully deployed. The San Francisco utility announced in April its space-ward intentions, and now that it has received the official green light from state regulators, it has [...]

In what may be one of its most ambitious solar projects to date, Japan again affirms its reputation for technological savvy: the country’s space agency plans to send arrays of photovoltaic dishes right outside of earth’s atmosphere, where it will collect solar energy and beam it back down using laser beams or microwaves. The Japan [...]