Beamed Power

>
> The problems are that it often loses in comparison with other
> technologies, in most situations e.g. wires, carrying fuel around,
> batteries
>

Batteries are very expensive, and they are not used as a method of
transmitting bulk energy.

Imagine convoys of trucks laden with batteries travelling from Texas to
California :-)

Let us address the issue of fuel transportaiton as a substitute for
electricity transportation:-

It actually does not solve the real-world problem.

Transporting fuel to an electricity market does no good at all if there
is no power station at the market location.

The problem of California is a case in point.

California has lots of fuel, but they are short of electricity. The
reasons are complex, and those are the reasons we should address in
order to devise a model in which microwave power beaming can compete.

The essential thing to keep in mind is that the electricity market is
not static, it is very dynamic, and changes constantly. Some of the
changes are predictable, some are not.

Examples of things which scew the electricty demand and supply
situation:

Laws and beurocracy
Regulatory Changes
Weather
Seasons
Economic growth/decline
Movement of population
Lack of investment capital - not available when needed
Time it takes to build transmission lines (including approval process)
Time it takes to build power stations (including approval process)

overlaid on all of these is....bad planning.

This results in a chaotic set of parameters which can result in major
gaps in supply versus demand which occur with very little advance
warning. Western US is a case in point.

The shortages can be local and transitory. But they can last long
enough that those positioned properly can make a good profit - even with
artificial price controls.

An interesting benefit of a GEO power transmitter (e.g. a relay) is that
it can potentially serve most of an entire hemisphere. We cannot
predict when or where a power shortage will occur. But it is quite
likely that most of the time there will be a power shortage somewhere in
the field of view.

Whenever a power shortage emerges a single GEO transmitter can
immediately reorient the beam to serve that new market.

A crucial enabling technology for this would be a portable rectenna. Or
at least a rectenna which can be assembled very quickly compared to the
time it takes to build ground transmission lines or conventional power
stations. How difficult would that be ? Any ideas ?