Solar power sats without colonies...

Ian Woollard wrote:
> Yes, but for example, I live in the UK; which is a *long* way north
> (rather *further* than Ottawa in Canada). During summertime solar
> might work.
>
> But during the winter; it rains. And rains. And rains and rains. And
> it's dark; with 100% cloudcover for much of the time. Ground-level
> solar doesn't really work at all. You simply can't store the heat for
> months at a time.
>
> Whereas SPS would work 24x365.25.

Yes but the UK has a whole bunch of something else that provides
energy: wind. On Earth the further north in latitude you are, the
greater are the average winds are with which to tap energy. They
pretty much compliment each other.

(Ground-based) solar energy by itself won't do, but a *combination* of
solar and wind energy can, IMO.