Parts and Working

Any space power station has two parts

•  One is a solar power satellite

•  The other is a reception station on the earth.

Solar power satellites (orbiting earth) do the function of collecting solar power by use of collectors. This energy is converted to microwaves by use of converters. These converters are nothing but photovoltaic cells.

These microwaves are then transmitted to the earth. The receiver on earth collects these microwaves and converts them to useable DC power. This power can be now stored or used as per our needs.  

The solar power satellite here is considered as one entity. But actually it could also be a network of a large number of small power generating satellites having a span of few hundred meters. The combined power of all these satellites will give a large amount of power. This network will maintain a geosynchronous orbit, converting solar power into microwaves for transmission to Earth. The output of such a network would be equivalent to that of one huge solar power satellite.

Another remarkable point on this satellite could be solar tracking mirrors. Solar tracking mirrors are mirrors whose angles adjust them in a way such that the mirror follows the sun as the earth and the satellite move. Thus the suns rays would always be properly focused on the solar cells.  

We have understood how SSP works but let us see why it is preferred to a terrestrial solar power plant.