Gerard O'neill, several decades ago advocated power generation in space. We have all the technology on the shelf.
Go to the moon and/or asteroids. Mine and smelt all the metals needed to build the power plants there with 1/6 gravity on the moon and less on asteroids.
Launch the materials from there to small factories in orbit around the earth and construct the power plants in geosynchronous orbits.
These would be simple steam generators. If you understand how a steam generator works, half of the power comes from the steam, the other half from the suction of condensing the steam.
A power plant in orbit would have the ultimate heat on the sun side of the plant, and the ultimate cold on the shaded side.
You beam the power to earth with microwave energy to converter stations.
You wouldn't need a huge grid of power lines as receiver and converter stations could be located in local areas.
I expected, back in the 1970s that well before now this would be where our power came from.
(You don’t have flying cars yet, either.)
How much time and capital do you think it would require to implement these nice ‘energy from space’ ideas?
I think it’s going to be oil, coal and gas for a long time yet, even if we are to ever again have a political atmosphere that promotes America First.
We have plenty of natural resources right here in the good old USA, if the Great Gods Government and Politics would just get their meddling paws out of it.
And the current regime will meddle with any really useful alternatives, too. They will happily waste trillions of dollars on nonsense, as they’re trying to do now; but fight tooth and nail against investing in the kinds of ideas that you suggest.