A similar energy project had been proposed by NASA more than two decades ago but was never developed, while the UK government commissioned independent research supporting a £16bn British version in orbit by 2035.
The first launch for China's project is scheduled for 2028, when a trial satellite orbiting at a distance of around 400km (248 miles) will test the technology used to transmit energy from the power plant.
This satellite will "convert solar energy to microwaves or lasers and then direct the energy beams to various targets, including fixed locations on Earth and moving satellites" according to the South China Morning Post.
They could also do this on the moon, right? 'Just' dump a giant heap of solar panels on there. Beam it to earth. God, I love having any hope for the future. Thanks China.
Ideally you want the microwave laser close to earth to lower the amount of scattering and it needs to be steady over the receiver.
For a full size solar power satellite at geosynchronous orbit, you'll need your receiving antenna to be a couple km across (to catch all the photons not in the center of the beam). Luckily, because microwaves are large, you can use netting as an antenna and grow shade tolerant plants underneath it.
The moon's also a bad place to put them because if you put them in one spot they'll only be lit by the sun for half the month. Better to stick them in an orbit that always gets sunlight.