The New York Times recently noted that "space-based solar power, once a topic for science fiction, is gaining interest." But beaming solar energy down to earth from orbiting PV panels might best be left to science fiction.
Local availability of solar energy varies greatly thanks to nighttime, weather changes, and seasonal changes. The main advantage of space-based solar is that orbiting PV panels could be in sunlight nearly all of the time.The PV panels on my own roof produce only one-fifth as much monthly electricity midwinter as they do in the summer. Storing enough locally produced electricity to handle nighttime demand is probably possible. Maybe we could even store enough to last a day or two of bad weather.
Adding connections between eastern and western hemispheres would allow electricity produced where it is daytime to be shipped to where it is nighttime, reducing even the short-term need to store electricity. Unlike the worldwide grid, all of the green alternatives to it would require substantial breakthroughs in technology.