Generating solar power near sea level on Earth may just be an old way of thinking.  Consider catching rays even closer to the source- from satellites orbitting earth. Gone would be excuses of cloudy days & nighttime interruption. Is it really possible?

http://www.matternetwork.com/2008/5/solar-power-beefs-up.cfm

"The satellites would electromagnetically beam gigawatts of solar energy back to ground-based receivers, where it would then be converted to electricity and transferred to power grids. And because in high Earth orbit, satellites are unaffected by the earth's shadow virtually 365 days a year, the floating power plants could provide round-the-clock clean, renewable electricity."

"And so has a 2007 report released by the Pentagon's National Security Space Office, encouraging the U.S. government to spearhead the development of space power systems.

'A single kilometer-wide band of geosynchronous Earth orbit experiences enough solar flux in one year to nearly equal the amount of energy contained within all known recoverable conventional oil reserves on Earth today,' the report said."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/05/30/space.solar/index.html?eref=rss_latest