Solaren, Inc. is a Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

 startup

Startup company

A startup company or startup is a company with a limited operating history. These companies, generally newly created, are in a phase of development and research for markets...

 corporation created to utilize solar energy for terrestrial electricity usage. The company has a contract under negotiation with Pacific Gas and Electric Company of California to deliver 200 megawatts of power for at least 15 years., starting in 2016 The cost of the contracted activities has been reported as "slightly more" than California's projected energy cost in 2016 of 12.9 cents per kilowatt hour.

Solaren plans to provide this electrical power to PG&E's customers from solar panels mounted on satellites placed in Earth's orbit.The satellite would convert this energy into radio waves

Radio waves

Radio waves are a type of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum longer than infrared light. Radio waves have frequencies from 300 GHz to as low as 3 kHz, and corresponding wavelengths from 1 millimeter to 100 kilometers. Like all other electromagnetic waves,...

 and send it to a receiving station in Fresno County, California

Fresno County, California

Fresno County is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California, south of Stockton and north of Bakersfield. As of the 2010 census, it is the tenth most populous county in California with a population of 930,450, and the sixth largest in size with an area of . The county...

. The plan is to provide 200 megawatts of continuous power, estimated as the average usage of 150,000 homes.

If successful, this project would be the first implementation of space-based solar power (SBSP). The concept was first dreamed up in 1941 by science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 author Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...

 in his short story "Reason", and was later described scientifically by Peter Glaser

Peter Glaser

Peter Edward Glaser is an American scientist and aerospace engineer. He served as Vice President, Advanced Technology , was employed at Arthur D. Little, Inc., Cambridge, MA ; subsequently he served as a consultant to the company . He was president of Power from Space Consultants...

in 1968.