Solar light on demand

[Cobbler]

I heard this rumour that Tesla will be able to control the sun's light on demand in 2025. They're working on it already. Insiders call it 'project Helios'

Eg: large solar arrays (and farming stations) could pay Tesla for extra sunlight during night to boost their electricity storage or to increase growth in their crops (Kimbal Musk?)

How?

SpaceX will put small satellites in orbit with deployable mirrors that reflect the suns light and focus it back to earth on a requested spot.

One of the first testing sites will be the Gigafactory, since it is an 'easy target'
This could reduce GF power usage even further.

Anyone heard about this already?

 

[BluestarE3]

I guess military, commercial and private pilots will need to avoid flying underneath the magnifying glass?

 

[bxr140]

Practical implementation requires a significant size orbiting reflector array, whether it's many small spacecraft or one big one. To get similar power output you'd need the same size array orbiting earth that you would on the ground.

It's not a new concept, but because of cost it will be OBE by terrestrial solar + storage.

The most likely application is extraterrestrial bodies, like supplying power to the moon or mars. For those situations the concept allows you to save/reallocate a lot of mass by minimizing the amount of power storage (batteries) you need to send across the solar system.