Japan is aiming for outer-space beam back PV supply.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091108/sc_...

One of the companies which form the consortium for outer space PV in Japan is ITOCHU

http://www.usef.or.jp/english/f10_link/f...

Some highlights for us:

"The government has just picked a group of companies and a team of researchers tasked with turning the ambitious, multi-billion-dollar dream of unlimited clean energy into reality in coming decades." (ITOCHU)

"The next step, expected around 2020, would be to launch and test a large flexible photovoltaic structure with 10 megawatt power capacity, to be followed by a 250 megawatt prototype."

"The researchers are targeting a one gigawatt system, equivalent to a medium-sized atomic power plant, that would produce electricity at eight yen (cents) per kilowatt-hour, six times cheaper than its current cost in Japan."