"Free" Energy after all?

[Molyneux]

So why can't we send up satellites that do that, then beam down the energy to a receiver on earth?

Because it costs hundreds of millions of dollars to build and launch a satellite, the amount of usable energy actually produced by any given satellite would be a pittance, and if I'm understanding this correctly, the satellite would have to be in low orbit, meaning whatever it's using to beam the energy down would have to rapidly track to keep the beam on the reciver.

So, if we develop a conductive material of the necessary strength to build a tower/cord THAT long, we can use it to provide a good portion of the national power supply? That's reassuring (assuming, of course, that said materials are physically possible...).