I'm sure you know this, but receiving a signal is the same thing as receiving energy. Take a random plot of land, build a grid of telephone poles, stretch condu

I'm sure you know this, but receiving a signal is the same thing as receiving energy. Take a random plot of land, build a grid of telephone poles, stretch conductive wire cables between the poles, and you've built an orbital power receiving station where the ground is still available for critters and plants. Make the plot wider to spread the energy over a larger area to make it safer for birds passing overhead, or narrower to punch out the atmosphere to improve the loss rate. There is a difference, and it's tunable.