We discussed this in one of my EE courses. From what I recall, all of the United State's power could be compressed down to a beam something like 15 meters in di

We discussed this in one of my EE courses. From what I recall, all of the United State's power could be compressed down to a beam something like 15 meters in diameter. However, the problem is that if you compress it more than that the air will ionize. Effectively, an orbital solar beam could also be used as a lightning gun which is something the international community might have an issue with.