In 2023 the European Space Agency announced starting research into the eventual development of Space-Based Solar Power to benefit the people of Europe. This was not the first dip of their toes. This 1979 ESA-contracted document on Solar Power Satellites/SPS (with a hand-written note on the title page) presents the results of a six-months study on implications of the potential electricity supply for Western Europe by SPS.
It is an interesting read, and this line makes it moreso: "The authors of this report conclude that the special European environment calls for special European utilisation feasibility analyses, while the principle technical feasibility of a SPS-system should be taken over from U.S. studies. Moreover, if the USA stop their activities, an implementation of a SPS-system for Western Europe would be principally impractical in the considered time frame." The authors were NOT letting that deter them, see their real, hard hope in the page 1 Introduction.