It has recently been proposed to construct a new type of solar sail with a painted surface so that the surface, when heated by a powerful ground based laser, the paint will decompose and act as a kind of rocket fuel to speed the sail to its destination much faster than a normal sail which relies on the pressure of light to derive motive power. It has been estimated that such a solar sail vehicle could make the trip to Mars in a matter of months instead of years. A further extension of this idea would be a huge space mirror made of extremely thin film which would collect local sunlight and either convert the energy to laser light or merely redirect the concentrated light energy to the solar sail of the vehicle. Probably the mirror would suffer from the solar sail effect so a portion of the light would have to be sacrificed to maintain the mirror in position but since the energy is free and continuous, that should not be a big problem.
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There is a further advantage to having a solar sail power reflector on orbit. The construction must by necessity be huge and would probably make possible a second station in space for maintanance and perhaps control, although control could be managed from the ground. A second space station would provide a refuge if the current station has problems, and there have been many problems in the current station. But if mankind is to establish itself as a spacefaring species it must set up real permanant facilities in Earth orbit even though the current US administration is more utilizing the possibilities for political purposes rather than any sensible planning. The demise of the Hubble telescope is evidence that the administration has its priorities totally out of whack as the Hubble would provide at least a minimum safety warning for a disasterous asteroid impact on Earth. But a backup space station with a permanant vehicle in space to move between them would be the initial step for establishing a permanant outpost in space. Other countries such as China and India and Japan are fast moving towards becoming space faring and multiple stations would enhance this.
It's been done, at least in print. Arthur C Clarke's short story "Sunjammer" is a tale about a solar-sail race.
Gerard K O'Neill's vision of a permanent space station at the L5 libration point sparked the creation of the L5 Society, which eventually was merged with the National Space Institute to form the National Space Society. O'Neill's vision made extensive use of solar sails. The justification of the L5 station was the generation of electricity from giant solar arrays, which would be beamed to earth via microwaves, and collected by special antennas stationed throughout the world. I don't know if a comprehensive economic model was ever developed.