I’m still curious about the microwave beam though, does it just fry anything that happens to accidentally pass through it? Can you re-aim it at a new receiver plant in a completely different location based on regional power need, etc?

it can kill smaller creatures within a minute, though i imagine it would be quite painful and obvious that its happening so they would likely just move out of the way before too much harm happens. this is also resolved by having many specific safe areas for unloading the microwaves and also reducing the amount sent.