[ExI] Solar power satellite logistics

[Keith Henson]

Adrian Tymes <atymes at gmail.com> wroteL

On Sun, Jul 12, 2020 at 3:44 PM Keith Henson via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

>> if you can get the cost of lifting parts power
>> satellite parts down to ~$100/kg, they come in at about half the cost
>> per kWh of fission plants.

> Does that include the cost to make the satellites and the rectennas, and
run them all, or is that just comparing the launch cost of satellites to
the total cost of nuclear fission plants?

"Per kWh" takes into account all the costs.  The typical costs for
nuclear energy is around 11 cents per kWh (UK numbers).

The base case for 6.5 kg/kW power sats is

$900/kW for the parts and labor in space
$1300/kW to the lift cost to GEO
$200/kW for the rectenna

$2400/kW total.  Using the ratio of 80,000 to one, the power would
cost 3 cents per kWh.  This includes maintenance.

For comparison, the lowest cost in the mideast for PV power is 1.35
cents per kWh.  That's down from 1.69 cents per kWh a year ago.

Keith