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Re:Starship Prototype Unveiled by DennisP on Monday September 30, 2019 @07:08PM (#21120513)
So bear in mind the study was done before SpaceX did much. The $0.09/kWh and $16/watt on page 83 assume $500/kg launch cost. I wouldn't suggest SPS except in a scenario where SpaceX achieves the goals that Musk laid out Saturday night: $50/kg launch and total launch capacity thousands of times higher than the world has now, within the next several years. That kind of capability drastically advances the possible schedule, and drops the cost quite a bit too.

Meanwhile, the comparable cost from solar is the total required for dispatchable power 24/7, not just the cost of PV alone.

Re:Starship Prototype Unveiled by ben_w on Tuesday October 01, 2019 @02:34AM (#21122578)
Also bear in mind that it involves technology which hasn’t been sufficiently developed yet, technology which would make ground-based solar power cheaper (robotic assembly, beamed power), and that even with the relevant technology the ground station (whose costs are necessarily not impacted by lower launch costs) is more expensive on its own then an equivalent ground PV system including the cost of a battery for nighttime power.