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A comment on Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into Orbit. Parent comment

Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by ben_w on Thursday January 05, 2023 @03:03PM (#34265698)
It would be great on Mars. Mars has planet-wide dust storms.

But for Earth, even if it was free to put the PV in Earth orbit, the ground stations need to have an incredibly low total cost to make sense.

I can't remember how low exactly.

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Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by DennisP on Thursday January 05, 2023 @05:47PM (#34268062)
The ground stations are basically just antenna wire. For a large plant they would contribute just 0.7 cents/kWh to the total cost, according to the book The Case for Space Solar Power.
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Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by ben_w on Thursday January 05, 2023 @06:08PM (#34268301)
Also needs a microwave frequency rectifier, plus installation costs are non-trivial as evidenced by the difference between the cost/W of a PV cell and a PV farm.

Also, cheapest ground-based PV in the world is 1.04¢/kWh (Saudi Arabia), and the cheapest in the USA is 1.50¢/kWh (New Mexico), so 0.7¢/kWh is already a large percentage.

https://commercialsolarguy.com/lowest-solar-power-prices-in-...

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Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by DennisP on Thursday January 05, 2023 @06:46PM (#34268713)
Just to clarify, the 0.7 cents is total ground station cost, according to my source.

At ideal locations, ground solar is super cheap, but the microwave receiver works anywhere. Not needing storage is a big difference, too.

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Re:Caltech to Launch Space Solar Power Technology Demo into ... by ben_w on Friday January 06, 2023 @04:57AM (#34272921)
That seems a bit optimistic, but I don't have the book, so OK.

(I really should get around to blogging what I think is wrong with this whole approach to space solar, where it works despite that, and how to improve on it for Earth usage; it comes up here every so often, and linking to my blog is easier than disjointed comments without images).

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