Comparative assessment of orbital and terrestrial central power plantsRecent studies of the space power system (SPS) are integrated into a total social cost framework developed for terrestrial central electric power systems. Total social costs include the projection of commercial economics to the time frame of interest as well as the federal research, development and demonstration (RD&D) costs, the health impacts, the resources required, the environmental impacts and other social costs. The SPS system is limited to transporting all materials from the earth's surface to geosynchronous orbit. Only silicon photovoltaic is considered as the SPS energy conversion technique. Costs and impacts of the LWR are considered as a reference for nuclear systems, and the low BTU coal gasification with combined cycle gas and steam turbines is considered as a reference for a fossil central electric plant. The ground solar systems considered are solar thermal using the central receiver approach with thermal storage, and solar photovoltaic using the silicon cell with battery storage.
Document ID
19770066026
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Authors
Caputo, R. (California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena Calif., United States)
Date Acquired
August 9, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1977
Subject Category
Energy Production And Conversion
Meeting Information
Meeting: Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference