Reality check. Coal power is about 0.04 cents / kWh
I'm in the solar biz. The reality is: Orbital stations are operational for 100% of the time. Earthbound stations are operational at most 50% of the time (because of the day/night cycle). But orbital stations cost a LOT more to get going. This eliminates any advantage you might get from the 50% power gain, and then some. I'm a proponent of earthbound CPV systems, and am actively seeking investment in my particular design. I know this industry inside and out, and can tell you straight out that orbital power gen systems will simply not fly, for cost-effectiveness reasons. Regards, Curtis. With very expensive receivers you can get about 40% efficiency. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Charlie Bell Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 1:40 PM To: Killer Bs (David Brin et al) Discussion Subject: Re: An interesting response On 18/04/2008, at 7:16 AM, hkhenson wrote: > At 12:00 PM 4/17/2008, Dan M wrote: > >> Nothing works 100% of the time, but lets assume a 95% efficiency, >> or running >> 8322 hours/year. The cost is, then, about $39 per kWh. > > If you do it this way, the cost the next year is zero. That's not > good accounting. These things should run for decades. If you wrote > it off in 10 years, it would be $3.90 a kWh. Ah yes. I totally missed that part of Dan's calculation, despite the fact I used precisely the correct calculation in my own roof-top solar calculation - I blame my flu. Fucking schoolboy error. So - assuming a yearly running cost at 10% of start-up, that's still about 5 bucks a kwh. So comparable to rooftop solar, but with massively more startup cost. Hmmm. So why's it better? C. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
