this means just 1⁄6 of the time do you get a rated solar panel’s full output.
Negating the microwave transmission system’s cost and other costs, if the cost of sending a kg to orbit is less than 5⁄6 the cost of a panel on earth plus storage, it could work. Not “never”.
I concede it’s unlikely, sending a kilogram to orbit has immense energy costs and so even advanced technology will hit a limit on how cheap it can be. Space based solar probably would only make sense if you had a society so in need of energy that you had exhausted your options on earth already, with entire continents covered in panels, and you still needed more energy.
You also have an issue that at that point you are importing more heat to earth than it can radiate to space under normal climate conditions, so it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to do this..
Yes, I meant plummeting “within reason” (like x10) not plummeting to extremely low values that, as you correctly said, are not possible given the energy cost.
no, it will never work, even if the cost of sending a kg to orbit plummets.
A solar electric system on earth doesn’t make 1 watt all the time. Obviously there is night, and there is geographic differences.
A quick and dirty approximation is here: https://unboundsolar.com/solar-information/sun-hours-us-map . The idea of “sun hours”. Let’s take the median “sun hours” of 4.
this means just 1⁄6 of the time do you get a rated solar panel’s full output.
Negating the microwave transmission system’s cost and other costs, if the cost of sending a kg to orbit is less than 5⁄6 the cost of a panel on earth plus storage, it could work. Not “never”.
I concede it’s unlikely, sending a kilogram to orbit has immense energy costs and so even advanced technology will hit a limit on how cheap it can be. Space based solar probably would only make sense if you had a society so in need of energy that you had exhausted your options on earth already, with entire continents covered in panels, and you still needed more energy.
You also have an issue that at that point you are importing more heat to earth than it can radiate to space under normal climate conditions, so it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to do this..
Yes, I meant plummeting “within reason” (like x10) not plummeting to extremely low values that, as you correctly said, are not possible given the energy cost.