I agree that even with free launch and no maintenance costs, you still don’t get 50x. But it’s closer than it looks.
On Earth, to get reliable self-contained solar power we need batteries that cost a lot more than the solar panels. A steady 1 kW load needs on the order of 15 kW peak-rated solar panels plus around 50 kW-hr battery capacity. Even that doesn’t get 99% uptime, but enough for many purposes and it is probably adequate when connected to a continent-spanning grid with other power sources.
The same load in orbit would need about 1.5 kW peak rated panels and less than 1 kW-hr of battery capacity for uptime dependent only upon reliability of equipment. The equipment does need to be designed for space, but doesn’t need to be sturdy against wind, rain, and hailstones. It would have increased cooling costs, but transporting heat (e.g. via coolant loop) into a radiator edge-on to the Sun will be highly effective (on the order of 1000 W/m^2 for a radiator averaging 35 C).
I agree that even with free launch and no maintenance costs, you still don’t get 50x. But it’s closer than it looks.
On Earth, to get reliable self-contained solar power we need batteries that cost a lot more than the solar panels. A steady 1 kW load needs on the order of 15 kW peak-rated solar panels plus around 50 kW-hr battery capacity. Even that doesn’t get 99% uptime, but enough for many purposes and it is probably adequate when connected to a continent-spanning grid with other power sources.
The same load in orbit would need about 1.5 kW peak rated panels and less than 1 kW-hr of battery capacity for uptime dependent only upon reliability of equipment. The equipment does need to be designed for space, but doesn’t need to be sturdy against wind, rain, and hailstones. It would have increased cooling costs, but transporting heat (e.g. via coolant loop) into a radiator edge-on to the Sun will be highly effective (on the order of 1000 W/m^2 for a radiator averaging 35 C).