Single number Life Cycle Assessment of space based solar power

Abstract

Competitive single-number Life Cycle Assessment is performed between existing and near-term electrical power plants at the infrastructure level. The focus is on an alternative to current electrical power production in the US in the form of Earth-orbiting Solar Power Satellites Two. This modernized SPS2 theoretical architecture is compared to Combined Cycle Natural Gas and terrestrial solar photovoltaic fields at 5GW capacity as delivered on-site. The SPS2 configuration presented is a modest, research-driven modification to a standard model that assumes medium-high technological readiness levels for equipment and employs predicted launch costs and capacity.