Effects of Regional and Seasonal Power Demand on Scaling Space Solar Power Systems

Abstract

The impact on the scaling of space solar power systems (SSPS) due to regional variations in climate and seasonal variations in temperature is examined here. We use actual demand data for 2016 for two cities located in two different climate zones within the U.S. and develop SSPS to provide base load supply for each city. The demand data are scaled so that the annual demand for each city is equal. This scaling allows for direct comparison of SSPS scaling, while preserving the shape of the respective demand curves, which are largely driven by temperature, hence local climate. We consider two SSPS architectures - Constant power (e.g., NASA/DoE reference system) and the Caltech Space Solar Power Project architecture. We find the SSPS scaling for both architectures is driven by the peak demand day, which in turn is driven by peak temperatures. This leads to a generalization that an SSPS providing base load supply is tailored to a specific location and may not be easily dispatched to provide base load supply to another location without some risk of either over or under production of energy. We discuss how we compensate for loss of power to the ground during eclipse seasons by slightly increasing the size of the onorbit power station and storing the additional generated energy in short term, utility scale energy storage for use during eclipse periods.