Although it is unlikely that SPS would provide additional generating capacity significantly in excess of long-run demand, * government incentives may be needed to stimulate initial relocations of industry. Deployment of such incentives could serve as catalysts to redistribute population and benefit long range national and regional development goals. Future research should therefore assess the sensitivity of industrial moves to government incentives that might effect the utilization of SPS outputs. It should also be mentioned that government policies and incentives could be applied to retard or direct growth that either exceeds the generating capacity added by SPS or outstrips the impact assimilating capacity of the region. The research on industrial moves and government incentives should also consider what public policies could be applied with what effect to restrain unwanted growth. *NASA estimates that SPS could be providing 20% of total U.S. electrical capacity by 2025.1 **See Public Acceptance of the Satellite Power System by A. Bachrach (Environmental Resources Group) and Impact of Centrallzatlon/Decentrallzatlon on a Satellite Power System by J. Naisbitt (Center for Policy Process). 4.3 PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE Many factors will influence public opinion about SPS. Prominent among these factors are: (1) the availability of electricity in the 21st century, (2) the cost of an operational system and its effect on taxes and/or electric utility rates, (3) the price of alternative fuels, (4) the vulnerability of the system to sabotage, (5) the technological state of society, and (6) the world political situation. These and the many other issues affecting public acceptance are indeed complex and they are addressed more fully in other Societal Assessment white p*a*pers. As a complement to these discussions, this section has a more narrow focus. Here we shall concentrate on the effects that rectenna siting may have on public acceptance of industrial and population relocation. The major implications examined, albeit briefly, are: (1) displacement of population from large areas of land for rectenna sites, (2) potential ’’boom" development of rectenna construction communities, and (3) the geographic concentration of economy and society in rectenna-bearing regions.
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