INSTITUTIONAL CONSIDERATIONS OF SPS/UTILITY INTEGRATION Dr. Meredith S. Crist, Consultant 1115 Pine Street Santa Monica, California 90405 This study investigates institutional development of the U.S. utility industry and how various scenarios of industry evolution would affect utility involvement in the SPS program. The implications of past and ongoing structural changes in oil prices and energy economics, alternate energy technology developments, national energy policy, state regulatory climates, and financial pressures are analyzed for their impacts on utility perceptions of SPS viability. This research on institutional issues in SPS/utility integration was conducted in the following sequence: 1) Likely organization/management/financing forms for the SPS program were reviewed. Due to the SPS financing needs for design, development, testing and engineering before revenues commence, the study concludes that the commercialization organization can and should be separate from the (government funded) DDT&E. This study in its entirety identifies imposing institutional problems preventing utilities from contracting for ownership and operation of either or both SPS ground stations and satellites until several years of successful demonstration. Therefore, the report's initial discussion on SPS organizational forms selects an international, non U.S. utility consortia commercialization similar to the COMSAT/INTELSAT structure. 2) The DDT&E financing dictates an all-or-nothing commitment to a program of 60 SPS units. The question of whether the U.S. can absorb 300 GW of new baseload was evaluated by reviewing existing (1978) forecasts of energy supply and demand, projected electric capacity from conventional sources, and the potential role of up to 25 percent from solar technologies. The study concludes that 300 GW can be absorbed, assuming reasonable SPS costs and schedules. (This study does not analyze comparative costs of SPS relative to conventional or alternate energy sources.) 3) Implications of the heterogeneous mix of utilities (cooperatives, municipals, investor-owned, federal systems) were examined to determine institutional barriers to forming systems large enough to absorb single SPS 5 GW power sources. Negative factors identified are regulatory rate and siting disparities across state jurisdictions receiving SPS power. Positive factors are proliteration of joint ventures and of power pools and federal promotion of increased
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