generating power a higher portion of the time and would be less prone to non-scheduled power outage. However, interruption of SPS power will occur at known periods of time due to shadowing of the satellite by the earth. Fortunately, these outages occur at local midnight when power requirements are low. A 5 GW SPS unit would be connected to a pool^O 30-35 GW or larger, and the scheduled SPS outage would be accommodated by reserve within the pool, or through interties. No area would derive all of its electrical power from the SPS. A 5 GW SPS unit would not be used to supply more than about 20% of the total electric generation capacity for any single utility or pool. Nonscheduled disruption of SPS power would be highly unlikely, but not impossible. Were partial or complete outage of an SPS unit to occur, power levels would be maintained by one or a combination of the mechanisms outlined above. IV.11 Is there any public awareness of the SPS as a major candidate for long term energy generation? There is some public awareness of the SPS as a long-range energy option, but no systematic attempt has been made by the Project Office to assess its extent. It can be inferred that knowledge of the SPS is growing. For example, the Project Office distributes approximately 3,000 copies of each report it publishes. These reports are distributed to a wide national and international audience that includes universities, government agencies, libraries, public and private interest groups, corporations, and individuals interested in SPS activities and work. Certain specific groups in this country and abroad are quite knowledgeable about the SPS. At least two national engineering associations, representing 200,000 members in electrical, electronics, aerospace, and systems disciplines, have run articles on the SPS in their journals.61 The SPS has been the subject of several presentations at meetings of the Royal Aeronautical Society and the International Astronautical Federation in the last few years. The question was generated in the Public Outreach Experiment sponsored by the Project Office. In this experiment, summaries of twenty SPS reports were mailed to 9,000 recipients associated with the three public interest groups: Citizens Energy Project, Forum for the Advancement of Students in Science and Technology, and the L-5 Society. Over 1,000 responses have been received from these mailings. 60Group of closely interactive utilities, usually geographically contiguous. ^The July and September 1979 issues of the IEEE Spectrum and the AIAA Position Paper of November 20, 1978.
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