DEVELOPMENT COSTS Boeing^5 estimated development costs on the basis of the reference system scenario, which predicates a 20-year development schedule and a 30-year deployment schedule (for 60 5-GW satellites). These costs amount to $100-110 billion and are broken down as follows (Fig. 2): • Research costs: mainly ground-based research to address environmental and social issues and alternative systems, resulting in a preferred system; • Engineering: development and testing of prototype subsystems, resulting in specifications for demonstration units and production facilities; • Demonstration: flight tests of a 100-200 MW unit integrated with a commercial network; • Investment: development of industrial infrastructure, e.g., transportation, photovoltaic, and klystron manufacturing facilities. • Construction and implementation: the first 5-GW SPS unit put into place. It is important to note that these cost estimates assume that all effort is specific to the SPS. The benefits from generic research or from cost sharing (e.g., industry or other federal program support for photovoltaics manufacturing facilities) have not been considered. Such cost modifications could amount to 50-70% of the $102.5 billion.? Since comparable cost data for the other six technologies were not available, side-by-side comparisons of costs or of the benefits or disadvantages of public expenditures were not attempted. Fig. 2 Development Costs of the SPS (Source: Ref. 6)
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