14. 0 PROGRAM COST AND ECONOMICS 14.1 INTRODUCTION ‘‘l A cost and economic analysis has been performed on a typical SPS concept using the MSFC SPS photovoltaic design and ground rules as a baseline. The results to date, when compared to similar studies of existing and new technology power plants for the 1990's, definitely place SPS in contention as a potential competitive candidate for economic reasons as well as other considerations. While the SPS is a complex, expensive, technologically advanced undertaking, all of the alternate methods for producing power have serious technical, environmental, social, or economic problems as well. The results of this particular study show that if cost and technical goals can be met in a few key areas, an SPS program could cleanly produce and safely deliver electrical energy from space to anywhere on the Earth's surface at economically competitive rates. 14. 2 WORK BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE In order to promote equitable, complete, and understandable comparisons of SPS concepts, a work breakdown structure (WBS) has been developed2 that provides a standard format for the reporting of SPS costs. The WBS successively subdivides the SPS program into the lowest divisions and elements for which costs can practically be estimated, collected, and compared. Each division and element is defined by a WBS dictionary. The WBS for the SPS program differs somewhat from the typical WBS for government aerospace programs in that it has been developed to accommodate the financial involvement of the private sector. Entries for taxes and insurance have been provided, and distinctions have been made between capital expenditures (which are recoverable by annual depreciation charges and are not deductible as expenses) and operation and maintenance charges against income (which are deductible as expenses in the year incurred). As shown in Figure 14-1, costs have been divided into five major divisions: 1. Design, development, test, and evaluation costs are the costs of the engineering analyses and testing necessary to convert the system performance specifications into a validated design. 2. ''Satellite Power System Work Breakdown Structure Dictionary, " IN-PP03-76-1 published by the Engineering Cost Group (PP03), Marshall Space Flight Center.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTU5NjU0Mg==