Operational Considerations The most efficient use of the electrical power from the SPS requires full grid utilization of the total power received at all times. Atmospheric conditions, pointing and phasing errors will cause the rectenna output to vary by several percent. The rectenna output is entirely governed by microwave power received. There is no "throttle" capability to allow even slight grid demand excesses without significant output voltage variations. To maximize the use of the power available, the system must be controlled so that it will operate with other generating plants on the grid. These plants must also maintain sufficient capacity for those periods when the SPS is shadowed. For typical grid operations, modularity in single generators rarely exceed 1.0 GW. This maximum size is closely tied to planned growth rates for conventional systems and it also allows for outage protection without maintaining excessive "spinning reserves." Accepting less than 5.0 gigawatts on the ground either by controls on the satellite or ground may be necessary, especially if the base load approaches 5.0 GW. The loss of the SPS output at the equinoxes and during shadowing of other satellites creates somewhat extensive operational problems, possibly requiring "storage" and/or "load leveling" systems. These operational problems are being addressed by JSC through further review of the problem
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