cost of energy from the SPS system is below that resulting from other energy sources. The consumer surplus benefits are directly proportional to the price differential, the energy produced and the time interval from demonstration completion to on-orbit construction of the operational satellite. PV3 is the present value of possible increases in construction (interface) costs that result from not being able to take advantage of knowledge gained from the demonstration program. PV4 is the present value of the increase in demonstration satellite investment cost to achieve the same reliability characteristics that would be achieved by the first full-scale operational satellite. Since no information is available on demonstration satellite cost in terms of reliability characteristics, PV4 has been assumed to be zero. The detailed value model is indicated below together with definitions of the variables and the nominal values utilized in the analysis. It should be noted that the annual transportation investment cost is treated parametrically and is obtained by spreading the cost to deliver 1.618 X 106 kg to geosynchronous orbit over a three year period (30%, 40% and 30% respectively). The basic range of transportation cost has been considered from 0 to 100 $/kg predicated upon the assumption that low transportation costs will have to be achieved in order to proceed with an economically viable full-scale operational SPS system.
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