there is a a less stable market and political system and less transporation and communication infrastructure than in developed countries. Within any given market, prices are likely to vary by time because there are periods of high demand for electricity (peak load) and periods of lesser demand where prices are lowest (baseload). Plants that provide baseload power differ from those that provide peak power. Baseload plants must be reliable and cheap to operate; they can represent more capital cost because the cost is spread over a very large number of kilowatt-hours. Peak load plants are light investments. Peaking plants can have high “unit costs” because they are only operating for a short period of time. Hybrid plants are a combination of peaking and baseload plant approaches, based on the market and available resources. This analysis identified prices for peak load, baseload, and also hybrid power, with hybrid representing an average of peak and baseload prices. The analysis showed that international delivered baseload electricity prices will be about $.065 to $.07 1996 dollars in 2010 in areas of dense population. These prices may be higher in the developing world; currently, for example, the price per kilowatthour for powerf rom the Enron plant in India is about $.09. Hie US price is expected to stabilize after deregulation to about $.05. Peak load prices are the highest, from $.20 to $.40 per kilowatt-hour. Peak load is about 3% of the time. Electricity price growth over the next 2 to 3 decades will be modest, although there will be fluctuations caused by deregulation. The price levels and price growth rates used in the analysis of alternative space solar power concepts are given in Tables 2-5 and 2-6. Some participants in the economic technical interchange meeting felt that a space solar power Figure 2-6 Electricity Delivered by Load system should focus on providing peak load power to a number of different markets, for a few minutes a day within a relatively predictable window of about an hour. Since solar power does not require extensive ground infrastructure, they recommended that the focus be on developing markets where there is little or no infrastructure for producing electricity. This approach would result in much higher revenues than those predicted in the analysis reported here, because peak load prices are three or four times as high as baseload prices. This analysis assumed a mix of peak load, hybrid, and baseload prices for each type of market, with only about 1% of electricity at peak load prices, 8% at hybrid prices, and 91% at baseload prices.
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