Value chain · CLM-0373
In plain terms
Rebuilding NASA's 2024 space solar power cost estimate from the ground up, then converting it onto the same basis as the other studies, gives roughly 560 to 1,790 pounds per megawatt-hour depending on which design and which return rate is used -- an order of magnitude above the UK and European studies on the same basis (CLM-0389).
The claim as recorded
Rebuilding NASA OTPS's RD1 and RD2 baseline LCOE bottom-up (reusing the validated model in the register) at 20-year system life gives RD1 GBP564.0/MWh at 3% real discount rate and GBP930.3/MWh at 10%; RD2 gives GBP921.7/MWh at 3% and GBP1,791.1/MWh at 10% (2024 GBP throughout).
Scope and limits
Uses the register's own DCF rebuild for RD2, not NASA's raw published 1.59 USD/kWh, because the rebuild does not exhibit the capacity-factor double-count flagged in CLM-0247; using NASA's raw figure instead would raise the RD2 restated figures roughly 57% further.
What it assumes
NASA's own Operate and Dispose cost lumps ($3.79bn/$24.7bn RD1; $9.36bn/$38.9bn RD2) are carried over unchanged from their 30-year-life values, since no life-scaling function is stated -- this makes the 20-year rebuild a conservative (LCOE-inflating), not a fully redesigned, approximation.
Where it comes from
This is the project's own working, shown in full:
restate-lcoe.py trace, Section 4 (bottom-up rebuild) and CLM-0123-restate-RD1/RD2 sections: RD1 rebuilt at 20yr/3% = 0.6729 USD/kWh; x US CPI mult 1.0712 = USD2024 720.82/MWh; / 1.278 USD-per-GBP = GBP2024 564.0.
Basis: GBP2024, 20-year asset life, 3% and 10% real discount rate
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-004 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0373
CLM-0373, Energy Aperture, as of 2026-09.