Energy Costs & Renewables

Retail energy prices vary dramatically by location. Western Europe has the highest retail gasoline and electricity prices in the world. Only island nations like Hong Kong and Singapore exceed the fuel prices seen in Europe.

These retail prices reflect a lot of local variables beyond the raw cost of the energy like taxation and environmental regulations. However, the availability of rich local energy sources is a big contributor.

One of the promises of space based solar power (SBSP) is removing the environmental and energy availability issues from energy costs. This will help flatten out the disparities in energy costs between countries.

Since a SBSP satellite is both a source of power and a transmission system, it can deliver power almost instantaneously where it is needed. This ability to bypass infrastructure to get power close to customers can help level the local cost variation. It can reduce high prices driven by infrastructure, peaking power plants, and storage required to firm intermittent electricity sources like wind and solar. This ability to drop prices in high cost countries offers a first mover advantage to the early SBSP solutions.

Energy prices around the world.