Those numbers look very attractive. What was the expected lifetime of the system? Did it take increased deterioration into account from radiation/increased sunpower? What about cooling? (or are they just pricing currently available satellite panel technology?)
A big issue with a project like this are unforeseen costs (being a space-based project) and engineering costs (sometimes needs government stimulus). I'm also bothered sometimes those solutions are advertised as panaceas for climate problem; while currently we have mostly a policy problem (clean energy is almost on par with carbon energy, we're just missing key incentives for the new tech and phasing out carbon plants quicker).
But indeed looks like a promising avenue of exploration.
I think they figured only 20 years average lifespan, for the reason you mentioned. I don't remember about cooling.
They had a pretty detailed cost breakdown. The low cost is only once you have mass production and a large plant. They assume several smaller projects first, which would be quite expensive per kWh and include more R&D cost. Those would have to serve communities with very expensive power, like remote northern communities or military installations.
I wouldn't call it a climate panacea since it'll be quite some time before we can do it at scale. In the meantime we should phase out fossil energy as fast as we can with existing technology.
But it looks like in 15 or 20 years we'll have a thriving industry in space anyway, and it's possible that by then we'll be running up against the practical limits of wind/solar market penetration. SPS might play an important role then.
A big issue with a project like this are unforeseen costs (being a space-based project) and engineering costs (sometimes needs government stimulus). I'm also bothered sometimes those solutions are advertised as panaceas for climate problem; while currently we have mostly a policy problem (clean energy is almost on par with carbon energy, we're just missing key incentives for the new tech and phasing out carbon plants quicker).
But indeed looks like a promising avenue of exploration.