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== SPS's economic feasibility==
Current prices for electricity on the grid fluctuate depending on time of day, but typical household delivery costs about 5 cents per [[kilowatt hour]] in North America. If the lifetime of an SPS is 20 years and it delivers 5 gigawatts to the grid, the commercial value of that power is 5,000,000,000 / 1000 = 5,000,000 kilowatt hours, which multiplied by $.05 per kWh gives $250,000 revenue per hour. $250,000 × 24 hours × 365 days × 20 years = $43,800,000,000. By contrast, in England (Oct 2005) electricity can cost 9-22 cents per kilowatt hour. Which would translate to a lifetime output of $77-$193 billion. In addition, in the case of England, the country is rather further north than even most inhabited parts of Canada, and hence receives little insolation over much of the year, so conventional solar power is not terribly competitive.
In order to be competitive, the SPS must cost no more than existing suppliers; this may be difficult especially if deployed to North America. Either it must cost less to deploy, or it must operate for a very long period of time. Many proponents have suggested that the lifetime is effectively infinite, but normal maintenance and replacement of less durable components makes this unlikely. It is certain in any case that the SPS concept is only profitable over a period of some years, as with any power generation technology.
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