The SBSP concept also has a number of problems:
* The large cost of launching a satellite into space. For 6.5 kg/kW, the cost to place a power satellite in geosynchronous orbit (GEO) cannot exceed $200/kg if the power cost is to be competitive.
* Microwave optic requires gigawatt scale to compensate for Airy disk beam spreading. Typically a 1 km disk in geosynchronous orbit transmitting at 2.45 GHz spreads out to 10 km at Earth distance.
* Inability to constrain power transmission inside tiny beam angles. For example, a beam of 0.002 degrees (7.2 arc seconds) is required to stay within a one kilometer receiving antenna target from geostationary altitude. The most advanced directional wireless power transfer systems as of 2019 spread their half power beam width across at least 0.9 arc degrees.
* Inaccessibility: Maintenance of an earth-based solar panel is relatively simple, but construction and maintenance on a solar panel in space would typically be done telerobotically. In addition to cost, astronauts working in GEO are exposed to unacceptably high radiation dangers and risk and cost about one thousand times more than the same task done telerobotically.
* The space environment is hostile; PV panels (if used) suffer about eight times the degradation they would on Earth (except at orbits that are protected by the magnetosphere).
* Space debris is a major hazard to large objects in space, particularly for large structures such as SBSP systems in transit through the debris below 2000 km. Collision risk is much reduced in GEO since all the satellites are moving in the same direction at very close to the same speed.
* The broadcast frequency of the microwave downlink (if used) would require isolating the SBSP systems away from other satellites. GEO space is already well used and would require coordinating with the ITU-R.
* The large size and corresponding cost of the receiving station on the ground. The cost has been estimated at a billion dollars for 5 GW by SBSP researcher Keith Henson.
* Energy losses during several phases of conversion from photons to electrons to photons back to electrons.
* Waste heat disposal in space power systems is difficult to begin with, but becomes intractable when the entire spacecraft is designed to absorb as much solar radiation as possible. Traditional spacecraft thermal control systems such as radiative vanes may interfere with solar panel occlusion or power transmitters.
* Decommissioning costs: The cost of deorbiting the satellites at the end of their service life to prevent them from exacerbating the orbital space debris problem due to impacts with asteroidal, cometary, and planetary debris is likely to be significant. While the future cost of imparting Delta-V is difficult to estimate, the amount of Delta-V that must be imparted to transfer a satellite from GEO to GTO is 1472 m/s. If, upon reentry, the disintegrating satellite would release hazardous chemicals into the Earth's atmosphere, then the additional expenses of disassembling the satellite and deorbiting the environmentally hazardous components within a space vehicle with downmass capabilities must be factored into the decommissioning costs.