U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu has announced details of the DOE’s SunShot initiative, a plan designed to reduce the costs of photovoltaic solar energy systems by about 75%. This initiative could have solar energy achieve cost competiveness with other forms of energy.
At roughly $1 dollar a watt, solar energy systems could become widely utilized and broadly deployed.
"America is in a world race to produce cost-effective, quality photovoltaics. The SunShot initiative will spur American innovations to reduce the costs of solar energy and re-establish U.S. global leadership in this growing industry," says Secretary Chu. "These efforts will boost our economic competitiveness, rebuild our manufacturing industry and help reach the President's goal of doubling our clean energy in the next 25 years."
The DOE will be working with partners in government, industry, research laboratories and academic institutions to implement the 4 main pillars of the SunShot initiative:
- Technologies for solar cells and arrays that convert sunlight to energy
- Electronics that optimize the performance of the installation
- Improvements in the efficiency of solar manufacturing processes
- Installation, design and permitting for solar energy systems
The SunShot initiative aims to aggressively drive innovation from conception to installation of photovoltaic systems.
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