Millions of customers in hurricane-torn Florida are suffering through the aftermath of the devastating storm without power, and into this mess steps the US Department of Energy with the announcement of a solar energy initiative that seems to indicate light at the end of the grid reliability tunnel.
Solar power growth was more dramatic than almost anyone expected during the Obama administration. That was largely due to global factors — incentives in other countries that ramped up demand in those countries, a subsequent burst in manufacturing capacity (especially in China), and the dramatic drop in solar panel costs that resulted (globally).
The SunShot Initiative is a program conceived by the US Department of Energy in 2011 with the goal of reducing the cost of grid scale solar power to under $1.00 per watt by the year 2020. When the program began, the cost of installed solar was more than $4.00 per watt. Solar power was responsible for only one tenth of 1% of America’s total electrical resources at 1.2 gigawatts.
The Obama administration’s US Department of Energy has made a new commitment for its SunShot Initiative to cut the cost of solar-generated electricity by another 50% between 2020 and 2030.
Yingli Americas, a wholly owned subsidiary of Yingli Solar, and Picasolar have been awarded a US Department of Energy SunShot award to support the beginning of pilot production with Picasolar’s innovative Hydrogen Super Emitter.
The US Department of Energy announced $21.4 million in funding on Thursday to reduce ‘soft costs’ for new solar projects in … [continued]
The United States Energy Department has announced it will provide up to $107 million in new projects and planned research … [continued]
A new $2.1 million solar workforce development program, funded by the US Department of Energy SunShot Initiative under its Solar … [continued]
Two new, commercial-ready plug-and-play home solar photovoltaic systems were recently demonstrated by the Fraunhofer USA Center for Sustainable Energy Systems … [continued]
We announce the launch of the Orange Button initiative, part of the US Department of Energy’s SunShot initiative. The Orange Button initiative has … [continued]
