Monday 7 February 2011

US announce huge solar initiative

The US Department of Energy announced an initiative today that aims to reduce the cost of solar energy systems by 75% by 2020, to roughly $1 a watt, in order to make it competitive with existing fossil fuel technologies.

As part of the initiative, the Department of Energy will give $27 million to nine new solar projects which will strengthen the US supply chain for mass manufacturing, reduce production cost and make solar electricity more widely available to consumers.

In the last decade the US Department of Energy has invested more than $1 billion into the development of solar technologies which has helped drive the cost of solar down 60 percent since 1995.

Secretary Steven Chu, of the Department of Energy said: "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. 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."