Energy Department Offers $25 Million for U.S. Solar Manufacturing

The Energy Department announced on February twelve that it is offering $25 million in new backing to boost domestic solar manufacturing and speed up the commercialization of efficient, affordable photovoltaic (PV) and concentrating solar power technologies. This funding, provided by the Energy Department's SunShot Initiative in support of the Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative, will help to further lower the cost of solar electricity, support a growing U.S. solar workforce, and increase U.S. competitiveness in the global clean energy market.

The new SunShot backing will support innovative plans that help solar manufacturers tackle key cost contributors across the hardware supply chain and make enhancements in a broad range of manufacturing processes that save time and money. Eligible plans may include developing advanced technology that lowers domestic solar manufacturing costs and developing and demonstrating components or new manufacturing processes that cut plan construction and installation time.

The Energy Department also announced that the U.S. solar industry is in excess of 60% of the way to achieving cost-competitive utility-scale PV electricity, only 3 years into the Energy Department's decade-long SunShot Initiative. In the United States, the average price for a utility-scale PV plan has dropped from about $0.21 per kilowatt-hour in 2010 to $0.11 per kilowatt-hour at the end of 2013. The SunShot Initiative aims to make solar energy fully cost-competitive with traditional sources of energy by 2020. See the Energy Department news release and the backing opportunity.

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