Energy Department Awards Contracts to Bring Cost of Solar Down

Energy secretary, Steven Chu, has been tirelessly working toward fulfilling President Obama’s priority of weaning America from dependence on fossil fuels. The success or failure of this effort depends heavily on America’s ability to bring the cost of solar energy in-line with the costs of electricity from fossil fuels. In his attempt to reach this goal, the Energy Department’s “SunShot” initiative has awarded $27 million to nine new solar projects.

Dr. Chu notes that solar companies have made strong progress in cutting the price of solar panels used in photovoltaic systems, but that this cut is not enough. The installed cost per watt is now about $4 and the panel is less than half of that, but if the panel became free, the rest of the system would still be far too expensive.

The department said it had spent $1 billion on solar in the last 10 years, and it took partial credit for the price of solar power falling 60 percent since 1995.