United States Solar Energy Policy

Various branches and agencies of the United States government have gotten involved in promoting solar energy policy, such as the Department of Energy and the United States Congress. The following is a compilation of the U.S. government's actions in both funding and promoting research into solar energy.The United States government is currently involved in solar energy research and development with the goal of expanding its use in the near future. Doing so will decrease our use of carbon-emitting fossil fuels, such as oil and coal and this includes both photovoltaic flat panel and concentrating solar power technologies.

Department of Energy

The Department of Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Program ¹ is comprised of a four tiered program, with each tier involved with a different aspect of solar energy research and development.

The goal of the first sub-program, Photovoltaics, is to achieve grid parity of solar energy panels with the current electric grid by 2015. Three elements that make up this program are New Devices and Processes, Prototype Design and Pilot Production, and Systems Development and Manufacturing. The Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have established a database of over 50,000 photovoltaic installed units under the Open PV Mapping Project to assist in achieving the above stated grid parity. ²The Concentrating Solar Power sub-program's goal is to develop the technology of using mirrors to capture sunlight and convert the sunlight to heat that then powers turbines to generate electricity. This would be developed to the point that it would be competitive with other power sources in the power market by 2020. The Systems Integration for Solar Technologies sub-program focuses on integrating solar power onto the electrical power grid that is in use today. The Market Transformation sub-program disseminates information to cities, states, utilities, and builders in order to establish a uniform standard code for solar technologies.

Some companies that have received R&D funding in 2009 are as follows: Argonne National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Savannah River National Laboratory.

The High Penetration Solar Development Projects for 2009 that are focused on grid integration efforts are as follows: Arizona Public Service Company, Commonwealth Edison Company, Florida State University, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, University of California San Diego, and Virginia Polytech Institute and State University.

The following are the Solar America Cities Special Project 2009 award recipients: Austin TX, Berkley CA, Boston MA, Madison WI, Milwaukee WI, Minneapolis-St. Paul MN, New Orleans LA, New York City NY, Portland OR, Salt Lake City UT, San Diego CA, San Francisco CA, San Jose CA, Santa Rosa CA, Seattle WA, and Tuscon AZ.

One of the more recent efforts of the Department of Energy to increase public awareness of solar power's potential for residential homes took place in October of 2009 on the Mall in Washington, D.C. The Solar Decathlon was organized as a competition for the most efficient solar-powered house, and the next one will occur sometime in the fall of 2011.³

http://solardecathlon.org/photographs.cf

Source: US Department of Energy. Author: http://solardecathlon.org/photographs.cfm. Permission: fair use.

The Department of Energy has also given a $1.37 billion loan to Bright Source Energy, Inc. for the creation of the world's largest operational Concentrated Solar Power Facility in California, called the Ivanpah Solar Complex.⁴

Also, as an interesting sidebar, a quarter of the electricity supplied to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada comes from a photovoltaic solar array. This process began in 2007.⁵

The United States Congress

Both the House and the Senate have each had a bill presented that deals with the development of solar energy in America. In the Senate, United States Senator Bernie Sanders ⁶ who sits on the Green Jobs and New Economy Subcommittee of the Environment and Public Works Committee introduced S 3224 which would fund the installation of solar panels on 10 million roofs. This is an expanded version of the Million Solar Roof Bill introduced in the California legislature in Sacramento back in 2005. In the United Stated House of Representatives, HR 2774 Solar Energy Research and Advancement Act of 2007 came out of the Committee on Science and Technology ⁷ and includes R&D funding for storage technologies for Concentrated Solar Power and research into integrating this technology into the current electrical grid.

Timeline

The following timeline gives some of the historical highlights of solar energy usage in the United States. ⁸ It is by no means comprehensive, but provides several of the important milestones as solar energy usage has increased in America.

1954 Photovoltaic cell made of silicon was developed

1950's First commercial office building designed by Architect Frank Bridges to utilize solar water heating

1958 Vanguard I space satellite used solar cell technology to power its radio

1973 University of Delaware builds photovoltaic/thermal hybrid house called "Solar One"

1977 Department of Energy launches the National Renewable Energy Laboratory

1982 First photovoltaic power station on megawatt scale built in Hispania, CA

1982-1988 Department of Energy launches Solar One for investigating the practicality of concentrating solar power technology

1984 First megawatt photovoltaic facility started by the Sacramento Utility District

1986 World's largest solar thermal facility built in Kramer Junction, CA

1991 Department of Energy Solar Energy Research Institute renamed by President George H.W. Bush to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory

1994 National Renewable Energy Laboratory built and designed the most energy efficient U.S. government building dubbed the "Solar Energy Research Facility"

1996-1999 Department of Energy Solar Two project began that investigated various ways to store excess power gathered during the day for nighttime use via solar cell and concentrating solar power technologies

1998 Highest solar-powered aircraft, "Pathfinder" flies up to 80,000 feet

Late 1990's National Renewable Energy Laboratory continues to improve energy conversion efficiencies in solar power cells

2000 World's largest photovoltaic manufacturer plant established in Perrysburg, OH by First Solar

2000 Solar panels installed on the International Space Station

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/st...130undock.html

Source: NASA. Author: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/st...130undock.html. Permission: fair use.