Solar Money Tied Up in Congress

The Department of Energy's new SunShot Initiative to make solar energy as cheap as coal has given fresh hope to industry enthusiasts. And it may even give life to a nearly dead effort in Congress to put solar panels and water heaters on 10 million of America's roofs by 2020.

The 2010 legislation by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) hasn't had much momentum since the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved it in July, and November's Republican gains in Congress has not helped the measure along. But experts say Energy Secretary Steven Chu's SunShot Initiative may give the Ten Million Solar Roof Act new political legs.

Shayle Kann, managing director of solar research at GTM Research, said that the DOE plan could make the Sanders' bill more politically palatable, because it would drive down the cost of solar installations. The legislation aims to finance the installation of up to 40,000 megawatts of new solar energy.

"These are two parallel but distinct programs. They could play together very well because — to the extent that the SunShot initiative is successful — it will lower the [financial] incentives that are required per project for the Ten Million Solar Roof Act," he told SolveClimate News.

"Any program designed at reducing the cost of solar installations will be a service to any deployment program by lowering costs" to the government, Kann said.

Jared Blanton, a spokesperson for the national Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), said that the solar energy plans are aligned because "they both are focused on removing needless regulatory barriers that prevent Americans from going solar."

The DOE initiative unveiled on Feb. 4 aims to accelerate research and development in its solar energy programs — valued at around $200 million annually — to reduce the total installed cost of solar electricity to $1 per watt by 2020, a 75 percent drop from today's rates.

The idea is that unsubsidized solar power could then compete with the wholesale rate of electricity generated by fossil fuels that emit climate-changing greenhouse gases.

As part of the program, the agency also awarded $27 million to nine solar technology companies that are trying to make solar more affordable.

"Magic will occur when [solar] becomes cost-competitive with any form of energy," Chu said at a Feb. 9 renewable-energy conference in Washington. "And when that happens without subsidies, it is going to shoot all over the country and all over the world."

'SunShot' Puts New Energy Into Solar Bill

SunShot, a name inspired by President John F. Kennedy's 1960s "moon shot" goal, will work with government agencies, the energy industry and research laboratories to reduce installation costs, spur growth in the solar energy market and pave the way for new U.S. manufacturing.

The initiative offers Sanders a chance to breathe new life into his bill after it was approved by the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources Committee last year. The senator sits on that committee and the Environment and Public Works Committee, and he also chairs a green jobs subcommittee. The legislation has 16 co-sponsors — all Democrats.

"I look forward to working with the Obama administration to incorporate elements of the new solar initiative into the Ten Million Solar Roofs Act to make the legislation even stronger," Sanders said in a Feb. 4 press release. "We have an opportunity to create hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs and make America the world leader in solar energy."