12 September 2012 - The US Energy Department has announced the start of a new competition to make it faster, easier, and cheaper to install rooftop solar energy systems.
The SunShot Prize makes a total of $10 million in cash awards available to the first three teams that repeatedly demonstrate that non-hardware costs, or price to plug in, can be as low as $1 per watt (W) for small-scale photovoltaic (PV) systems on American homes and businesses.
This target represents a decrease in the "soft costs" of solar energy systems -- including permitting, licensing, connecting to the grid and other non-hardware costs -- by more than 65 percent.
By breaking a significant price barrier that was considered unachievable only a decade ago, the winning teams will demonstrate that solar energy is an affordable solution for American families and businesses, the department said in a written statement.
While solar hardware prices have fallen 400 percent in the past four years, the soft costs of installing solar energy systems remain stubbornly high. The SunShot Prize is meant to inspire innovative, sustainable, and verifiable business practices that reduce these soft costs to $1/W. Achieving this target will bring the SunShot goal of $0.60/W for residential system soft costs within reach by the end of the decade. read more>>>
Solar energy is not only sustainable, it is renewable and this means that we will never run out of it. Solar energy systems have very little impact on the environment, making them one of the cleanest power-generating technologies available today. Investing in solar energy for a home or business is a smart move that will only pay off financially and environmentally in the future.
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