In a report to be delivered to U.S. lawmakers, regulators and senior administration officials, MITEI has called for electricity systems to be prepared for very large-scale deployment of solar generation. The report puts solar at the top of the list in terms of energy technologies with the potential to serve humanitys power needs in a low-emission manner.
Our objective has been to assess solar energys current and potential competitive position and to identify changes in U.S. government policies that could more efficiently and effectively support its massive deployment over the long term, which we view as necessary, says MITEI Director Robert Armstrong, himself an MIT Professor.
The Future of Solar Energy study has made a number of recommendations to assist with realizing solar at the vast scale required.
It recommends that there needs to be a shift in focus towards new solar technologies and policies that can enhance the economics of solar PV in the market.
The MITEI report has also made the call for the technical and regulatory reform of electricity systems to facilitate very large scale solar deployment. These reforms are required because of solars variability of electricity supply, and will involve both market-based approaches and the application of battery storage technology.
In terms of public policy, the report calls for state-based Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) to be brought under one national administration. As a part of this, interstate trading of RPS certificates should be allowed. This, presumably, would allow PV to be deployed where it is the best fit in terms of irradiance, grid connectivity and land availability, and certificates the solar arrays produce traded to less suitable parts of the U.S.
On the technology front, the report calls for an urgent need for an ambitious and innovative approach to technology development. The focus of the research, the reports authors argue, should be on: new technologies and systems with the potential to deliver transformative system cost reductions.
The Future of Solar Energy report was published yesterday. It was written by a multidisciplinary team and reviewed by an external advisory committee.
Popular content
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
Share
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.