Markets & Policy

US SunShot program unveils $10 million rooftop PV competition

In its bid to significantly lower the costs of solar technology and make it competitive with other forms of energy by the end of the decade, the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot program has unveiled a competition inviting participants to demonstrate faster, cheaper and easier ways of installing rooftop photovoltaic systems.
Becky Beetz
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Becky Beetz

A total of US$10 million will be awarded to the first 3 teams, which can “repeatedly” demonstrate an around 65% reduction in photovoltaic soft costs – including permitting, licensing and grid connection – in order to bring them down to as little as $1/W for small-scale rooftop systems. Overall, SunShot’s goal is to reduce soft costs to $0.60/W by 2020.
Participants will have to go through 2 phases until 2015 in order to be eligible for the prize money. The first expects to see the teams installing 5,000 2 to 15 kW rooftop photovoltaic systems with soft costs averaging $1/W, while the second will see an additional 1,000 deployed “to assess the business sustainability”. $7 million and the “Winner of America’s Most Affordable Rooftop Solar prize” will be awarded to first place, while the second and third place winners will receive $2 million and $1 million, respectively.
“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,” said the department in a statement released.

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