Printable Version

Mission, Vision, and Goals

The mission of the Solar Energy Technologies Program is to improve America's security, environmental quality, and economic prosperity through public-private partnerships that bring reliable and affordable solar energy technologies to the marketplace.

Vision

Once solar energy becomes economically viable for everyday use, we see a future where:

• All Americans benefit from this pure and clean primary energy resource.
• Millions of homes and commercial buildings across the nation use solar technology to provide all or much of their energy needs.
• The Sun Belt states get much of their electricity from solar power plants sited near the communities that need it.
• The southwestern states generate more electricity from solar energy than they need, enabling them to export power to other states.
• Solar power is used to produce hydrogen-and the hydrogen is a transportation fuel that relieves our nation's dependency on imported oil.

The Goals: Setting our Sights High

So far, so good, right? This sounds like a future that just about anyone would want to live in. But how do we get there? We believe it will happen in two ways: by reducing the cost of solar energy until it is competitive with other options and by helping solar technology reach a level of market penetration that enables a healthy, U.S.-based solar industry. These are the two overarching goals of the DOE Solar Energy Technologies Program.

We are committed to developing solar technologies that provide the country with an economically competitive energy option and that helps U.S. industry remain a world leader in the technology. Since the first practical silicon solar cell was invented at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, in 1954, the United States has enjoyed a leadership position in researching and developing solar energy technologies. Within the last decade, other countries have recognized the value of solar technologies in providing "homegrown" and secure energy sources with the power to create high-value jobs and revitalize economies. Because of this, U.S leadership in solar energy R&D is being challenged-and it's a challenge we must answer.

Now for the Specifics

The Solar Program combines research, design, and development of technology with value analysis, an integrated systems-driven approach, and partnering to attain its goals and objectives. Those objectives are to:

• Improve the cost, integration, and performance of solar heat, cooling, electricity, and lighting technologies in combination with building systems to levels where they are a competitive, reliable option for building owners and occupants.

• Add significant security, reliability, and diversity to the U.S. energy system and improve the quality of life in this country by expanding inexpensive electricity to all.

• Make solar technologies and systems an accepted and easily integrated option for distributed-energy production-both on and off the electric utility grid.

• Develop next-generation technologies and systems with the potential to create new high-value applications of solar energy in producing hydrogen fuel, generating competitive bulk power at central stations, desalinating water, or creating other products that are beyond present capabilities.

• Reduce the environmental signature (air emissions) by displacing fossil-fuel energy systems with cost-effective solar energy systems.

Long-Term Goals

For 2020, reduce the cost of solar energy to be competitive with fossil fuels. Although it is difficult to predict the cost of energy that far into the future, it is projected that by 2020, retail electricity (intermediate load) will be $0.04 to $0.06/kWh, wholesale electricity will be $0.08 to $0.10/kWh, and thermal energy will be $4 to $6/MBtu. Solar energy must be at or below the cost of fossil fuels if it is going to play a major role in the market. If photovoltaic (PV) goals are met, industry projects that PV capacity could reach 30,000 megawatts (MW) in the United States by 2020. Projections for applications of concentrating solar power and solar thermal are under development.

Committing to Success

What's required to achieve these levels of market penetration? Nothing less than a total commitment.

First, the federal R&D program for solar energy must be robust-meaning that it has the funding and resources required to generate the technology advances that will steadily decrease the cost of solar energy. Second, the program must continue to draw on the innovative and brilliant minds of scientists and engineers at the DOE national laboratories and from within the U.S. solar industry and academic institutions. Third, federal and state policies must encourage the increased use of solar energy, such as through renewable portfolio standards, system-benefit charges, tax incentives, and net-metering standards. Fourth, and finally, the Solar Program must conduct its business wisely.

To address this last issue, program leaders are implementing a systems-driven approach to determine priorities within the program. This is a methodical process by which technology development efforts are driven by well-defined and well-documented requirements based on analysis of present and potential markets, technology trade-off studies, and R&D reviews.