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Mission and Approach

This page discusses the Solar America Initiative (SAI) mission, as well as the SAI approach to realizing its mission.

Mission

The mission of the Solar America Initiative is to help lower the cost of solar electricity so that it is cost-competitive across all U.S. market sectors by 2015. The Solar America Initiative ensures domestic production of solar technologies. Decentralized energy supplies such as photovoltaics (PV), diversifies the nation's electricity portfolio, enhances grid reliability, and reduces the impact of a failure of the U.S. centralized electricity infrastructure. The Solar America Initiative also brings significant environmental gains and reduced water consumption by avoiding fossil fuel, nuclear, and natural gas generation.

By 2015, photovoltaics will:

  • Provide 5-10 gigawatts of new electric capacity (enough to power 1-2 million homes) to the U.S. grid
  • Avoid 10 million metric tons per year of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions
  • Employ 30,000 new workers in the PV industry.

For more information, see the Solar America Initiative Posture Plan and the fact sheet About the Solar America Initiative. (PDF 494 KB) Download Adobe Reader.

Approach

The Solar America Initiative is a two-pronged approach emphasizing the following activities:

Solar America Initiative partners include:

  • The solar industry
  • National laboratories
  • Universities
  • Federal, state, and city governments
  • Non-governmental agencies
  • Solar advocacy groups.

National laboratories of the U.S Department of Energy (DOE) continue to provide needed R&D.They will serve in key technical roles in areas such as measurements and characterization, reliability R&D, and systems integration.

The Solar America Initiative's approach represents a fundamental shift in how the DOE's Solar Energy Technologies Program does business. Previously, DOE emphasized solar energy R&D, with a goal of expanding impact through improved component performance. The Solar America Initiative emphasizes industry partnerships and alliances to accelerate market-ready photovoltaics using aggressive cost goals, down-selects, and a new focus on eliminating manufacturing, production, and non-technical marketplace barriers.