Energy Department Launches SunShot Prize Competition to Install Solar Energy Systems
DOE, USA: As part of the Energy Department’s SunShot Initiative, which is working to make solar energy competitive with other forms of energy without subsidy by the end of the decade, the Energy Department today 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 the 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 ambitious 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. (Source: http://energy.gov/articles/energy-department-launches-sunshot-prize-competition-install-solar-energy-systems-fraction)