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U.S. DOE Solar Program Goals and Objectives:

By 2015 under the Solar America Initiative (SAI), the goal of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program is to reduce the average installed cost of all grid-tied PV systems to the end user to $3.30/watt (Wp), from a median value of $6.25/W in 2000. The result will be a reduction in the average cost of electricity generated by PV systems from a current $0.25/kWh to $0.09/kWh.

Photo of buildings with grid-connected PV on roofs

These buildings at Fort Dix, New Jersey, have been fit with a grid-connected photovoltaic system that generates 18 peak kW.

The SAI Technical Pathway Partnerships (TPPs) will conduct R&D on all PV system components with a common goal of producing a fully integrated PV system optimized for U.S. markets that can compete with traditional electricity providers. Partnerships with industry and universities will optimize performance, reliability, and system cost through shared knowledge, testing, and integration benefits.

The Photovoltaic (PV) research and development program at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is committed to renewed success in all of our research projects and we will continue to offer our "best and brightest" innovations to industry, laboratory research organizations, and educational institutions across the United States.

The PV research program at NREL has a mission to improve America's security, environmental quality, and economic prosperity through public-private partnerships that bring reliable and affordable PV technologies to the marketplace. Our goals, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Program are to:

  • reduce the cost of solar energy
  • make it a competitive and sustainable energy source in today's energy markets

In the past decade, the average growth of the world PV market has exceeded 30%, making the PV industry one of the most consistent high-growth industries in the world. Critical to commercial success of PV technologies are advances in module efficiencies, inverter performance, and improvements in cost, reliability, and balance of systems.

The following are our primary research projects: