Secretary of Energy Steven Chu

Rhone Resch listened carefully Friday as Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced “SunShot,” a new federal initiative with the ambitious goal of reducing the total cost of photovoltaic (PV) solar power systems by 75 percent by the end of the decade.

Resch liked what he heard.

As president and CEO of the nation’s largest solar trade organization, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), Resch calls the initiative “significant because DOE is focusing on driving down the cost of the other components of a solar system” — not just the cost of PV cells. In a statement following Chu’s announcement, Resch said that the cost of PV panels has been cut in half in the last two years, so focusing on other aspects is the right approach.

The $27 million SunShot initiative focuses on four areas:

• Increasing the efficiency of the solar manufacturing process
• Optimizing the performance of the installation
• Improving solar PV technologies
• Streamlining the permitting process

Not to minimize the importance of the first three areas on the list, but it is the fourth item — reducing solar “soft costs” — that is bound to please the solar industry.

Read the complete article at my Forbes blog, Edison 2.0

Chu: "It's been a long time since we had them up there."

Courtesy of the good people at Planet Forward, here’s a video clip of Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and Council of Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley announcing the good news earlier today that the Obama administration will be installing solar panels (both PV and solar thermal) on the White House roof by next spring. (You can read the full story at OnEarth magazine, here.)

Funding for Smart Grid Training by State

Sec. of Energy Steven Chu

Speaking in Maryland Today…

…United States Secretary of Energy Steven Chu announced a new round of Recovery Act funding, totaling close to $100 million, creating fifty-four centers in thirty-three states to train the workforce the country needs to build and maintain a “Smart Grid.”

“Building and operating smart grid infrastructure will put tens of thousands of Americans to work,” said Chu. “Today’s investment will help ensure that we have the workforce in place to meet this need. This is a great opportunity for workers to upgrade their skills and earn more, or for laid off workers from other industries to start fresh in a new and growing field.”

What is a Smart Grid?

Here’s a thumbnail sketch from a Department of Energy (DOE) booklet:

The Smart Grid and the technologies embodied within it are an essential set of investments that will help bring our electric grid into the 21st century using megabytes of data to move megawatts of electricity more efficiently, reliably and affordably. In the process, our nation’s electric system will move from a centralized, producer controlled network to a less centralized, more consumer-interactive, more environmentally responsive model. Far more than “smart meters,” a fully functioning Smart Grid will feature sensors throughout the transmission and distribution grid to collect data, real-time two-way communications to move that data between utilities and consumers, and the computing power necessary to make that intelligence actionable and transactive. Indeed, only by bringing the tools, techniques and technologies that enabled the Internet to the utility and the electric grid is such a transformation possible.

You can download a pdf file of all fifty-four training programs with full details, here.