DOE Announces Contest to "Reassert American Leadership" in Solar

US solar is lagging behind the rest of the world, and the Department of Energy wants to rectify that. The DOE announced a $3 million purse for “The American Made Solar Prize” competition.

The DOE hopes the contest will “incentivize the nation’s entrepreneurs to develop new processes and products that will reassert American leadership in the solar marketplace.”

“The American Made Solar Prize will galvanize our country’s entrepreneurs, allow them to utilize technologies and innovations developed through DOE’s early-stage research and development, and, ultimately, bring new American-made products to market,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry.

And we need it. Badly. In 2017, the top three solar panel manufacturers – based on total volume of solar panels shipped – were Trina Solar, JinkoSolar, and Canadian Solar, two Chinese companies and a Canadian firm.

While solar panel installation is booming in the US (pending a prospective tariff), solar panel manufacturing needs a swift boot in the rear.

The DOE is also ponying up a cool $400 million for solar projects and technologies in 2018.

Read more here: https://www.energy.gov/articles/department-energy-announces-prize-competition-accelerate-us-based-solar-manufacturing