Bill to create long-term plan for solar research now goes to full House
WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ Solar Technology Roadmap Act is on its way to the full House after earning strong bipartisan support today from her colleagues on the Science and Technology Committee.
The committee’s approval of the bill this afternoon in a voice vote was enthusiastically welcomed by one of Arizona’s pre-eminent solar energy researchers, Dr. Roger Angel, a professor of astronomy and optical sciences at the University of Arizona.
“The United States has the potential to produce much of its electricity from solar energy in Arizona and the deserts of the Southwest,” Angel said. “Congresswoman Giffords’ Solar Technology Roadmap Act will help turn this dream into reality with the creation of a plan to guide solar energy research. Among the many beneficiaries of this plan would be the University of Arizona, where we are already working to develop sustainable photovoltaic technology optimized for very large scale production.”
Giffords’ legislation would require the U.S. Department of Energy to appoint a group of experts to create a long-term plan to guide solar energy research and its transition into commercial uses. The group would identify research and development that needs to occur to help improve the performance and reliability of solar technologies, decrease cost, reduce water use and mitigate any negative environmental impacts. It would be subject to a comprehensive revision every three years to keep it current.
The legislation also authorizes $2.25 billion for solar research over the next five years.
The Solar Technology Roadmap Act has earned the praise of many since it was introduced on September 17. Among them are Katharine Kent, owner of The Solar Store in Tucson; Ardeth Barnhart, co-director of the Arizona Research Institute for Solar Energy at the University of Arizona; and Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association.
In remarks to the committee before today’s vote, Giffords equated the nation’s solar industry today with our semiconductor industry of the 1980s.
“Twenty years ago, the U.S. was in danger of losing its semiconductor industry to Japan,” the congresswoman said. “In response, the industry created the Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors. The focus of this initiative was creating a roadmap to guide research and development efforts across the industry. By increasing communication between the diverse members of the supply chain, the U.S. semiconductor industry was able to develop standards and avoid the duplication of research efforts. These organized coordination efforts gave rise to U.S. semiconductor giants such as Intel and AMD, and the U.S. continues to lead the world in semiconductor development.”
“Today, solar researchers in the U.S. are in a similar situation,” she said. “To maintain a competitive advantage they must come together to meet their common, precompetitive goals – whether in simulation, developing new materials, energy storage, power and grid management, mounting, or even weather forecasting.”
Giffords noted that her bill would require the Department of Energy to engage diverse stakeholders in the solar community and work across programs to create a comprehensive plan – a roadmap – to guide funding for the research needed to make the U.S. the global center for solar innovation.
“The roadmap would be required to identify short-, medium- and long-term goals and make recommendations for how to channel research and development resources to meet those goals,” she said. “It will make the Department of Energy more responsive to our solar industry’s needs and encourage increased collaboration and communication across technologies with well-vetted strategies.”