PREFACE:

This examine is the seventh within the MIT Energy Initiative’s “Future of” collection, which goals to make clear a spread of advanced and necessary points involving vitality and the surroundings. Earlier research on this collection have targeted on vitality provide applied sciences that play necessary roles in electrical energy techniques and on the electrical energy grid itself.

In distinction, photo voltaic vitality, the main focus of this examine, accounts for less than about 1% of electrical energy technology in america and globally. We consider a deal with photo voltaic applied sciences is nonetheless warranted as a result of, as we focus on at a number of factors on this examine, the use of photo voltaic vitality to generate electrical energy at very giant scale is prone to be a vital part of any severe technique to mitigate world local weather change.

We anticipate that this report can be of worth to choice makers of numerous pursuits and experience in business and authorities as they information the persevering with evolution of the photo voltaic business. Chapter 1 supplies an outline of the photo voltaic useful resource and its potential function sooner or later vitality combine, and introduces the rest of the examine. Subsequent chapters focus on the 2 elementary photo voltaic technology applied sciences, photovoltaic and concentrated photo voltaic (or photo voltaic thermal) energy.

The economics of photovoltaic technology, the challenges of scaling up photo voltaic technology and integrating it into current energy techniques, and modifications that might enhance the effi ciency of U.S. insurance policies geared toward advancing photo voltaic applied sciences and rising their deployment.

Appendices and associated working papers doc some of the analyses mentioned within the chapters and supply extra detailed info on photovoltaic and complementary applied sciences, and on the worldwide photovoltaic provide chain. The MIT Future of Solar Energy Study gratefully acknowledges the sponsors of this examine:

The Alfred P. Sloan Basis, The Arunas A. and Pamela A. Chesonis Household Basis, Duke Energy, Edison Worldwide, The Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, and Booz Allen Hamilton. Along with offering monetary assist

A quantity of our sponsors gave us entry to employees members who offered frequent and detailed details about technical and coverage points. We’re very grateful for this cooperation. The examine improvement was guided by an Advisory Committee whose members devoted a big quantity of their time to take part in a number of conferences, touch upon our preliminary evaluation, findings, and suggestions, and make accessible consultants from their very own organizations to reply questions and contribute to the content material of the report.

We’d particularly prefer to acknowledge the environment friendly conduct of Advisory Committee conferences below the ready and skilled route of the Committee’s Chairman, Philip R. Sharp. Along with all of the dear contributions from this examine’s sponsors, the Advisory Committee, and different members of their respective organizations, the analysis additionally benefited from the involvement of Joshua Linn and Gary DesGroseilliers, who served as Government Administrators for a number of years every within the preliminary and ultimate phases of the challenge.

We notably need to thank Ernest J. Moniz, who deftly led this examine as its co-Chairman till referred to as to authorities service as Secretary of Energy in Could 2013, and Joseph P. Hezir who served because the examine’s Government Director till he joined Dr. Moniz on the Division of Energy in June 2013.

Neither Dr. Moniz nor Mr. Hezir had any involvement in any evaluation or writing that occurred after they had been requested to affix the Administration, so that they bear no duty for and don’t essentially agree with the examine’s ultimate conclusions and suggestions.

This examine was initiated and carried out inside the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI). Professor Robert C. Armstrong has supported this examine in his function as Director of MITEI and as an lively participant within the examine group. MITEI employees offered administrative and fi nancial administration help to this challenge.

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