U.S. DOE SunShot Distinguished Lecture Series
Executive Director Craig Lewis presented at this event, which took place on April 19, 2012 in Washington, DC.
Craig Lewis, Executive Director of the Clean Coalition, presented at the U.S. Department of Energy’s prestigious lecture series on April 19, 2012. His presentation was titledScaling Deployments & Improving Conversion Efficiency – Surest Pathways to Reducing Pricing Now and over the Long-Term, is available for download here. Please find the abstract for his presentation below:
Abstract: The solar value chain is most critically comprised of component suppliers, systems suppliers, developers, investors, and utilities. Although there are many methods of incentivizing specific sections of the value chain, the surest way to incentivize the entire value chain immediately is to provide significant opportunities for deploying solar power capacity. The surest way to ensure continued cost reductions over the long-term is to focus on improved solar conversion efficiency, which leverages the balance of systems costs to provide the greatest potential for cost reduction. This presentation will address the scaling of solar deployments and the potential of solar conversion efficiency, with respect to the following considerations:
- The scaling of solar deployments has always been the primary driver for reducing the price of solar power.
- Best practices for scaling cost effective solar deployments starting immediately: Wholesale Distributed Generation (WDG) and transparent procurement and interconnection processes for generation that connects to the distribution grid.
- The promise of solar conversion efficiency for long-term cost reductions in solar: Effectively leveraging balance of systems costs (BOS).
- The unparalleled economic benefits of scaling WDG solar deployments: jobs and tax revenues at the local and state levels that start hitting immediately.
- The need to move fast: Early-mover advantage for not only solar leadership but also Intelligent Grid leadership in solutions like Demand Response (DR) and Energy Storage (ES); and making substantial progress before the 2016 expiration of important policy support in the United States (30% investment tax credit and 5-year accelerated depreciation).