Resources

The Solar Deployment System (SolarDS) model is a bottom-up, market penetration model that simulates the potential adoption of photovoltaics (PV) on residential and commercial rooftops in the continental United States through 2030.

As the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Solar Energy Technologies Program prepares to initiate a new cost-shared research and development (R&D) effort on photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing, it is useful to review the experience to date with consortia focused on PV R&D, manufacturing, and testing.

This paper examines experience in solar renewable energy certificate (SREC) markets in the United States. It describes how SREC markets function--key policy design provisions, eligible technologies, state and regional eligibility rules, solar alternative compliance payments, measurement and verification methods, long-term contracting provisions, and rate caps.

Solar water heating is a clean, reliable and cost-effective technology that is reducing utility bills for thousands of homes and businesses. Today, Americans across the country are at work manufacturing and installing these systems that significantly reduce our dependence on imported fuels. We need smart policies to expand this fast-growing, job-producing sector.

Data and analysis are needed to understand the variability of photovoltaic (PV) plants to avoid unnecessary barriers to the interconnection of PV. Several data sets show clouds can cause rapid changes in solar insolation. Smoothing of rapid ramps, however, occurs within PV plants. The degree of smoothing depends on plant size.

Installations of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems in the United States have increased dramatically in recent years, growing from less than 20 MW in 2000 to nearly 500 MW at the end of 2007, a compound average annual growth rate of 59%.