Solar energy news - Franhofer wins US DOE solar funding through SunShot

Fraunhofer wins US DOE solar funding through SunShot

18 Dec 2012

The US subsidiary of German research institute Fraunhofer has been awarded $11.7m through the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) SunShot initiative.

Franhofer’s five-year project will focus on the development of ‘plug and play’ photovoltaic (PV) systems, which can be installed by homeowners without the need for outside agents.

It is part of a wider $21m DOE scheme to reduce the soft costs of residential PV systems, which now account for the majority of the total cost of residential arrays.

The venture will leverage efforts by Boston and Massachusetts to accelerate the deployment of PV through the Solarize programme.

Mark Sylvia, Massachusetts DOE resources commissioner, said, ‘This is another step forward in our effort to reduce soft costs for solar installations so that these prices continue to be competitive in the marketplace.

‘Massachusetts has the most aggressive greenhouse gas emission reduction goals in the nation and work like this is fundamental to our success.’

Tags: micro-generation, photovoltaic, PV, rooftop solar, solar