February 2012—This month Environmental Building News features an update on the viability of solar PV in the US energy market in an article entitled, “For Cheap Solar, Look to Laws, Not Labs” by Paula Melton. The piece points out that the critical path for PV is to achieve grid parity, the point at which the systems are inexpensive enough that they can compete with non-renewable energy sources that have the benefit of existing infrastructure. Steven Strong, SDA’s president and founder, has been carefully observing the price of PV installations as they have continued to drop over several decades. He was quoted in the article, saying that policy and incentives are the most important drivers in making PV a competitive energy source in state markets. He also mentions that certain US states have already achieved grid parity. Melton concludes by stating that PV can really start competing with fossil fuels when there are also subsidies on the manufacturing side, which will enable production on a much greater scale than we see today.
Steven Strong Argues for PV Policy in Recent Article
