Solar Energy: Adoption and Marketability
The CSIS Energy and National Security Program is pleased to host Ethan Zindler, Head of Policy Analysis at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Nova Daly, Senior Public Policy Advisor at Wiley Rein LLP, Yuri Horwitz, CEO of Sol Systems, and Elaine Ulrich, Acting Team Lead for SunShot Balance of Systems-Soft Costs at the U.S. Department of Energy, to discuss innovation and its effects on the adoption of solar energy. The session, part of the Energy Program’s Frontier Energy Series, will focuses on recent technological developments in the sector as well as changes in the market and policy environments that may together determine its market potential in the coming years. Sarah Ladislaw, Director and Senior Fellow in the CSIS Energy and National Security Program, will moderate.
Solar energy is frequently lauded as a potential game changer in the energy landscape and with good reason: it is the fastest growing source of renewable electricity globally (albeit from a small base), and its average cost is quickly falling, with the cost per watt installed having declined over 17 percent in 2011 alone. Solar is now cost competitive without subsidy in a number of places throughout the world. Yet challenges still remain. Obstacles in areas ranging from financing to installation to grid integration to cost all indicate solar energy’s persistent dependence on innovation to launch it to its prospective more prominent role in the energy landscape.
