CCEA Collaborates in Winning Major DOE Grant for Solar Installations
In an effort to make photovoltaic solar installations more attractive and competitive, the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) is funding a variety of initiatives designed to reduce non-hardware costs by 15-20%. The core objective is to develop innovative policies, models, tools, and data management systems that will deliver this result. The program has two phases: the first provides support for one year for development and evaluation of initiatives. The second phase will scale up and expand those initiatives funded in the first year that prove particularly effective in achieving program objectives. The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund brought together a broad collaborative group to develop a proposal, which has won nearly $500,000 in the first round.
The Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis (CCEA), now housed in the UConn School of Business, assembled a University team including faculty from the Departments of Geography and from Natural Resources and Environment. The UConn team will analyze hardware and non-hardware costs for roof-top solar PV. The second task includes two deliverables: first, the UConn team, in collaboration with Yale’s Center for Business and the Environment, and Snugg Home, will develop a state-wide cost index for rooftop solar PV. Second, UConn, Yale University, Solar Connecticut, and Snugg Home will work together to create an online tool to evaluate the energy potential and the financial performance of solar rooftop systems for any given location in Connecticut. This tool will use currently available overflight digital maps linked with sophisticated NASA databases that provide information on available technologies, their efficiency ratings, and the potential of site-specific solar radiation to deliver an economic and financial analysis of PV potential. In other words, the ultimate objective is to create a tool that would permit any homeowner or business as possible purchasers or any PV vendor to evaluate the solar potential of the roof of their building and then directly see what technologies are available, at what cost, with what efficiency.
The bottom line is that, if the team is able to develop this tool fully, it will deliver material benefit to PV panel vendors, vastly simplifying their marketing, and to home and business owners who can directly see the what the cost and payoff would be for installing PV panels. If the consortium then wins one of the much larger (million plus) second round grants, CCEA and its partners will expand coverage possibly to the entire country.
For more information, please visit http://ccea.uconn.edu/.
