The funds are intended to help communities develop multi-year solar plans

Apr 18, 2014 08:15 GMT  ·  By

This April 17, the Energy Department in the United States announced that the country was to try and further improve on its ecological footprint by promoting the use of green power. More precisely, the Department said that it had made a total of $15 million (€10.84 million) available for solar deployment.

On its website, the Energy Department details that these funds will serve to support the development of multi-year solar plans that target communities across the country. The end goal is to install affordable solar electricity for use in homes and businesses.

“As part of the President’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, solar energy is helping families and businesses throughout the U.S. access affordable, clean renewable power,” Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz commented on this initiative.

“The Energy Department is committed to further driving down the cost of solar energy and supporting innovative community-based programs – creating more jobs, reducing carbon pollution and boosting economic growth,” he added.

Information shared with the public says that these $15 million are now available for solar deployment under the Energy Department's SunShot Initiative, whose goal is to make solar energy fully cost-competitive with traditional power sources by the end of 2020.

The communities that are to benefit from this round of funding are expected to use the money that they will receive to roll out and implement innovative financing mechanisms, and to launch initiatives such as shared solar programs.

As the United States Energy Department explains, shared solar programs boil down to having families and businesses be able to own, lease, or purchase electricity from a share of a larger solar project. Thanks to such programs, more consumers gain access to clean power.

On its website, the United States Energy Department explains that, at the end of 2013, the country's solar energy installations had an overall energy generating capacity of 13 gigawatts. Specialists working with the Department expect that, as solar energy becomes increasingly cheaper, more states and communities will embrace this clean power source.

Earlier this year, on March 31, researchers released a report saying that, according to evidence at hand, global warming and climate change were already happening and that, unless countries worldwide moved to limit greenhouse gas emissions without delay, they would only get worse in the years to come.

Given the fact that, when he was reelected, Barack Obama promised to tackle both these phenomena, it should come as no surprise that the United States is now making significant investments in the clean energy sector.