Why have solar energy costs fallen?
MIT researchers have been awarded a grant of nearly $1.3 million through the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative to study the reasons for solar energy’s rapid and sustained cost decline and how to continue reducing costs in the future. The awarded project, which will examine features of photovoltaic (PV) devices, public policies, and private sector efforts, is titled “Modeling Photovoltaics Innovation and Deployment Dynamics.” It will be led by principal investigator Jessika Trancik, associate professor in MIT's Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS), along with co-principal investigators Tonio Buonassisi, associate professor in mechanical engineering; and David Hs, assistant professor in urban studies and planning — all of whom are also faculty affiliates of the MIT Energy Initiative — and Robert Margolis of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Postdoc James McNerney and PhD student Goksin Kavlak, both of IDSS, are also involved. To evaluate the mechanisms driving PV system cost reductions, the...