The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Alexander Karsner held a press conference at United Solar Ovonic facility in Auburn Hills, MI, on 8 March 2007 to announce President Bush’s Solar America Initiative.
Following are excerpts from the press release that was issued by DOE, Office of Public Affairs, relative to the event:
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AUBURN HILLS, MI — U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the selection of
13 industry-led solar technology development projects for negotiation for up to $168 million (FY’07-‘09) in funding, subject to appropriation from Congress. These projects will help significantly reduce the cost of producing and distributing solar energy. As part of the cost-shared agreements, the industry-led teams will contribute more than 50 percent of the funding for these projects for a total value of up to $357 million over three years. These cooperative agreements, to be negotiated, will be the first made available as part of President Bush’s Solar America Initiative (SAI), a component of his Advanced Energy Initiative (AEI), announced in his 2006 State of the Union Address. DOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Alexander Karsner made today’s announcement while visiting United Solar Technologies in Auburn Hills, Michigan, one of the selected solar energy project sponsors.
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United Solar Ovonic — Low-cost thin-film building-integrated PV systems. This project will focus on increasing the efficiency and deposition rate of multi-bandgap, flexible, thin-film photovoltaic cells and reducing the cost of inverters and balance-of-system components. Partners include SMA America, Sat Con Technology Corporation, PV Powered, the ABB Group, Solectria Renewables, Developing Energy Efficient Roof Systems, Turtle Energy, Sun Edison, the University of Oregon, Syracuse University, the Colorado School of Mines, and NREL. Subject to negotiations, funding for the first year of the project is expected to be roughly $2,400,000, with approximately $19,300,000 available over three years if the team meets its goals.
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For information about the SAI, visit: 
