Technology and Policy in Solar Commercialization: What Works?

Solar Power has seen small pockets of great success worldwide. Initiatives in seemingly unlikely places such as Germany, Ontario, and New Jersey have demonstrated that increased installation of solar power can be achieved beyond obvious locations like Arizona and Spain. This workshop will explore in detail the challenges of implementing solar technologies on a larger scale. We will consider both the technology and policy barriers that need to be overcome in order to see solar success on a larger scale.

By looking at key technologies, we will discuss the following questions:

• What keeps solar technologies from gaining a larger share of the energy market?
• Do regulation, incentives, or public opinion in the marketplace tend to favor certain applications or technologies (centralized, distributed, thermal)?

By looking at policies and applications, we will explore:

• What policies have been successful in driving the successful installation of solar projects around the world?
• Are these policies politically, environmentally, and technologically sustainable?
• What lessons have been learned, and how can they be applied in the future?

By considering both technology and policy, we can see how these two elements interact:

• What current and potential future policies will help promote the best technologies?
• How should policy balance the increased use of proven technologies with the commercialization of new technologies?