Optony Receives SunShot Initiative Award to Reduce Solar Costs for 60 Million Americans
November 6, 2013
Optony will implement the American Solar Transformation Initiative and Solar Roadmap Across 15 States
Silicon Valley, CA – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that Optony will receive a SunShot Initiative Rooftop Solar Challenge II award to implement actionable steps across 15 states to make solar system installations more cost effective. Optony, a third-time DOE award recipient, is one of eight awardees selected for the second round of the Challenge.
With this award, Optony will provide interactive technical expertise across 5 key focus areas of permitting, planning, interconnection, financing and market development to 400 jurisdictions across 15 states over the next 30 months via the Solar Roadmap™ platform. The Solar Roadmap organizes national best practices and makes them easily accessible for government agencies, regional organizations, residents, businesses and electric utilities. Optony has partnered with leading national organizations and regional councils across the country to help transform local solar markets with the ultimate goal to positively impact over 60 million residents.
New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand states, “Optony’s efforts will help focus on overcoming solar market challenges, and will help make significant progress towards building a clean energy economy in New York.”
Through the American Solar Transformation Initiative (ASTI), Optony will deploy a highly effective approach for municipal governments and industry stakeholders to unlock the solar potential in their communities and bring associated economic activity, job creation, and regional environmental benefits. Optony is already working with over 100 cities, counties, and utilities and successfully completed the Southwest Solar Transformation Initiative that was funded under the first Rooftop Solar Challenge.
The Solar Roadmap™ is America’s go-to resource for unbiased solar information and tools for residents, businesses, government staff, electric utilities, and solar industry. Through customized profile pages and interactive policy roadmaps, this innovative platform is helping communities and electric utilities across the country to capture economic and environmental benefits from clean energy deployment by making it easier, faster, and more affordable to go solar.
Dr. Pradeep Haldar, Chief Operating and Technical Officer of the US Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium says, “Optony and the ASTI will enable significant improvements to regional solar permitting, interconnection, and planning processes, while stimulating innovation in financing and solar programs across the United States.”
Optony is excited to continue its partnership with DOE and help communities across the United States grow their local solar markets. Senior Vice-President for Optony, Benjamin Foster, shared “we have an outstanding team assembled to support this initiative, combined with a robust technology platform and many excellent partners like the Solar Electric Power Association and California Center for Sustainable Energy to deliver lasting impact.”
For more information about the American Solar Transformation Initiative and the Solar Roadmap visit https://www.solarroadmap.com/asti.
The Rooftop Solar Challenge II program empowers teams to make it easier and more affordable for Americans to go solar, reducing soft or “plug-in” costs by streamlining permit processes, updating planning and zoning codes, improving standards for connecting solar power to the electric grid, and increasing access to financing.
The U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative is a collaborative national effort that aggressively drives innovation to make solar energy fully cost-competitive with traditional energy sources before the end of the decade. Through SunShot, DOE supports efforts by private companies, academia, and national laboratories to drive down the cost of solar electricity to $0.06 per kilowatt-hour. Learn more at http://www.energy.gov/sunshot.
Optony Inc. is a global research and consulting firm focused on enabling government and commercial organizations to bridge the gap between clean energy goals and real-world results. Optony leverages its independence, domain expertise and unique market position to empower clients to make informed decisions that reduce risk, optimize operations, and deliver the greatest long-term return on their clean energy investments. For more information visit http://www.optony.com
Media contact: Stephen.Wolcott@Optony.com
View ASTI-DOE Press Release as a PDF
Southwest Solar Transformation Initiative Official Launch
February 29, 2012
Santa Clara, CA – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded Optony Inc and it’s partner Strategic Energy Innovations (SEI) a major grant to lead regional teams of municipal and campus partners to advance solar power adoption by homeowners and businesses across the Southwest. As part of the Southwest Solar Transformation Initiative (SSTI), Optony an SEI will drive market maturity across over 50 jurisdictions, where solar potential is abundant, but municipal resources and industry information are scarce. The aim of the Rooftop Solar Challenge is to cut red tape by “streamlining and standardizing permitting, zoning, metering and connection processes – and improving finance options to reduce barriers and lower costs for residential and smaller commercial rooftop solar systems.”
On December 1, 2011, the U.S. DOE approved first year budgets for the twenty-two consortia applicants, with SSTI team receiving the largest funding award, committing to address solar market barriers across the broadest geographic region. “Transforming solar markets across the Southwest will unlock the massive potential in under-served regions while accomplishing state and federal goals for economic growth through clean technology deployment,” said Senior Vice-President for Optony, Ben Foster.
“We are honored to be one of the twenty-two teams selected nationally to assist the U.S. Department of Energy in addressing the real and perceived barriers that prevent our communities from enjoying the environmental and economic benefits of solar power,” said Cyane Dandridge, Executive Director for SEI.
For this first year, SSTI efforts will focus on constructing the framework for this regional effort, developing roadmaps for local jurisdiction engagement for improved solar adoption – that includes a centralized online technical resource center and solar project support hotline – with an eye towards engaging cities to aggressively adopt and tailor solar-friendly policies and programs.
For more information on the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative and Rooftop Solar Challenge, visit: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/sunshot/
Periodic program updates and news can be found on the DOE Rooftop Solar Challenge webpage.