The Solar Solution to Climate Change

The U.S. Department of Energy has released a new report revealing the state of several energy technologies in the U.S. that are providing solutions to climate change. The report shows that there’s been a dramatic increase in deployment and decrease in cost of four transformational technologies: solar power, wind power, electric vehicles and LED lighting.

“We are experiencing a clean energy revolution in the United States, and this report confirms it,” said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz during a discussion at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Paris. “Today, clean energy technologies are providing real-world solutions — not only to reduce carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming, but they also drive a domestic, low-carbon economy with technologies that are increasingly cost-competitive with conventional technologies. We have the tools for a cleaner and more secure energy future.”

DOE’s 2015 report shows that big cost reductions are continuing to drive the adoption of clean energy technologies. It covers the rapid growth of photovoltaic (PV) solar modules for large, utility-scale PV plants as well as smaller, rooftop, distributed PV systems that have achieved significant deployment increases nationwide.

The report also shows that, by 2014, more than 8 GW of distributed solar PV was installed in the U.S. — enough to power about one million homes. Utility-scale solar PV grew by 68 percent in 2014 to 9.7 GW total. (More than 99 percent of that total has been installed since 2008.) The growth of the utility-scale PV market is due, in part, to support from DOE’s Loan Programs Office, which financed the first five projects over 100 MW. As of mid-2015, there were more than 17 subsequent utility-scale projects over 100 MW that were financed solely by the private sector. To learn more, read the DOE’s 2015 report here.

Blymyer Engineers is responsible for a significant percentage of the federal utility-scale solar total, with 2 GW in completed projects over the past 12 years. We’re proud of the work we do to bring solar energy to the U.S., and we look forward to a long future of using our solar design and building expertise to help mitigate the damaging effects of climate change.

Keep watching this blog for news and updates on our clean-energy projects, including the Springbok 2 solar farm in California, the Sandstone solar project in Arizona and solar projects for more than 45 schools on the Big Island of Hawaii.