General Electric announced this past week the plans to build the
largest solar manufacturing facility in the United States. The
facility will produce cheap, efficient thin-film solar panels that are
flexible and can fit onto most surfaces rather than being confined to
bulkier housing as is precent with solar technology. The expected
cost of the energy produced by this technology should be less than one
dollar per watt. The driving factor for this innovative facility was
the government support for clean energy innovation. The article states
that this breakthrough in the cost of solar energy is thanks to many
years of development and investment by the federal government. The
government program is an open relationship between federal lab
researchers, university researchers, and private sector solar
manufacturers. The program has received accolades from Boeing, BP, and
Siemens for its innovative technologies.

It is good to know that among all of the problems the government is
currently dealing with, that efforts are still being made to work with
corporations who have the funds and research means to work toward a
cleaner, more sustainable energy. Hopefully this is just the beginning
to many energy technology breakthroughs toward clean energy solutions
we are desperately in need of.

http://theenergycollective.com/mstepp/55641/public-sector-clean-energy-innova...