If you’re among the growing number of people with solar panels on roofs, then gray skies are the last thing you want to see on the horizon. But it doesn’t have to be that way, or at least that’s what scientists are trying to prove.
As part of the national push to embrace solar power, the U.S. Department of Energy has turned a seven-acre field in Williston, Vermont into a site where scientists can study the effects of weather on solar panels. It’s the newest of five outdoor “laboratories” across the country.
An article by SF Gate reports that the Vermont Photovoltaic Regional Test Center is part of the department’s goal to reduce the cost of solar energy by 75 percent by 2020. It is also part of the plan to draw 15 percent of our energy needs from the sun by 2030.
Scientists hope that monitoring solar panels from different manufacturers during inclement weather, will give them a better understanding of how to make solar technology more efficient with less sun.
Minh Le, program manager of the federal Solar Energy Technologies Program, hopes to one day emulate Germany’s energy program. The country is the world leader in solar power production despite only receiving as much sun as Alaska.
Le states that with the generous amount of sun the United States receives, we could accomplish incredible feats in solar energy production given what Germany has already done. “When you imagine that solar can be a significant part of Germany’s electricity grid, it can also do that in the United States, and we have a lot more sun than Germany,” he said.