The Hill News

Solar energy costs have declined 60 percent since 1995 â€" and they keep falling. It is in the best interest of American consumers that Congress keeps finding ways to speed the descent.
 
On Tuesday, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will hold a hearing on a few clean energy initiatives, including the 10 Million Solar Roofs Act of 2011. If passed, the bill would set in motion a number of policy measures to meet the ultimate goal of getting solar onto 10 million American homes and businesses by the year 2020.
 
The economic benefit of the bill is two-fold: first, it would push the U.S. Department of Energy's SunShot program, which makes solar more competitive by financing cost-cut! ting, next-generation production technologies. Second, the bill would provide grants to communities to help them troubleshoot the solar permitting process, which can be a costly and inefficient barrier to solar adoption.

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