California Funds Collaboration to Spur Solar Development

The University of California, San Diego, in collaboration with UC Davis will use the grant to expand the development and use of solar energy in the state.

"As a leader in supporting renewable energy, the Energy Commission strongly believes that funding research and development now will deliver dividends in the future for California's ratepayers," said Karen Douglas, who chairs the commission, the state's primary energy policy and planning agency.

The solar energy collaborative falls under the commission's California Renewable Energy program, which includes three other existing collaboratives focused on biomass, geothermal and wind energies.

The total funding for all four initiatives is $3 million.

The collaborative will help establish a comprehensive energy policy for the state, including the development of a plan for introducing solar technologies by evaluating market and growth trends, as well as regulatory, economic and financial constraints and barriers.

The new collaborative aims to help California install 3,000 megawatts of solar power in California by the year 2017.

UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox said the collaborative will help establish UC San Diego and UC Davis as powerhouses for solar energy research.

"This solar collaborative is a large and significant role in the state, nation and the world, and being selected to co-lead this initiative is a significant challenge and responsibility," Fox said. "As renewable energies continue to take center stage around the globe, we hope to strengthen ties across academia, industry and the government to create the best solutions for our energy use and for our environment."

UC San Diego electrical engineering professors Ed Yu, left, and Farrokh Najmabadi will co-lead the California Solar Energy Collaborative. (Photo courtesy UC San Diego)

The solar collaborative will be co-led by Farrokh Najmabadi, director of UC San Diego's Center for Energy Research and associate director of the center Ed Yu, together with Pieter Stroeve, professor of chemical engineering and materials science at UC Davis.

"Our research focuses on making solar energy more efficient and economical, allowing major expansion of solar power in California," said Najmabadi, who is also a professor of electrical and computer engineering at UC San Diego. "Southern California is an ideal location for deployment of solar power and UC San Diego can play a major role in this endeavor."

"There is great potential to improve solar technology," Yu said. "One of the things the collaborative will help do is bring together university-based researchers who are looking at longer term, fundamental solutions in solar energy and the end users, such as utilities and manufacturers."

"There is this so-called 'Valley of Death' between people like us who are doing basic and applied research and the commercial end users," said Yu. "Bringing these groups together under the solar collaborative will help bridge that gap. We hope it will help facilitate the transfer of new ideas developed within the universities to the commercial market."

Through the collaborative, UC San Diego and UC Davis will reach out to utilities, research institutions, solar equipment manufacturers, and regulatory agencies, as well as to investors interested in funding these new technologies. The collaborative will include a board of directors, as well as an executive director, who has yet to be named.

"Solar energy is a renewable and sustainable source of energy for California that is yet to be explored and exploited for its full potential. However, fundamental problems need to be addressed in order to make solar energy economical," Stroeve said. "The solar collaborative between the California Energy Commission, UC San Diego and UC Davis will facilitate the development of solar energy in California."

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