News Article
Australia And USA In Solar Agreement
Australia and USA announce a collaborative solar initiative
The Australian Solar Institute (ASI) welcomed the announcement today by Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard and U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton of a new US-Australia Solar Research Collaboration initiative to accelerate the reduction in costs for solar energy technologies.
The ASI will manage the Australian Federal Government funding of up to AUD$50m.
The funding will support solar technology research and development in Australia and will focus on accelerating the reduction in the cost of solar power systems.
Collaboration between Australian and U.S. researchers and industry participants will include research scholarships, laboratory exchange programs, information exchange on research and development projects and demonstration programs as well as funding for joint research projects for new solar technologies. ASI Executive Director Mark Twidell said, "The ASI warmly welcomes the initiative, which will promote and strengthen collaboration between the world's leading Australian and U.S. researchers on the development of photovoltaic and concentrated solar power technologies."
"We look forward to working with our U.S. counterparts over coming months to design and implement a program that will accelerate efficiency and cost improvements in solar technologies," Mr Twidell added.
A limited number of foundation projects have been identified as initial areas of focus for research collaboration with details available.
