Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., has released plans for The Solar Energy Consortium (TSEC), a group of private and public companies and institutions that will research and develop new ways to efficiently and effectively deliver solar energy.
The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to approve $1.5 million for the creation of the consortium as part of the Energy and Water Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008, Hinchey's office notes.
TSEC will be located in Kingston, N.Y., and is predicted to create upwards of thousands of jobs in the region within the next several years. According to Hinchey's office, the consortium will work to double the efficiency of photovoltaic (PV) systems, halve fully installed system costs and simplify the PV system for integration into commercial products.
‘New York has the potential to be the model for the rest of the country and the world when it comes to solar power development,’ says Hinchey. The state recently introduced an initiative to increase its solar capacity from 12 MW to 2,000 MW by the year 2017.
