The US Department of Energy has declared success three years early on its cost-reduction goal for utility-scale PV, and announced $82m in new funding for early-stage solar research – albeit with a different set of priorities than existed under the Obama administration.

In 2011, when the unsubsidised cost of utility-scale PV averaged 27¢/kWh in the US, the DOE launched its SunShot Initiative with an ambitious 6¢/kWh goal for 2020.