ManTech International, a Fairfax, VA-based company that provides innovative technologies and solutions, has been chosen by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to offer scientific, engineering and technical support assistance (SETA) for the SunShot initiative of the department. The contract valued around $4 million will last for 17 months.
The SunShot initiative of DOE is a cooperative program aimed at making the solar power generation cheaper and comparable with other power generation methods by bringing down the price of solar modules by around 75% by the year 2020. The program is trying to cut down the energy generation costs of utility-scale solar power producers by around 6-cents per kWh without providing any type of financial support to enable increased level of solar energy use within the country.
According to Steven Chu, DOE’s Secretary of Energy, the US is in a race along with other countries to manufacture cheaper and quality photovoltaics. The SunShot initiative will encourage innovations and inventions within the US to bring down the power production costs of solar energy and will restore the global leadership image of the country in solar industry.
Terry M. Ryan, ManTech Systems Engineering and Advanced Technology group’s Chief Operating Officer, stated that his company has rich experience in offering conventional SETA support services and will be honored to participate in an initiative to develop an affordable solar technology.