Interview: Solar Sunny Days

Solar energy is finally getting its day in the sun, buoyed by renewable-energy incentives and snowballing economies of scale. Former Stanford University professor Dick Swanson, the founder and CTO of Sunnyvale, CA-based SunPower, says there’s still an important place for the industry’s incumbent technology: crystalline silicon.

…Government incentives are clearly still a key element.
We still need them, but not necessarily for very long, and especially not in places with high retail electricity prices and a lot of sun. The industry’s current momentum should drive things to about half the cost of where we are right now. That will open up new markets, which will drive costs even lower. But it’s a step-by-step process.

Technology Review