Speaking at The Europe-Asia PV Forum at the 27th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (EU PVSEC) which kicked off today, Minh Le, acting programme manager of the Solar Program for the US Department of Energy, highlighted that US PV policymakers should look to streamline local PV policies and adopt common nationwide practices to ensure stability in the PV market.

With around 18,000 jurisdictions in the US, each has its own solar policy. This can often cause a long and cumbersome process when implementing PV projects.

Streamlining and adopting common practices across the country may also result in less concentrated areas. Currently, the majority of PV projects are concentrated in the states of California and Arizona, among others.

On a grander scale, it may open up the possibility that the US will be able to better compete against Europe which held two-thirds of the global value chain in 2011.

Le also mentioned other ways to ensure stability by focusing on R&D and technological innovations on core systems, and trying to find methods to reduce soft costs.

However, he opined that having policies which have “predictability” is more important than policies that provide stability.