The Solar Energy Industries Association reports that the House Energy and Water Development subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee has released its mark for the 2007 DOE budget. The numbers include a robust funding increase in solar R&D, as requested in the President’s Solar America Initiative.
Total funding for the DOE Solar Program was $148,372,000. This includes $134,472,000 for PV, $8.9 million CSP and $5 million for solar heating and lighting. We have reports that there were just 3 earmarks, totaling $3.5 million, bringing the total budget to $144.8 million.
Excluding earmarks, these numbers represent a 79% increase in the PV budget, a 48% increase in the CSP budget, and a 68% increase in the SH&L budget. There are additional funds for solar R&D in the Office of Science.
The numbers are subject to change for several reasons – full committee number adjustments, potential Senate requests for lower funding, and impact from any earmarks that may come down the pike. Over the course of the next several weeks, SEIA will be doing everything we can to minimize earmarks and keep the funding numbers up.
Leading up to the House mark release, SEIA made a full court press on appropriations, coordinating with members to send out more than a dozen highly targeted letters, with many more calling in and making personal contacts with the members of the House Committee on Appropriations and Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development. In an environment where, unfortunately, other renewable technologies’ research and development budgets were severely under-funded, we obtained not only the Administration’s full request for the overall solar budget, but a restoration and increase of the Solar Heating and Lighting budget.