BP Solar wins $7.5M federal grant to make solar power cheaper

Frederick company could get $19.1 million over three years

The program is one of 13 solar projects proposed by energy companies that the agency is funding with up to $168 million, Bodman said.

‘‘Solar technology can play a crucial role in moving toward affordable net-zero-energy homes and businesses — which combine energy efficiency and renewable energy produced on-site,” he said.

‘‘Efficient buildings with solar power generation can help reduce peak demand and ease the need for expensive new generating capacity, transmission and distribution lines as our economy grows,” Bodman said.

‘‘Our shared goal is to lower the cost and increase the supply of clean, renewable energy,” Robert A. Malone, BP America chairman and president, said in a statement. ‘‘BP is working with other companies, with leading research institutions and universities and with government to achieve the scientific, engineering and manufacturing breakthroughs to make that possible. This program is an important part of that effort.”

The project grants are part of President Bush’s Solar America Initiative. Its goal is to reduce the cost of solar power so that by 2015 it will be at grid-parity, or cost-competitive with electricity generated by other means.

BP Solar wants to expand the supply of solar-grade silicon; reduce the amount of silicon required in the manufacture of solar panels; increase the efficiency of existing solar panels; and develop new, lower-cost distribution, installation and finance programs.

For example, BP Solar is trying to reduce the thickness of solar cells by 50 percent while increasing efficiency 25 percent, Lee Edwards, BP Solar president, said in a statement.

‘‘BP Solar is excited to be partnering with the [Energy Department] in this effort to make solar power more cost effective,” Edwards said.