Daily Energy Insider Published on December 30, 2020 by Dave Kovaleski © Shutterstock The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is awarding up to $45 million for research to advance solar hardware and systems integration. Currently, solar only makes up three percent of U.S. electricity, but usage is expected to rise steadily. By 2050, it should account for 18 percent of U.S. electricity. To accommodate this increase requires an increase of hundreds of gigawatts of solar capacity. Thus, DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is seeking ways to bring large quantities of sola...