GEF

Unit 9  |  New Technology and Innovative Sustainability Approaches 191 In the U.S., responsibility for development and maintenance of a smart grid falls under the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability in the U.S. Department of Energy. While smart grid progress in the U.S. is progressing slowly, other countries have taken a more aggressive approach. China leads the world in monetary investment in smart grid technology, investing $4.3 billion in smart grid technologies in 2013 alone. China plans to invest $63 billion more in smart grid technolo- gies by 2020. 9.3  Growth Trends in the Renewable Energy Sector While renewable energy is far from replacing fossil fuel, inno- vations in production and efficiency are beginning to push renewables into the mainstream. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, in 2016 the U.S. solar market had its big- gest year ever, and over the next five years they expect the U.S. solar market to triple in size. Part of this growth can be explained by decreased costs of installation in homes and power plants, accompanied by technological innovation and government subsidies. The cost of manufacturing photovoltaic cells (PV) has fallen dramatically, to the point where solar electricity is nearly as inexpensive as electricity produced from natural gas. As the cost of photovoltaic cells drops, more and more homeowners are turning to solar power for their energy needs.