With the advent of $1.00-per-watt (DC) pricing for utility fixed-tilt PV systems, the solar industry has crushed the SunShot Program’s $1.00-per-watt goal for 2020 three years early.In early 2011, Steven Chu, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy (and a scientist), along with Dick Swanson, founder of SunPower, christened the DOE’s SunShot initiative. Swanson cited DOE’s early support of SunPower as a factor in SunPower’s success.At the time, $1.00 per watt seemed more aspirational than real — but one needs a North Star. The intrepid analysts at GTM Research were tracking utility solar at close to $4.00 per watt in early 2011.

Source: SunShot $1 per Watt Solar Cost Goal: Mission Accomplished, Years Ahead of Schedule | Greentech Media