The Oak Ridge National Laboratory has recieved Department of Energy funding to lower the cost of solar power.

ORNL is getting more than $2 million from the DOE's SunShot Initiative Concentrating Solar Power program for a project titled "low-cost self-cleaning reflector coatings for concentrating solar power collectors" focused on developing a transparent superhydrophobic coating to keep the collector mirrors clear of debris by preventing dust from sticking to the mirror surface, maximizing the amount of reflected sunlight from the collector mirrors while decreasing cleaning costs.

The ORNL-developed reflector coatings could offer up to a 90 percent reduction in mirror cleaning and maintenance costs while providing up to 20 percent improvement in the average amount of reflected solar energy.

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