Energy Secretary Steven Chu says three Massachusetts companies will receive $12.6 million from the federal government to help develop the country’s advanced solar energy technologies.
The funding announced yesterday is part of the Department of Energy’s “SunShot’’ initiative to reduce the total costs of large-scale solar energy systems by about 75 percent by the end of the decade. That, experts hope, will make it possible for solar energy to be competitive with other forms of energy without subsidies.
Massachusetts projects that will benefit from the funding are run by 1366 Technologies of Lexington, Veeco Solar Equipment of Lowell, and Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc. of Gloucester.
The projects are part of $20 million in awards intended to develop US supply chains for photovoltaic solar manufacturing.
