932 HISTORY OF THE COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



create a market. The buy was also to help momentum for a larger buy 

 pending at that time in the National Energy Act. McCormack opposed 

 the amendment on the grounds that it "would require the purchase of 

 far more photovoltaic cells than could currently be produced," and he 

 also felt to be effective it had to be a 5- to 10- year commitment. On a 

 rollcall vote, the solar hawks won out by 227 to 179. Supporting 

 Tsongas on the vote were the following committee members: Ambro, 

 Blanchard, Blouin, Dodd, Downey, Roe, Scheuer, Ottinger, Harkin, 

 Wirth, Neal, Walgren, Glickman, Beilenson, Gore, Frey, Fish, and 

 Pursell. In conference, funding for the Tsongas amendment was cut in 

 half. 



THE SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC ENERGY BILL 



Following a one-day oversight hearing on September 9, 1977 on 

 photovoltaic conversion, the subcommittee tackled the subject in 

 greater earnest in 1978. On February 8, McCormack and Goldwater 

 introduced the Solar Photovoltaic Energy Research, Development, and 

 Demonstration Act of 1978. The bill provided for a 10-year program 

 to develop the necessary technology. It proposed to double the total 

 production of photovoltaic systems each year for 10 years, so that by 

 1987 annual production would reach two million peak kilowatts of 

 photovoltaic capacity, reducing the cost to $1 per peak watt. In a 

 memorandum to other members of the committee, they stated: 



We are convinced that the time has come to develop a focused, goal-oriented 

 solar photovoltaic energy program that is based on a cooperative effort between the 

 Federal Government and private industry. * * * We estimate that the total Depart- 

 ment of Energy funding will amount to $1.5 billion over the next 10 years, a signifi- 

 cant increase over the less ambitious year-by-year program otherwise to be carried out. 



The memorandum also explained that the program "substantially re- 

 duced the risk we have run in the past of funding photovoltaic activity 

 with no long-range plan, thus making it difficult to manage effec- 

 tively." McCormack 's subcommittee held hearings on the bill on 

 April 11 and 12, 1978. In opening the hearings, he stated: 



Until now photovoltaics has been considered to be an "exotic technology," 

 possibly for the future, but too expensive to contribute to commercial energy pro- 

 duction during this century. Recent developments, however, indicate that photo- 

 voltaic systems — which are both nonnuclear and nonfossil — offer the promise of an 

 environmentally clean source of energy which may have applications in many seg- 

 ments of our society late in the century. 



On June 6, the full committee met to mark up the solar photo- 

 voltaic bill. Wydler observed: 



I would hope that we would objectively perform oversight on this program to 

 see that the Government does not end up buying a lot of material and equipment that 

 really is outdated, outmoded, not at the top of the art, and that we will judge this 

 program on a very objective basis, to see that it is producing something of value for 

 the country as it runs its course. 



