UNLV is leading an initiative that will help put Southern Nevada on the map as a resource for solar energy development and innovation with its proposed Solar Solutions Center. The center will establish UNLV as a national center of excellence for solar energy deployment and will prepare future leaders who will support a renewable energy economy. The center is designed to employ research, policy analysis, and business community outreach to create solar energy industry jobs, improve technology, develop pro-solar policies, and coordinate financial and intellectual resources.

UNLV already brings a wealth of research and education programs to the solar energy field. Faculty, staff, and students conduct research in a wide range of areas, including smart grid technologies; thin-film photovoltaics, including nanotechnology, and traditional PVs; solar energy concentrating technologies; energy storage; optics; thermal modeling; solar-powered production of hydrogen fuel; materials science; economic impact of renewable energies; and solar stills and passive solar heating.