As part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) SunShot Initiative, Energy Secretary Steven Chu recently announced nearly $170 million in funding over three years to support the advancement of solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies. The funding supports the SunShot goal to reduce the total cost of solar energy systems by about 75% before the end of the decade.
SunShot is a DOE-wide initiative that leverages investments from the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, and the Office of Science.
The most recent round of solar funding supports research and development (R&D) to improve efficiency and performance of solar cells; development of new balance of system (BOS) technologies; advances for solar energy grid integration; and new materials and processes for manufacturing solar cells. There are four primary topic areas:
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Foundational Program to Advance Cell Efficiency (F-PACE): Funding collaboration with the National Science Foundation; provides up to $39 million for R&D related to solar device physics, improved PV cell performance, and reduced module costs for commercial applications.
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Extreme Balance of System Hardware Cost Reductions (BOS-X): Funding up to $60 million for research, development, and demonstration of BOS components. Includes hardware-related projects as well as work in codes and standards to accommodate innovative, low-cost hardware designs.
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Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems—Advanced Concepts: Provides $40 million in funding to develop technologies designed to increase the integration of solar energy onto the electrical grid and facilitate interactions between solar energy systems and Smart Grid technologies. Funding will also support high-voltage systems that reduce installed costs associated with BOS costs for utility-scale installations and projects focused on technologies like micro-inverters capable of harvesting higher amounts of energy.
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PV Next Generation: Provides $30 million in funding for early-stage applied laboratory-scale research to demonstrate and prove new concepts in materials, processes, and device designs for solar PV component development.
“These investments will drive innovation in the solar energy field—laying the groundwork to meet our SunShot goal of dramatically reducing the cost of solar energy nationwide and helping America win the race to produce the most cost-effective, high-quality photovoltaics in the world.”
— Energy Secretary Steven Chu
Through these funding opportunities, DOE seeks improvement in the performance of current and next generation PV technologies, development of advanced power electronics, and reductions in the cost of PV BOS hardware and BOS soft costs.
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Source: U.S Department of Energy