DOE Solar America Initiative Set to Fund Solar PV Development

March 8, 2006

Now, says the DOE, the emphasis is on funding industry partnerships to accelerate market-ready PV using aggressive new goals, down-selects, and a new focus on eliminating manufacturing and production R&D barriers.

Washington, DC [RenewableEnergyAccess.com] The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a Notice of Program Interest (NOPI) to advance the new Solar America Initiative. During his State of the Union address, President Bush announced a broad plan to spur technological development of renewable energy resources and a key element of this effort is the Solar America Initiative (SAI), the largest funding proposal for the DOE's solar energy programs ever.

The SAI will work to make solar energy cost-competitive with other electricity sources by 2015, supporting a goal toward national energy independence. The SAI will focus primarily on photovoltaic (PV) systems.

The DOE characterizes the SAI as a fundamental shift in how the solar program does business in PV applications. Before, the emphasis was on PV research and development (R&D) with a goal of reducing costs through breakthroughs and incremental technology improvements. Now, says the DOE, the emphasis is on funding industry partnerships to accelerate market-ready PV using aggressive new goals, down-selects, and a new focus on eliminating manufacturing and production R&D barriers.

The NOPI provides industry, universities and other potential implementers with an opportunity to provide early input to planning for the SAI. Their ideas are requested on critical planning topics including program phasing, technology improvement opportunities and procurement strategy. Information obtained as a result of this NOPI is meant to be used by the government on a "non-attribution" basis for program strategy and procurement planning.

This NOPI has the potential to lead to new funding opportunities for R&D on new solar component technologies, manufacturing processes for components and integrated PV system designs that have the best chance of making PV-generated electricity cost-competitive by the 2015 goal. DOE will also develop a technology acceptance strategy to address marketplace barriers and challenges such as net metering, interconnection standards and system financing.

In April, DOE will convene a Technical Exchange Meeting to facilitate contributions to planning for the R&D elements of the SAI. This meeting will be open to organizations on a space-limited basis, and an announcement for the meeting will be posted on FedBizOpps.

For details on this announcement, please visit the Solar Technologies Program website at the following link below.

Information courtesy of the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

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