U.S. Department of Energy invests $170 million in solar photovoltaic technology development

U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu recently announced that the U.S. Department of Energy will invest nearly $170 million in the SunShot Research Fund for innovation in solar photovoltaic technology over the next three years. The goal of the U.S. Department of Energy's SunShot Research Fund is to reduce the total cost of energy systems by 75% by 2020, and this investment will further help research in four areas, including: improving solar cell efficiency and performance, expanding the number of new installations, reducing system balance costs, promoting solar grid integration, and developing new materials and processes for solar photovoltaic technology.

The Department of Energy hopes to further improve the performance of photovoltaic installations and reduce their costs through investments in these four areas. These funds will focus on four specific areas within photovoltaic technology: the Basic Program for Recommended Cell Efficiency (F-PACE), the Balanced Cost of Photovoltaic Systems, the Advanced Concept of Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems (SEGIS), and the Next Generation of Photovoltaic Technologies.

In F-PACE, the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation jointly funded $39 million for research and development in solar instrument physics and photovoltaic technologies that can improve the performance of photovoltaic cells and reduce the cost of components used in connected commercial devices.

Another $60 million will be used for research, development and demonstration of balance-of-system components. Projects in this area include new building photovoltaic integration products, new bracket wiring technology, and new rules for buildings that use new hardware designs while ensuring safety and stability.

The SEGIS Advanced Concepts area will receive $40 million in funding to develop technologies that can expand the integration of solar energy and the grid and accelerate the interaction between solar energy systems and smart grid technologies. Projects involved include technologies that can improve energy storage and projects with better system functionality. In addition, the SEGIS Advanced Concepts area will also cover high-voltage systems that reduce total installation costs, including the cost of installing system balance components, and projects developed around technologies such as microinverters that can obtain more energy from sunlight.

The remaining $30 million will be used for early laboratory application research in the areas of materials, processes and equipment design for solar components.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said of the new investments: "These investments will spur innovation in solar energy, lay the foundation for SunShot's goal of significantly reducing the cost of solar energy across the country, and help the United States win the race to produce high-quality, low-cost photovoltaic products around the world. A strong solar industry will strengthen America's technological leadership and competitiveness, improve our national energy security, create skilled manufacturing jobs, and achieve the President's goal of doubling the use of clean energy over the next 25 years."