DOE Invests $168 Million in 13 Industry-Led Solar Energy Projects

U.S. Department of Energy [DOE] Secretary Samuel W. Bodman on February 8 announced the selection of 13 industry-led solar technology development projects for negotiation for up to $168 million (FY’07-’09) in funding, subject to appropriation from Congress. These projects will help significantly reduce the cost of producing and distributing solar energy.

As part of the cost-shared agreements, the industry-led teams will contribute more than 50 percent of the funding for these projects for a total value of up to $357 million over three years. These cooperative agreements, to be negotiated, will be the first made available as part of President Bush’s Solar America Initiative [SAI], a component of his Advanced Energy Initiative [AEI], announced in his 2006 State of the Union Address.

These projects enable the projected expansion of the annual U.S. manufacturing capacity of PV systems from 240 MW in 2005 to as much as 2,850 MW by 2010, representing more than a ten-fold increase. Such capacity would also put the U.S. industry on track to reduce the cost of electricity produced by PV from current levels of $0.18-$0.23 per kWh to $0.05 - $0.10 per kWh by 2015 – a price that is competitive in markets nationwide.

Teams Selected For Negotiations Under the Solar America Initiative

Amonix - A low-cost, high-concentration PV system for utility markets. This project will focus on manufacturing technology for high-concentrating PV and on low-cost production using multi-bandgap cells. Subject to negotiations, DOE funding for the first year of the project is expected to be roughly $3,200,000, with approximately $14,800,000 available over three years if the team meets its goals.

Boeing (BA) - High-efficiency concentrating photovoltaic power system. This project will focus on cell fabrication research that is expected to yield very high efficiency systems. Subject to negotiations, DOE funding for the first year of the project is expected to be approximately $5,900,000, with approximately $13,300,000 available over three years if the team meets its goals.

BP Solar (BP)- Low-cost approach to grid parity using crystalline silicon. This project’s research will focus on reducing wafer thickness while improving yield of multi-crystalline silicon PV for commercial and residential markets. Subject to negotiations, DOE funding for the first year of the project is expected to be approximately $7,500,000, with approximately $19,100,000 available over three years if the team meets its goals.

Dow Chemical (DOW) - PV-integrated residential and commercial building solutions. This project will employ Dow’s expertise in encapsulates, adhesives, and high volume production to develop integrated PV-powered technologies for roofing products. Subject to negotiations, funding for the first year of the project is expected to be roughly $3,300,000, with approximately $9,400,000 available over three years if the team meets its goals.

General Electric (GE) - A value chain partnership to accelerate U.S. PV growth. This project will develop various cell technologies – including a new bifacial, high-efficiency silicon cell that could be incorporated into systems solutions that can be demonstrated across the industry. Subject to negotiations, DOE funding for the first year of the project is expected to be roughly $8,100,000, with approximately $18,600,000 available over three years if the team meets its goals.

Greenray - Development of an AC module system. This team will design and develop a high-powered, ultra-high-efficiency solar module that contains an inverter, eliminating the need to install a separate inverter and facilitating installation by homeowners. Research will focus on increasing the lifetime of the inverter. Subject to negotiations, DOE funding for the first year of the project is expected to be roughly $400,000, with approximately $2,300,000 available over three years if the team meets its goals.

Konarka - Building-integrated organic photovoltaics. This project will focus on manufacturing research and product reliability assurance for extremely low-cost photovoltaic cells using organic dyes that convert sunlight to electricity. Subject to negotiations, DOE funding for the first year of the project is expected to be $1,200,000, with approximately $3,600,000 available over three years if the team meets its goals.

Miasole - Low-cost, scalable, flexible PV systems with integrated electronics. This project will develop high-volume manufacturing technologies and PV component technologies. Research will focus on new types of flexible thin-film modules with integrated electronics and advances in technologies used for installation and maintenance. Subject to negotiations, DOE funding for the first year of the project is expected to be $5,800,000, with approximately $20,000,000 available over three years if the team meets its goals.

Nanosolar - Low-cost, scaleable PV systems for commercial rooftops. This project will work on improved low-cost systems and components using thin-film PV cells for commercial buildings. Research will focus on large-area module deposition, inverters, and mounting. Subject to negotiations, DOE funding for the first year of the project is expected to be roughly $1,100,000, with approximately $20,000,000 available over three years if the team meets its goals.

Powerlight - PV cell-independent effort to improve automated manufacturing systems. This project will focus on reducing non-cell costs by making innovations with automated design tools and with modules that include mounting hardware. Subject to negotiations, first-budget period funding for this project is expected to be approximately $2,800,000, with approximately $6,000,000 available over three years if the team meets its goals.

Practical Instruments - Low-concentration CPV systems for rooftop applications. This project will explore a novel concept for low-concentration optics to increase the output of rooftop PV systems. The project will also explore designs using multi-junction cells to allow for very high efficiency modules. Subject to negotiations, funding for the first year of the project is expected to be roughly $2,200,000, with approximately $4,000,000 available over three years if the team meets its goals.

SunPower (SPWR) - Grid-competitive residential solar power generating systems. This project will research lower-cost ingot and wafer fabrication technologies, automated manufacture of back-contact cells, and new module designs, to lower costs. Subject to negotiations, first-budget period funding for this project is expected to be approximately $7,700,000, with approximately $17,900,000 available over three years if the team meets its goals.

United Solar Ovonic (ENER) - Low-cost thin-film building-integrated PV systems. This project will focus on increasing the efficiency and deposition rate of multi-bandgap, flexible, thin-film photovoltaic cells and reducing the cost of inverters and balance-of-system components. Subject to negotiations, funding for the first year of the project is expected to be roughly $2,400,000, with approximately $19,300,000 available over three years if the team meets its goals.

Names of the partners on these projects, comprised of more than 50 companies, 14 universities, 3 non-profit organizations, and 2 national laboratories, which were not included in this post for the sake of brevity, can be found in the full press release referenced at the the beginning of this post.

For more information on the solicitation and facts about the Solar America Initiative, visit this website.

These awards include many of the leading suppliers of solar equipment, with projects given to companies representing the equipment, silicon, thin film and CSP segments of the market. Most of these companies are quite far along in their development cycle and may be running into cost barriers that could limit their growth. This sort of aid is helpful if it will really help these companies solve their problems.

It has been my experience that most companies do not want to divulge what they consider proprietary information, as may be required under terms of their contracts, so the projects may not be as beneficial to the industry as they appear on face value. Nonetheless, the government is allotting considerable funding which may help the solar industry in general achieve lower costs and make solar energy more competitive.

I think this funding is independent of funding for more basic research which is still needed to provide what could be disruptive technology for solar energy. Another way to look at this is that several companies have already claimed that they can produce solar energy at less than $1 watt at reasonable efficiencies and that more government funding is not required.