U.S. Dept. of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman announced the selection of 13 solar technology development projects for negotiation for as much as $168 million in funding, subject to congressional approval, for fiscal years 2007, 2008 and 2009. As part of cost agreements, these industry-led projects will contribute more than 50% of the funding and will be made first available as part of President Bush’s Solar America Initiative (SAI), a component of his Advanced Energy Initiative (AEI).
Teams selected are
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.
Boeing —High-efficiency concentrating photovoltaic power system. This project will focus on cell fabrication research that is expected to yield very high efficiency systems.
BP Solar —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.
Dow Chemical —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. General Electric —A value chain partnership to accelerate U.S. PV growth.
Greenray— Development of an AC module system.
Konarka —Building-integrated organic photovoltaics.
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.
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.
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
Practical Instruments —Low-profile high-concentration PV systems for rooftop applications. This project will explore a novel concept for low-profile high-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
SunPower —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.
United Solar Ovonic —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.
For more information on the solicitation and facts about the Solar America Initiative, visit: https://www.eere.energy.gov/solar/solar_america/ .
To read the release in its entirety, visit www.energy.gov/news/4855.htm .
