Note: Full Application review has been completed and selections have been announced. Applicants can now check their selection status and view consensus merit review strengths and weaknesses in Exchange.
The objective of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to fund projects that develop technologies in power electronics that reduce the overall photovoltaic (PV) system costs, allow high penetrations of solar technologies onto the grid (e.g. reactive power, energy storage, advanced functionalities), and enhance the performance, reliability, and safety of the PV system. In addition, projects funded under this FOA will demonstrate the feasibility of these technologies in the field and will directly support the objectives of the SunShot Initiative, which has a goal to reduce the total costs (including installer margin) of solar energy systems by about 75 percent before the end of the decade and to make solar competitive with conventional fossil-fuel sourced generation.
DOE has identified several major areas where significant cost reductions in power electronics can be made including: 1) economies of scale; 2) advanced components; 3) reliability; 4) smart grid integration and 5) understanding of system implications. The DOE also is considering how changes in power electronics impact the cost of the PV system as a whole.
DOE anticipates that the U.S. Solar Industry can reach the aggressive SunShot targets by focusing on both power electronics research and in technologies more specific to grid-connected, photovoltaic systems.
There are two topics to which an application may be submitted under this FOA: