This Request for Information (RFI) is intended to inform the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) on the overall technical research, development, and demonstration opportunities in solar manufacturing and hardware product commercialization. SETO is seeking specific feedback on:
- Technical areas with opportunities to invest in innovative research and development (R&D) as well as research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) projects that enable solar to continue to drive down costs, while developing next-generation solar technologies, supporting the scalability of solar as deployment increases across the country, and boosting American solar manufacturing;
- Removal of the Concept Paper stage from the funding opportunity process to better align it with the needs of a fast-moving industry and community and in an effort to streamline the application process and reduce the time from application deadline to selection notification; and
- Ways to better engage and support partnerships between institutions representing diverse entities such as, but not limited to, Tribal communities; minority-serving institutions (MSI); minority business enterprises; minority-, woman-, and veteran-owned businesses[1]; entities located in an underserved community or through linkages with Opportunity Zones.
[1] Opportunity Zones were added to the Internal Revenue Code by section 13823 of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, codified at 26 U.S.C. 1400Z-1. The list of designated Qualified Opportunity Zones can be found in IRS Notices 2018-48 (PDF) and 2019-42 (PDF). Further, a visual map of the census tracts designated as Qualified Opportunity Zones may also be found at Opportunity Zones Resources. Also see, frequently asked questions about Qualified Opportunity Zones.