This is an excerpt from EERE Network News, a weekly electronic newsletter.
June 28, 2006
DOE Offers $170 Million for Solar Technology Research
DOE released a solicitation on June 28th for cost-shared, public-private partnerships to advance solar energy technology. The solicitation focuses on development, testing, demonstration, validation, and deployment of new solar photovoltaic (PV) components, systems, and manufacturing equipment. DOE plans to award $170 million over three years to industry-led groups that may include one or more companies, universities, national laboratories, or non-governmental organizations. The teams must match their awards dollar for dollar, bringing the total investment to $340 million. Applications are due on October 2nd. See the solicitation on the Grants.gov Web site.
The new solar energy funds are part of President Bush's Solar America Initiative, which aims to bring down the cost of solar energy systems to make them competitive with conventional electricity sources by 2015. The goal of the projects funded by the solicitation will be to reduce the cost of electricity from solar PV systems from today's 13-22 cents per kilowatt-hour to 9-18 cents per kilowatt-hour by 2010. See the DOE press release and the Solar America Initiative Web site.
