SAI University and Industry Exploratory Research Meeting, Arlington, VA, February 7, 2007

The Solar America Initiative (SAI) Technology Pathway Partnerships (TPP) work provides significant opportunities for collaboration and partnership among industry and university researchers to develop and improve solar energy technologies.

The purpose of this meeting was to identify and prioritize lists of potential PV research topics for inclusion in two proposed funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) directed primarily toward U.S. universities. The first FOA will focus on university research and development support for SAI Technology Pathway Partnerships. The second will focus on applied research for future generation solar electric technologies. Both are currently planned for release in the spring of 2007. The meeting consisted of introductory presentations, breakout sessions with a report back from each group, and concluded with a presentation and discussion on the SAI PV Incubator.

The following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.

SAI Introductory Presentations

DOE University Funding Opportunities Workshop: Background, Objective, Format and Schedule (PDF 328 KB)

Solar America Initiative Overview (PDF 615 KB)

University Workshop Financial Assistance Overview (PDF 163 KB)

Note: DOE cost-sharing requirements (PDF 26 KB)

Basic Energy Sciences Solar Energy Challenges and Opportunities (PDF 1.2 MB)

Breakout Sessions

Seven simultaneous breakout sessions were held. Participants were asked to first create a list of research topics for each breakout, identify priority areas of research within the list, and then report back to the overall group. The seven breakout groups focused on: Organic Cells/Nanostructure and Bandgap-Engineered PV Materials and Devices/Other Future Generation and Post-2015 Timeframe PV Topics; Crystalline Silicon PV; PV Systems and Engineering and Balance of Systems; III-V Multijunction Cells and Organic PV Cells; Amorphous/Nanocrystalline Silicon PV; Copper-Indium Diselenide (CIS) Alloy PV; and Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) Thin Film PV.

Breakout Session Report-Out Presentations

Group I: Organic Cells/Nanostructure and Bandgap-Engineered PV Materials and Devices/Other Future Generation and Post-2015 Timeframe PV Topics (PDF 325 KB)

Group II: Crystalline Silicon PV (PDF 199 KB)

Group III: PV Systems and Engineering and Balance of Systems (PDF 211 KB)

Group IV: III-V Multijunction Cells and Organic PV Cells (PDF 403 KB)

Group V: Amorphous/Nanocrystalline Silicon PV (PDF 161 KB)

Group VI: Copper-Indium Diselenide (CIS) Alloy PV (PDF 174 KB) additional notes created by group (PDF 915 KB)

Group VII: Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) Thin Film PV (PDF 173 KB)

Presentation and Discussion on SAI PV Incubator (PDF 144 KB)
Discussion Notes (PDF 167 KB)

Notes From Worskhop Wrap-Up Discussion (PDF 87 KB)

SAI University and Industry Exploratory Research Meeting Contact Information Attendee List (PDF 205 KB)