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Solar America Initiative (SAI) Technology Pathway Partnerships Fact Sheet

Background

In January 2006, President Bush announced his Advanced Energy Initiative. An integral part of the President's plan is the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Solar America Initiative (SAI). The SAI will fund activities that can make the cost of solar systems competitive with conventional electricity sources in national markets by 2015. To jumpstart this work, the DOE is now issuing a SAI Photovoltaic Systems R&D Technology Pathway Partnerships (TPPs) — Phase 1 Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA).

Project Objectives

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits partnerships with U.S. industry for 3-year projects that focus on development, testing, demonstration, validation, and interconnection of new PV components, systems, and manufacturing equipment.

Solicitation Funding

The DOE currently expects to provide $170 million in funding for projects under this solicitation over 3 years, from FY07-09. There will be a minimum 50% cost share from Recipients, translating to at least $340 million in total project scope, subject to the appropriations process.

Performers, Teaming, Eligibility

TPPs will be industry-led and may include one or more companies, universities, national laboratories, and/or non-governmental organizations. The prime recipient of DOE awards under this FOA must be a U.S. commercial entity with current or planned U.S. manufacturing capacity. An Applicant may be a prime recipient on one award, but may participate as a sub-recipient partner on multiple awards.

R&D Project Categories (Topic Areas)

Projects conducted by partnerships will fall into two topic areas:

  1. Systems Class projects (Integrated systems) — These larger projects will address multiple technology improvements in PV system and component design, integration, and installation.

  2. Subsystems Class projects (Component-based/cross-cutting) — These smaller projects will focus on fewer technology developments to improve PV systems.

Applicants may choose to pursue projects in either category, but all R&D activities must be oriented towards the SAI cost targets in the table below.

Cost Targets for Grid-Connected PV Systems in Key Market Sectors
Market Sector Current U.S. Market Range (c/kWh)1,2 Solar Electricity Cost – Current and Projected (c/kWh)1
    Benchmark Target
    2005 2010 2015
Residential3 5.8-16.7 23-32 13-18 8-10
Commercial3 5.4-15.0 16-22 9-12 6-8
Utility4 4.0-7.6 13-22 10-15 5-7
1Costs are based on constant 2005 dollars.
2Current costs are based on electric-generation with conventional sources.
3Cost to customer (customer side of meter)
4Cost of generation (utility side of meter)


Key Project Elements/Strategy

  • SAI is market-based. Goals are directly market-oriented, in terms of cost, penetration, and job creation, and all technical objectives established through SAI will have direct impact on these market-based goals.

  • SAI TPPs are industry-led. All technical details regarding approach, timelines, milestones, and system integration will be formulated by Applicants. National Laboratories and universities will support DOE and industry in monitoring technical progress, conducting tests and evaluations, directly supporting TPPs on specific R&D, and leading other R&D in a complementary manner.

  • SAI TPPs are partnership-oriented. Industry participants are strongly encouraged to formulate partnerships to address the spectrum of possible technical improvements in the PV system value chain.

  • SAI TPPs are focused on near- and mid-term results. Emphasis will be on technologies with the greatest potential for cost-competitiveness in the period leading up to 2015. Longer-term research will still be funded by the DOE Solar Energy Technologies Program with extensive National Laboratory and university involvement, but these activities are outside the scope of the TPPs. During the execution of TPP Projects, the SETP will encourage incorporation of these higher risk efforts into the near- and mid-term results objectives of the TPPs.

  • SAI TPPs are focused on PV systems. The primary metric for SAI is LCOE, which is determined by the complete PV system rather than any component. Therefore, SAI is driving towards new integrated PV systems, or sub-system improvements that will translate into improved system-level performance.
Sample Characteristics of Systems Class and Subsystems Class TPPs
  Systems Class TPP Subsystems Class TPP
Award Size Up to $10M per year. Up to $4M per year.
Project Deliverables New turnkey PV systems New PV components or manufacturing equipment
Technology Improvement Opportunities Addressed Conduct R&D on most or all of the PV system TIOs defined by the TPP Conduct R&D on a select subset of the PV system TIOs, while still demonstrating impact on LCOE.
Team Structure Lead is U.S. corporation; TPP has or is planning manufacturing and/or integration capability. Lead is a U.S. corporation; TPP has manufacturing, manufacturing equipment, and/or integration capability.