Author: US DOE Staff Published: 6/14/2023 EERE
EERE Funding Opportunity
DOE Announces Intent to Fund Up to $36 Million for Industrial Thin-Film Photovoltaic Research, Development, and Demonstration
Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) issued a notice of intent (NOI) to release a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) of up to $36 million for research, development, and demonstration projects on two major thin-film photovoltaic (PV) technologies: metal halide perovskites and cadmium telluride (CdTe).
Perovskites are a promising new PV technology that have the potential for high efficiencies and quicker, cheaper production. CdTe is a commercial PV technology that makes up more than a third of U.S. solar installations with opportunities for innovation and growth across its supply chain. Advancing perovskite and CdTe technologies will help scale domestic solar manufacturing capacity, strengthen the solar supply chain, and speed solar deployment.
The FOA is expected to be released in September 2023 and is expected to be restricted to for-profit lead applicants.
$20 million of this opportunity will fund projects on industrial perovskite PV research and development to enable future commercialization by reaching specific thresholds of efficiency, long-term reliability, manufacturability, and economic viability. Quantitative guidelines within the NOI describe what a competitive application is expected to include for a given funding level.
$16 million of this opportunity will fund projects to advance cadmium telluride (CdTe) PV research, development, demonstration, and commercialization across the materials, equipment, installation, and performance monitoring supply chain to improve the competitiveness of the domestic CdTe PV industry.
Attend the informational webinar on June 26 at 1pm ET and read the notice of intent for more information, including technologies of interest and expectations for applicants. Interested applicants can also sign up to join the Teaming Partner List. For updates on the status of the announcement, check SETO’s funding opportunities webpage.