by Brianna Crandall — February 9, 2011—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced on February 4 two sets of investments in innovative technologies through its Solar Energy Technologies Program, which focuses on developing cost-effective solar energy technologies.
As part of the its SunShot initiative, DOE is investing up to $20.3 million to strengthen the U.S. solar manufacturing industry, improve manufacturing efficiencies and reduce costs. This includes support for companies across the solar energy supply chain, including U.S. material and tool suppliers and companies that are developing technologies that can be adopted directly into current manufacturing processes. The SunShot initiative aims to reduce the total costs of photovoltaic (PV) solar energy systems by about 75 percent (to roughly 6 cents per kilowatt-hour) so that they are cost competitive at large scale with other forms of energy, without subsidies, before the end of the decade.
The award recipients are pursuing projects that focus on technology improvements that will lead to improved solar cell efficiency, reduced production costs, and a stronger domestic PV industry. Recipients include 1366 Technologies, of Lexington, MA; 3M, of St. Paul, MN; PPG, of Cheswick, PA; Varian Semiconductor, of Gloucester, MA; and Veeco, of Lowell, MA.
DOE is also investing up to $7 million to fund the latest round of the successful Photovoltaic (PV) Technology Incubator program. Under the program, DOE helps to develop and commercialize promising emerging solar technologies by shortening the timeline from pre-commercial and prototype stage PV technologies to pilot and full-scale manufacturing operations. The program will help improve the commercial potential of new manufacturing processes and products with the potential to realize dramatic cost reductions.
This is the fourth installment of the PV Incubator program, where companies benefit from close partnerships with DOE national laboratories. In this round, companies were selected in one of two categories: Tier I, to support the development of commercially viable technology prototypes; and Tier 2, to develop and scale up pilot-stage manufacturing processes. Tier 1 projects receive $1 million over one year, and Tier 2 projects receive up to $4 million over 18 months. Tier I projects include: Caelux, of Pasadena, CA; Solexant, of San Jose, CA; and Stion, of San Jose, CA. The Tier II project is: Crystal Solar, of Santa Clara, CA.
