CURRENT PROJECTS

ARE THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT SOLAR PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT IN THE U.S.? WHERE? WHAT IS THE TIMELINE? 

The Department of Energy provides funding for many research efforts related to solar energy.

  1. Concentrating Solar Thermal Power Fiscal Year 2022 Research, Development, and Demonstration Program – Applications due May 16, 2022 at 5pm ET
    1. This program will award up to $25 million for innovative projects that accelerate large-scale development and deployment of CSP technology. The two topic areas are:
      1. Concentrating Solar Thermal for Industrial Decarbonization – 4-8 projects, $15 million
      2. Concentrating Solar-thermal Particle Technologies for Generation 3 CSP and Beyond (Gen3++) – 4-7 projects, $10 million[1]
    2. Renewables Advancing Community Energy Resilience (RACER) – Mandatory concept papers due May 26, 2022 at 5pm ET
      1. This program will award $25 million for projects that enable communities to utilize solar and solar-plus-storage to prevent disruptions in power caused by extreme weather and to restore electricity if it goes down. The three topic areas are:
        1. Innovative Community-Based Energy Resilience Planning – 6-8 projects, $500,000 – 1 million each
        2. Automation Strategies for Rapid Energy Restoration – 5-6 projects, $2-3 million each
  • Innovative Solutions to Increase the Resilience and Hardening of PV Power Plants – 2-3 projects, $1.5-3 million each[2]
  1. Deploying Solar with Wildlife and Ecosystem Services Benefits (SolWEB) – Applications due June 20, 2022 at 5pm ET
    1. This program will award $10 million for solutions that maximize benefits and minimize impacts to wildlife and ecosystems from solar energy infrastructure. The two topic areas are:
      1. Wildlife-Solar Energy Interactions – 2-4 projects, $1-2 million each
      2. Ecosystem Services from Solar Facilities – 2-4 projects, $500,000-$2 million each[3]

Other Funding Opportunities​ 

  1. American-Made Challenges: Solar Desalination Prize Round 2 – Design Contest opens April 22, 2022
  2. American-Made Challenges: Perovskite Startup Prize – Countdown Contest applications due April 28, 2022
  3. American-Made Solar Prize Round 5 – Contest submissions due April 2022
  4. American-Made Shine On Awards for Inclusive Solar Outreach – Submissions due June 10, 2022[4]

The Solar Energy Technologies Office supports funding opportunities in photovoltaics, concentrating solar-thermal power, systems integration, technology to market, and soft cost projects. Learn more about SETO’s Webinars here.

Updated by Jennifer Ostromecki, December 2023