Department of Energy

The Department of Energy announced a new tranche of $130 million to fund research in up to 80 new solar power-related research and development projects. As well, ten projects were announced as winners of $36 million in awards to increase solar situational awareness during power grid disruptions.

The DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy has awarded $50,000 to 20 teams that advanced to the semifinal stage of the American Made Solar Prize. The teams will now have 90 days to design a proof of concept.

NREL has begun an effort to improve its ability to model deployments of variable renewable energy sources across the U.S. power grid. This effort has begot two papers as of yet – one a broad analysis of how four specific models work and how to improve them, and the second a comparison of the varying outcomes of models under normalized conditions.

Hello to you on this fine Wednesday morning and thanks for checking out the pv magazine morning brief. Today we’re taking a look at the violence caused by climate change, Kaco’s new monitoring portal and Recycle PV Solar, COSEIA and AriSEIA getting in on a pv module recycling promotion partnership and much much more.

In today’s edition of the pv magazine USA morning brief we look at SolarReserve naming Tom Georgis CEO, 34% of Americans planning on making the EV switch by 2030, JFK airport getting 10 MW solar, as well as stories from all aspects of the industry. Buckle up.

NREL’s Q1 2018 cost report for solar power systems saw a 5% drop in residential costs and a 2.6% fall in commercial, but a 1-2% increase in the utility scale space compared to the previous year.

The Solar Energy Technologies Office is seeking feedback from solar professionals on what topics it ought research within solar photovoltaics, solar thermal, systems integration and soft cost reduction.

University of Michigan team hopes to offer a 15% efficient solar window product, that allows 50% of the light through, and have received $1.3 million from the Department of Energy’s Solar Energy Technologies Office to develop it further.

The Department of Energy announced funding for 53 new through “advance early-stage” solar technologies. The projects in solar PV, CSP, finance and workforce training will receive up to $53 million in funding.

The DOE has launched a program to find unique and innovative solutions that increase grid operators’ situational awareness of solar PV systems deployed throughout the grid at strategic locations – and that are seek to go beyond pure R&D, seeking field validation.