Small Innovative Projects in Solar: Concentrating Solar Power and Photovoltaic (SIPS: CSP & PV) - Annual

The Department of Energy's Golden Field Office is seeking applications for the Small Innovative Projects in Solar: Concentrating Solar Power and Photovoltaic (SIPS: CSP & PV) - Annual funding opportunity. This FOA aims to advance the Biden Administration's goals to achieve carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035 and to deliver an equitable, clean energy future. The research and development activities to be funded under this FOA will support the government-wide approach to the climate crisis by driving innovation that can lead to the deployment of clean energy technologies. The funding opportunity includes two topic areas: • SIPS: CSP, which will support small, focused projects investigating the applicability and robustness of novel ideas in Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants with thermal energy storage, as well as solar-thermal industrial process heat (SIPH) innovations, and solar-thermal fuel systems. • SIPS: PV, which will focus on new and emerging areas of PV research that can produce significant results within the first year of performance and, if successful, lay the foundation for continued research. These projects should aim to significantly lower costs with a focus on improving the power conversion efficiency, fielded energy output, reuse and recycling of system components, service lifetime, and manufacturability of PV technologies.