DOE Announces Funding of Solar Initiative Research

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the funding of 25 projects to accelerate the development and implementation of solar power. Over $21 million has been earmarked for the projects at a combination of research institutions and private companies. The goal of the project is to make photovoltaic power generation cost-competitive with conventional power generation by 2015, and is part of President George W. Bush's Solar America Initiative.

"Our goal is to make solar power a more mainstream source of energy - to increase energy security and maintain America's competitive edge," said Department Secretary Samuel W. Bodman in a press release from the DOE.

Arizona State University (Tempe, Arizona) is slated to receive over 10% of the grants, or $2.3 millinoi, to study two aspects of photovoltaic technology. The focus of the two projects will be to increase efficiency of solar cells by at least 20%, and to identify less-costly materials for manufacturing the cells.

Penn State will also receive significant funding for two projects, in the area of $2.2 million. Researchers at Penn will look at taking existing manufacturing methods which combine lithium ion batteries and solar cells, and create new materials for the electrodes and anodes that link the devices for higher efficiencies. These technologies commonly power hand held calculators and other handheld electronics. The other project at Penn will have the goal of growing nanowires on inexpensive silicon substrates to create photovoltaic devices.

Stanford University will look at two different nanowire techniques for manufacturing higher efficiency solar cells, totaling $1.8 million.

Another major benefactor of the initiate will be the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which will receive nearly $1.8 million for two projects. One will seek a method for harnessing previously 'wasted' spectrums of the sun's light, while the other will look at developing a new manufacturing method to create fewer defects in solar cells as well as a more cost-competitive method of making the devices.

Scientists at the University of Illinois will also receive $900,000 to develop a concentrator for photovoltaic technologies, to create a method for linking microcells that can be mass produced and create an efficient means of producing electricity from smaller units. Scientists at the U of Illinois recently published and patented a new technique for manufacturing photovoltaic cells, which improved the performance of the cells by as much as 67% by harnessing the ultraviolet spectrum, instead of that portion of the sun's energy being converted to heat that can damage solar cells.

Other projects will be conducted atCalifornia Institute of Technology (Pasadena, CA - $900,000), Mayaterials, Inc. (Ann Arbor, MI - $837,000), Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY - $843,695), Solasta, Inc. (Newton, MA - $900,000), Solexant, Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA - $869,435), Soltaix, Inc. (Los Altos, CA - $900,000), University of California, Davis (Davis, CA - $610,916), University of California, San Diego (La Jolla, CA - $900,000), University of Colorado (Boulder, CO - $895,772), University of Delaware (Newark, DE - $900,000), University of Florida (Gainesville, FL - $900,000), University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI - $790,049), University of South Florida (Tampa, FL - $881,972), University of Washington (Seattle, WA - $900,000), Voxtel, Inc. (Beaverton, OR - $672,878), and Wakonda Technologies (Fairport, NY - $892,735).

More information on the President's Solar Initiative may be found here.