Grants / Department of Energy / Golden Field Office

DE-FOA-0003337: Photovoltaics Research and Development (PVRD) FOA 2024

Closed Closed September 16, 2024 Opportunity DE-FOA-0003337 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. A newer notice from the same program is open now: Accelerating Scale-up and Pre-piloting of Emerging Chemical Technologies (ASPECT) (DE-FOA-0003647). Status: Closes December 1, 2026 (24 days left). It is in our archive of Golden Field Office notices from 2024.

• Award ceiling$4.0 million
• Award floor$1.0 million
• Total funding$20.0 million
• Expected awards15
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeCooperative Agreement

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to nonprofits, colleges and universities, state and local governments, tribes, small businesses and businesses.

More grants for nonprofits, colleges and universities, state and local governments, tribes, small businesses, businesses.

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past Renewable Energy Research and Development awards averaged $2.8 million; this notice allows up to $4.0 million per award.
• Most of the program's money (30% over five years) went to colleges and universities.
• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

Please see the full FOA in EERE Exchange. The research and development (R&D) activities to be funded under this FOA will support the government-wide approach to the climate crisis by driving the innovation that can lead to the deployment of clean energy technologies, which are critical for climate protection. Specifically, this FOA will fund innovative solar photovoltaics (PV) R&D that reduces the cost of PV modules, reduces carbon and energy intensity of PV manufacturing processes, and optimizes PV technology for new, specialized markets. SETO’s PVRD program works to accelerate the deployment of solar energy technologies by funding innovative R&D in PV cell and module technologies, balance-of-system components, reliability tracing and tracking, metrology, and other key research questions in PV. To accelerate toward these deployment targets and augment SETO’s ongoing PV research portfolio,12 this FOA will fund R&D on innovative cell- and minimodule-level technologies focused on three major goals: •Enable cost reduction on an LCOE basis through development of durable, high-efficiency cell and module PV technology •Identify pathways to reduce the carbon intensity and energy intensity of industrial processes required to fabricate PV cells and modules •Increase technical viability of PV cells and modules tailored for emerging integrated PV sectors, such as building-integrated PV (BIPV) and vehicle-integrated PV. This FOA will fund innovative R&D projects that aim to advance the state of the art in various cell and module technologies to accomplish these goals of cost reduction, lower carbon intensity, and viability of dual-use markets. This FOA is separated into two topic areas: •Photovoltaic Advances in Cell Efficiency, Reliability, and Supply Chain (PACERS): Applications in four PV supply chain, cell, and module technology spaces are of particular interest: low-carbon synthesis of metallurgical-grade silicon (MGS, here defined as silicon that is 98% pure as defined by the 5/5/3 standard)13 production, crystalline silicon (c-Si) PV, III-V PV, and organic PV (OPV). However, proposals for any industrial process, cell, or minimodule-level research that enables the goals of this FOA will be considered, excluding areas specified as not of interest in Section I.C., such as perovskite technology, which is addressed in other funding programs, and CdTe technology, which is addressed in Topic Area 2.

Category: Energy.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Apply under the newer notice, DE-FOA-0003647, which is open now.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.