RFI: SunShot Initiative: Solar High Penetration

On February 4, 2011, the Secretary of the Department of Energy announced the SunShot Initiative. The goal of this Initiative is to make solar energy technologies cost-competitive with other forms of energy by reducing the cost of solar energy systems by about 75% before 2020. Reducing the total installed cost for utility-scale solar electricity to roughly 6 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWhr) without subsidies will result in rapid, large-scale adoption of solar electricity across the United States. Achieving the SunShot goal could enable PV penetration levels as high as 8% by energy production by 2020, 14% by 2030, and 18% by 2050.

DOE is requesting information in order to develop a technology roadmap (i.e. multi-year planning) in this area. Sometime in the future, DOE may issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for research in this area to define, evaluate, and test the effects of high concentrations of solar-generated power on electric power systems. Potential projects would develop a comprehensive set of solutions to achieve the goals of the program. These may include modeling, forecasting, technology innovations, new inverter technologies, energy storage, etc. DOE is specifically interested in determining the level of penetration at which technical problems are demonstrated to occur and how these impacts may vary based on distribution feeder topologies.

Respondents are asked to comment on questions in a Request for Information (RFI) to help shape the DOE's multi-year planning and possible future FOAs. Respondents are also encouraged to comment on the value of a possible SunShot High Penetration Solar Deployment FOA, as well as your organization?s anticipated interest in participating in such an opportunity.

Please Note: This is an RFI. DOE will not pay for information provided under this RFI and there is no guarantee that a project will be supported as a result of this RFI. This RFI is not accepting applications for financial assistance or financial incentives. DOE may or may not issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA).

This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. The full RFI document can be found at www.fedconnect.net. Click on the Search Public Opportunities link, then select Reference Number under Search Criteria and enter the full RFI number in the search field.