DOE invests $71 million in solar manufacturing R&D First Solar, Silfab, Cubic PV among award winners.
The Dept. of Energy has announced more than $70 million in research and development selections to seed new technologies across the solar supply chain. Funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will enable new entrants to the solar manufacturing market to establish their technologies and access more capital. The 18 selected projects will address gaps in the domestic solar manufacturing supply chain, including equipment, ingots and wafers, and silicon and thin-film solar cell manufacturing, and open new markets for solar technologies like integrated-photovoltaics and agrivoltaics.
“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to building an American-made solar supply chain that boosts innovation, drives down costs for families, and delivers jobs across the nation,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “Thanks to historic funding and actions from the President’s clean energy agenda, we’re able to deploy more solar power – the cheapest form of energy – to millions more Americans with panels stamped made in the USA.”
The Silicon Solar Manufacturing and Dual-use Photovoltaics Incubator funding program will provide $27 million to 10 selected projects, and the Advancing U.S. Thin-Film Solar Photovoltaics funding program will award $44 million to eight selected projects.
The awardees include:
Silicon category
Project: RE:Build Manufacturing – Solar Crystal PullerLocation: Merrimack, New HampshireDOE Award Amount: $1.9 millionAwardee Cost Share: $5.8 millionProject Description: This project aims to develop and manufacture Czochralski ingot pullers for the solar industry, which melt and then freeze the silicon into a crystalline state. Additionally, the project supports necessary ancillary equipment to support the pullers, such as feeders, ingot handling equipment, and crucible handling equipment. This will ease the U.S. ingot industry’s reliance on imported equipment.
Project: Silfab Solar – Cost-Effective, High-Efficiency, Industrial Back-Contact Silicon Solar Cells with Passivated ContactsLocation: Fort Mill, South CarolinaDOE Award Amount: $5 millionAwardee Cost Share: $14.9 millionProject Description: This project aims to develop back-contact TOPCon cells, which demonstrate increased efficiency compared to PERC technology at 26%. The team is developing innovations on a 300-MW pilot line, which will be co-located alongside the standard TOPCon cell manufacturing line, to enable rapid scale-up of back contact cell technology into high-volume manufacturing. Improvements to the solar cells will include surface doping, patterning and isolation, and advanced metallization to reduce the use of silver.
Project: Ubiquity Solar – Single Crystal Silicon Ingot Growth Using Continuous Czochralski Method (CCz)Location: Hazelwood, MissouriDOE Award Amount: $11.2 millionAwardee Cost Share: $33.6 millionProject Description: This project is developing the CCz method of manufacturing silicon ingots, which will significantly decrease the cost of manufacturing compared to the standard Czochralski process. The team has successfully demonstrated the CCz technology with smaller ingots, and this project aims to demonstrate the process with larger ingots and wafers used in today’s high-efficiency solar cell manufacturing processes.
Project: Appalachian Renewable Power – Diversifying on Farm Income in Appalachia: Quantifying the Integration of Beef Cattle Grazing and PhotovoltaicsLocation: Stewart, OhioDOE Award Amount: $1.6 millionAwardee Cost Share: $400,000Project Description: This project studies the feasibility of installing and managing solar PV infrastructure in grasslands used for grazing beef cattle. The team will assess the impact of PV products designed for agriculture in the United States on soil health, forage growth, and beef cattle performance. This project plans to empower rural producers across Appalachia to diversify farm income while reducing the carbon footprint of power generation throughout the region.
Project: GAF Energy – Advanced Thermal and Energy Modeling of Roof-integrated Photovoltaic ShinglesLocation: San Jose, CaliforniaDOE Award Amount: $1.6 millionAwardee Cost Share: $400,000Project Description: This project aims to develop, test, and validate a combination of optical, thermal, and energy models for roof-integrated PV shingles to improve assessments of electricity production and heating and air conditioning effects on the building. The project is building a testing facility for roof-integrated PV systems equipped with weather, PV, and temperature monitoring. Partnering with Sandia National Laboratories and its network of Regional Test Centers allows for testing and validation of PV models across U.S. climates. New standards will be proposed for temperature and energy modeling of roof-integrated PV systems, which will encourage building designers to integrate PV into rooftops for the electrical and thermal advantages they deliver.
Project: Noria Energy Holdings – Tracking and Positioning System for Floating SolarLocation: Sausalito, CaliforniaDOE Award Amount: $1.6 millionAwardee Cost Share: $1 millionProject Description: This project aims to develop tracker components for floating solar systems, demonstrate and test various sizes of installations, and test certifications to ensure reliable operation and product bankability. The proposed technology allows floating PV islands to rotate and follow the sun throughout the day. Tracking the sun leads to increased power output per solar panel installed, reducing the cost of electricity from floating solar arrays.
Project : RCAM Technologies – A Low-Cost Jack-Up Solar Platform to Conserve America’s WaterLocation: Boulder, ColoradoDOE Award Amount: $600,000Awardee Cost Share: $160,000Project Description: This project mounts solar panels onto frames placed over irrigation canals to generate renewable energy and save water by reducing evaporation. Locating solar in this way reduces land use for renewable energy generation and capitalizes on existing electrical infrastructure that is integrated within many water canal projects. The team will adapt 3D concrete printing from the offshore energy industry to build solar platforms, reducing the cost and complexity of installation and encouraging PV deployment in this sector. The platform can be manufactured on or near-site using local materials and workforce.
Project: Silfab Solar – Development of High Efficiency Silicon Solar SpandrelsLocation: Bellingham, WashingtonDOE Award Amount: $400,000Awardee Cost Share: $100,000Project Description: This project is developing high-quality, high-efficiency building-integrated PV modules in the form of solar spandrels, which have opaque glass that is well suited for the glazed surfaces between two floors of commercial and high-rise buildings where transparent glass windows are not needed. The project focuses on the technical challenges of merging conventional module manufacturing with construction practices for glass-walled facades. The team will demonstrate key outcomes in PV and building International Electrotechnical Commission reliability tests, a suite of models for thermal performance, electrical performance, return on investment calculations, and building lifetime energy use.
Project: The R&D Lab – Roofing for Solar, Starling RFSLocation: Petaluma, CaliforniaDOE Award Amount: $1 millionAwardee Cost Share: $400,000Project Description: This project aims to refine, manufacture, and commercialize a new roofing-integrated solar racking system. The racking system enables rapid solar installation after roof construction. The system will be designed for improved reliability and lower cost, with roof-integrated wire management for increased safety and aesthetics.
Project: Wabash – Design, Fabrication, and Durability Assessment of a Sustainable Composite Refrigerated Trailer Integrated with PhotovoltaicsLocation: Lafayette, IndianaDOE Award Amount: $1.6 millionAwardee Cost Share: $700,000Project Description: This project aims to demonstrate the integration of PV systems into refrigerated trailers for a yearlong study of PV performance, durability, and energy costs. Efficient, flexible, and lightweight PV modules are being integrated onto the rooftop of a composite refrigerated trailer to address long-term durability, environmental exposure, vehicle loads, and maintenance. The team will track PV performance through mechanical, thermal, humidity, vibration, shock, and impact loads.
Thin-film category
Project: Cubic PV – Scaling Perovskite-Silicon Tandems Toward Reliable Commercial ProductLocation: Bedford, MassachusettsDOE Award Amount: $6 millionAwardee Cost Share: $1.5 millionProject Description: This project aims to design perovskite-silicon tandem PV modules that can be fabricated using robust manufacturing methods and remain durable after exposure to heat and light. The team will use a four-terminal device configuration, which allows for optimization of the perovskite device layer without changing the silicon layer. By closely monitoring the devices throughout the perovskite layer fabrication process, the team can quickly and specifically identify the effects of any changes and ensure the final process will create reproducible, durable devices.
Project: First Solar – High‐Performance Tandem Modules Based on Wide‐bandgap FAPbI3 Perovskites and Narrow‐bandgap CI(G)S Bottom CellsLocation: Perrysburg, OhioDOE Award Amount: $6 millionAwardee Cost Share: $1.5 millionProject Description: This project aims to design tandem perovskite and copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) PV modules with 27% efficiency that can be easily manufactured. The team will maximize the efficiency of the perovskite layer and optimize the properties of the CIGS layer to best complement the perovskite layer. They will also scale up these devices from minimodule size and perform durability tests to ensure these devices are stable over time and practical to manufacture.
Project: Swift Solar – PIPPIN: Perovskite-Silicon Tandem Solar Cells from Prototype to ProductionLocation: San Carlos, CaliforniaDOE Award Amount: $7 millionAwardee Cost Share: $1.8 millionProject Description: This project is developing durable, high-efficiency, perovskite-silicon tandem PV modules where the perovskite layer is fabricated using vapor deposition, a promising method for high-volume manufacturing. The team will incorporate measurements throughout the manufacturing process to improve process control and reproducibility while testing the durability of their modules to ensure they can reliably operate for decades in the field.
Project: Tandem PV – STACKED: Stability and Characterization of Hole-Transporting Layers Key to Enabling Outdoor DurabilityLocation: San Jose, CADOE Award Amount: $4.7 millionAwardee Cost Share: $2 millionProject Description: Ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun can cause significant damage to perovskite PV devices, but current simulated outdoor durability testing does not adequately account for its effects. This project aims to engineer new layers to add into perovskite PV devices that can filter out UV light and increase durability under high temperatures. The team will perform enhanced durability testing on tandem perovskite-silicon devices with these new layers to ensure they are stable and retain their high efficiency in outdoor conditions.
Project: 5N Plus – Upstream Extraction of Tellurium from Copper ConcentratesLocation: Montreal, QuebecDOE Award Amount: $1.6 millionAwardee Cost Share: $400,000Project Description: A major barrier to increasing CdTe PV module production is the availability of tellurium (Te), an element necessary to manufacture CdTe PV cells that currently has a very limited supply. Most Te is obtained from ore extracted for copper mining, but the current processing methods only extract 3-4% of the available Te in this ore, with the rest being discarded during other processing steps. This project aims to increase Te supply by developing an innovative extraction method that will recover more Te from the copper ore earlier in the process. This method will also extract toxic elements like antimony and arsenic, making the copper mining process more environmentally friendly.
Project: Brightspot Automation – Lifecycle Reliability Testing of CdTe Solar PanelsLocation: Boulder, ColoradoDOE Award Amount: $1.6 millionAwardee Cost Share: $400,000Project Description: This project aims to develop an imaging method to detect damage to in CdTe PV modules in the field. The team will design, build, and test a non-invasive, high-throughput imaging tool using photoluminescence, which works by shining light onto the PV panels and measuring light that shines back in response. The team will develop artificial intelligence software to correlate specific types of defects with changes seen in the photoluminescence data from the imaging tool. Automated defect detection will reduce investment risks, lower financing and insurance costs, improve system performance, and inform panel end-of-life decisions.
Project: First Solar – High-Density Interconnect Technology for CdTe PV ModulesLocation: Perrysburg, OhioDOE Award Amount: $15 millionAwardee Cost Share: $27 millionProject Description: This project aims to increase CdTe PV module efficiency using an innovative three-dimensional design for electrical contacts in the PV cell. While this design has shown promise in smaller-scale experiments, this project will demonstrate that this design for electrical contacts can be scaled up for use in high-volume manufacturing to create more efficient, reliable, cost-effective CdTe modules.
Project: Tau Sciences – MANTIS: From Multiscale Analysis to Next Generation Thin Film Module Inspection SystemsLocation: Redwood City, CaliforniaDOE Award Amount: $2.1 millionAwardee Cost Share: $500,000Project Description: This project is developing a new non-contact inspection technology to detect defects in CdTe PV modules, enabling site owners to detect problems, quantify the potential impact, and respond accordingly. Information gained through defect detection methods can also increase investor confidence in CdTe PV plants. The team will develop two different imaging techniques that measure how PV panels respond to electrical current and infrared light, then correlate these responses to specific defects.