DOE Announces $30 Million in New ARPA-E Solar Projects

The U.S. Energy Department (DOE) to award $30 million in funding to 12 ARPA-E projects to develop transformational hybrid solar energy technologies that deliver cost-effective power when the sun is not shining. These projects will help advance solar energy beyond current photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies to drive lower-cost, reliable solar energy deployment. Under the FOCUS program, projects will develop advanced solar converters that turn sunlight into electricity for immediate use, while also producing heat that can be stored at low cost for later use as well as innovative storage systems that accept both heat and electricity from variable solar sources.

For example, Camas, Washington-based Sharp Labs of America will receive about $4 million to develop a hybrid solar converter that could enable utilities to provide on-demand and low-cost solar electricity. And MicroLink Devices, based in Niles, Illinois, will receive about $3.6 million to develop high-efficiency solar cells that can operate at temperatures above 750 degrees F and can extract the most energy possible from sunlight when integrated with hybrid solar converters.

“The United States is becoming a global leader in solar and we’re seeing more and more Americans rely on affordable, clean solar energy to power their homes and businesses.” said Secretary Moniz. “The Energy Department is working across the industry to help our country’s top engineers, scientists and entrepreneurs bring new solar innovations to market faster. The ARPA-E projects announced today are exactly the type of innovative technologies we need to keep breaking through barriers – advancing lower cost, highly efficient solar power.”

As part of this overall effort, the DOE will award $30 million to 12 projects through ARPA-E’s Full-Spectrum Optimized Conversion and Utilization of Sunlight (FOCUS) program, which is aimed at developing new hybrid solar energy converters and hybrid energy storage systems that can deliver low-cost, high-efficiency solar energy on demand.