PV Incubator Pushes Solar Innovations - News Feature. March 2. 2, 2. 01. Enlarge image. NREL Principal Engineer Keith Emery prepares to load three- junction concentrator cells into NREL's High- Intensity Pulse Solar Simulator to test for efficiency. Department of Energy is turning to small start- ups with the kind of disruptive technology that has the potential to lower costs dramatically. The stale and the satisfied need not apply for the $1 million to $4 million subcontracts awarded through an aggressive photovoltaics (PV) incubator program prodding entrepreneurs to help the United States reach the DOE's Sun. Shot Initiative goal of lowering the cost of utility- scale installations by about 7. But those with truly disruptive technologies that can greatly change solar- power economics, will find eager, albeit stern, partners in the PV Incubator program, an initiative of the DOE executed through its National Renewable Energy Laboratory. By . The businesses in turn have created more than 1,0. NREL Photovoltaic Incubator Program Seeking Proposals. NREL supports solar start ups with the kind of disruptive technology that has the potential to lower costs dramatically. United States and have the potential to raise solar- energy capacity in the United States from hundreds of megawatts to thousands of megawatts. To date, 2. 0 small businesses have been awarded PV Technology Incubator subcontracts, with DOE's Solar Energy Technologies Program investing about $3 million per company. The returns on taxpayer dollars have been amazing, said NREL's Martha Symko- Davies, the architect behind the PV Incubator program. The private sector subsequently has invested about $1. PV Incubator program, she said. Pv Incubator Program Nrel JobsWe want to make sure taxpayer money is well- utilized. The NREL instrument can produce the intensity of up to 9. That happened to three of the 1. February 04, 2011 DOE Invests $7 Million in the PV Solar Incubator Program to Support Emerging Solar Technologies As part of the Department's commitment to support. SunShot Incubator Program. June 9, 2009 -- $6 million for Pre-Incubator (managed by NREL) Sept. 29, 2008 -- $17.6 million for Incubator 2. The NREL Commercialization Assistance Program. NREL seek project proposals for latest round of PV Technology Incubator program. By Tom Cheyney; Aug 03, 2010 7:48 PM BST; Share. As part of the fourth. Pv Incubator Program Nrel CareersFor others, milestones are rewritten or tightened. President Obama in his State of the Union Address of Jan. A key milestone in the minds of the DOE and the White House is to lower the installed cost of a photovoltaic system to $1 per watt by 2. If the installed cost of solar energy can plunge from $3 to $1 in six years, it likely will mean hundreds of thousands of new American jobs and lift the United States to global leadership in both solar innovation and solar manufacturing. The $3 million or so awarded to the chosen companies often leverages much more, in terms of venture- capital dollars and federal loan guarantees. The program has helped hatch companies such as Abound Solar of Longmont, Colo., which parlayed a $3 million PV Incubator subcontract and a simpler way to make cadmium- telluride solar cells into a manufacturing process that attracted several times that amount in venture capital money and a $4. The company expects to employ more than 1,0. Colorado and Indiana are at full capacity. And there's Cali. Solar, which attracted venture capital interest after NREL helped it work out the kinks in a process that allows it to use far less expensive silicon in its manufacturing process. Cali. Solar now counts its employees in the hundreds and plans to greatly expand manufacturing capacity. PV Incubator alumnus Solopower, which has a breakthrough electrochemistry process to fabricate copper- indium- gallium- selenide cells at a fraction of the typical cost, recently received a $2. Low- Cost, Efficiency Attract Interest from Utilities. Enlarge image. Solar cells, such as this wafer of multi- crystal silicon produced by Cali. Solar, are tested at NREL's One- Sun Solar Simulator. DOE officials told Symko- Davies that they wanted to encourage game- changing innovations among small start- ups, but wanted to make sure the money was leveraged and spent on the most promising ventures. Besides the financial resource, the companies get access to the facilities and expertise at NREL, which has been researching solar energy since 1. Setting Tough Goals Inspires Harder Work. Early on, NREL helps the companies write a statement of work with tough, specific goals, such as raising the efficiency of their cells to 1. If you said you're going to produce a cell with 1. NREL has the best testing facilities and experts to make sure that these companies are successful in meeting their aggressive goals. Without you we wouldn't have accomplished what we did.'. But we'll help enable U. S. Here, two operators hold up a module while a third gives it a final inspection. Courtesy of Abound Solar. Some of the money goes to companies that already have a prototype and need to lift it to a pilot- scale operation. And some of the money goes to companies that only have a concept but want to turn it into a prototype. The start- ups' proposals are reviewed by an external committee. The most promising ideas warrant a site visit. Sometimes there's a tendency to boost up the proposal. How are they going to get from point A to Z? If a company has a breakthrough technology, but its super- thin wafer keeps bowing or can't make contact with the substrate, NREL experts can help them toward a solution. Symko- Davies said she is optimistic about the future of solar energy in the United States, . The innovation dramatically improves the performance of solar cells and can boost profits for a typical American manufacturer by 2. Five of the world's leading solar cell producers have signed licenses to use Silicon Ink in their production lines. Grants Make the Difference in a Tight Lending Environment. The free- flowing venture capital of a few years ago has dried up. Four or five years ago, . Today, the $3 million from the PV Incubator program is huge. Abound, Solopower, and Cali. Solar are prime examples of what America needs: startups that can make high- efficient solar cells in a non- labor- intensive way so America can compete with China and other countries in the manufacturing arena, say the NREL scientists involved in the PV Incubator program. The PV Incubator program wouldn't likely touch a company that proposes to make regular silicon solar cells, for example, because established companies already manufacturing these materials are trying to reduce costs. But if a company has a way to use a fraction of the usual amount of silicon, or simplify the manufacturing process, or use only abundant materials, then it can be a part of a growth- boom in good- paying U. S. The cells will use copper, zinc, tin, selenide and/or sulfer, and be deposited using an ink- printing process. Stion of San Jose, Calif., which has a technology that allows two high- efficient thin- film solar devices to be stacked, allowing for much better absorption of light, and hence greater power. And one company that will receive up to $4 million over 1. Crystal Solar of Santa Clara, Calif., which has a way to fabricate, process and handle silicon wafers that are four times thinner than standard cells, thus using much less of the expensive solar- grade silicon. The companies make trips to NREL in Golden, Colo., or send samples to NREL's Process Development Integration Laboratory which has huge bays devoted to different approaches to, or different materials for, making solar cells. We are their seeing- eye dogs. If this cell works, but that cell doesn't, we can tell them why that is the case. We provide the intellectual guidance on why the product isn't working up to par. We show them how they can tweak it. Quality and reliability are huge issues. The NREL testing instruments can simulate the lifetime of a product by exposing it to several hundred suns of infrared, but not, ultraviolet, light. That way, they know in a few months whether they can give their product a five- year or 1. It gives them and their potential investors confidence that this is a bona fide product that will hold up over the years. NREL's Keith Emery, who is the manager of the Cell and Modular Performance team, oversees the testing of the PV Incubator technologies. Without the PV Incubator program, . Are you going to be on the ship? Sun. Shot Incubator Program . Since the program was launched in 2. More than 1. 00 startup companies have received awards to participate in the Sun. Shot Incubator program since it began in 2. The Incubator program was combined with other funding programs into the Sun. Shot Technology to Market and Sun. Shot Technology to Market 2 funding programs with the goal of bringing disruptive innovation to the solar industry in the near term that will take root in the U. S. Objectives. The Sun. Shot Incubator program aims to shorten the time it takes for a young business or company to develop an innovative product concept and make it commercially available, which includes product prototyping, deployment, and, potentially, manufacturing. Most projects are cooperative agreements that last from 1. Approach. The Incubator program takes an all- inclusive approach to significantly lower the total installed cost of solar energy systems. By taking breakthrough innovations and putting them through a rigorous de- risking process, Incubator allows entrepreneurs to focus on rapid commercialization. Early- stage Incubator assistance enables startup businesses to cross critical technological barriers that the investment community is unable to address. Once these key risks are addressed, the startup businesses are ideally suited for private follow on funding and success. Visit the Funding Opportunities page for more information about future funding rounds. Awardees. View an interactive table of all of our current and past Incubator projects. Learn more about Sun. Shot's other technology to market funding programs.
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