Department of Energy launches $25 million solar funding campaign
The Department of Energy (DOE) announced the launch of a new initiative on Monday that will offer $25 million in funding to help software developers, utilities and solar companies accelerate the installation and integration of solar energy solutions.
The program, titled Enabling Extreme Real-Time Grid Integration of Solar Energy (ENERGISE), will support the development of new software and hardware platforms to support solar integration.
“Our ongoing grid modernization work will help accelerate the widespread adoption of the clean energy resources that will define our low-carbon future,” DOE Under Secretary for Science and Energy Lynn Orr said. “This funding will help that mission by supporting industry partners working to integrate, store, and deploy solar energy throughout our electric grid. In doing so, we hope to drive down costs and encourage even more American homeowners and businesses to install solar systems.”
The DOE expects ENERGISE to support the development of 10-15 new solar energy integrative solutions, which may include new software and hardware for solar installations to support on-site sensing, data analytics and communication. The program hopes to improve solar installation technology so that the grid can easily support a scale up of the solar infrastructure.
ENERGISE also seeks to build upon existing research on solar system integration technologies to support the widespread deployment of solar systems on the electricity grid.
The DOE’s SunShot Initiative will manage the ENERGISE program.
