DOE announces $30 million for solar integration projects

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced this week their investment of up to $30 million for 13 projects supporting the integration of solar energy into the U.S. electric grid.

The DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy SunShot Initiative selected the 13 projects under the ENERGISE funding program.

“SunShot is working to lower the cost and complexity of integrating solar with the electric grid,” SunShot Director Charlie Gay said. “These projects give grid operators the tools to manage a modern electric grid.”

These projects, part of the Grid Modernization Initiative (GMI), will work to improve the management of solar energy and other distributed energy resources. They will allow grid operators to access current grid performance data, provide forecasting and will optimize performance using sensor, communications and data analytics technology.

These solutions will be scalable, data-driven and can be applied to connecting solar to the grid at the scale, as well as technologies such as electric vehicles that also interconnect with the grid.

GMI is a DOE effort to develop the concepts, tools, and technologies needed necessary to measure, analyze, predict, protect, and control the grid of the future and look for solutions to challenges, such as grid cybersecurity, resiliency and integrating conventional energy resources, renewable energy sources and energy storage.