The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program posts open funding opportunities here for research and development (R&D) projects. This page also contains links to Web sites with related financial opportunities, including funding for small businesses, homeowners, industry, utilities, and state and local governments.

General Sources of Funding Information

The DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy provides Financing Solutions for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects for consumers, communities, researchers, small businesses, and inventors and developers.
The sites below provide access to energy efficiency and renewable energy financial incentives, tax rebates, and solicitations offered by DOE and other federal, state, local, and non-government agencies.

Consumers

The Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE) provides comprehensive information on state, local, utility, and selected federal incentives that promote renewable energy, including solar energy applications.

Communities

This DOE-sponsored Smart Communities Network contains a menu of information and services on how your community can adopt sustainable development as a strategy for well-being.

Researchers

Grants.gov is a central storehouse for information on more than 1,000 federal government grants and provides access to some $400 billion in annual awards.
Visit the E-Center for general information on doing business with DOE. View current business opportunities, register to receive notification of new business opportunities, and obtain information and guidance on the acquisition and financial assistance award process.
The DOE Golden Field Office issues solicitations for partnering and subcontracting with the Solar Energy Technologies Program and related technology areas. A list is available of current solicitations from the Golden Field Office.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory offers business and research opportunities. NREL has a strong history of working with industry, academia, government agencies, and diverse businesses outside the Laboratory.
Sandia National Laboratories works closely with industry, small business, universities, and government agencies to bring new technologies to the marketplace.

Small Businesses

Small businesses can find funding opportunity information on the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (SBTT) Web site. The site offers information on U.S. government programs in which federal agencies with large R&D budgets set aside a portion of their funding for competitions among small businesses only.  Small businesses that win awards in these programs retain the rights to any technology developed and are encouraged to commercialize the technology.

Inventors and Developers

The SBIR/Gateway is a federal government program administered by 10 federal agencies to help provide early-stage R&D funding to small technology companies (or to individual entrepreneurs who form a company).
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Program does not commercialize technologies or sell them in the marketplace—that is the private sector's responsibility.

Programs & Promotions for Solar Energy
Nevada Power will give you a $3 per watt rebate for the energy outputted by your solar system.

Solar America Initiative

Goals

The goal of President Bush's Solar America Initiative is to achieve cost-competitiveness for solar technologies across all market sectors by 2015. DOE is working to accomplish this goal through public-private partnerships with industry, universities, national laboratories, state municipalities, and/or nongovernmental organizations. When federal solar energy research began in the 1970s, in response to rising oil prices, the cost of electricity from solar resources was about $2.00 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). Technological advances during the last two decades have reduced solar electricity costs by more than 90 percent, opening up new markets for solar energy.

Benefits to the Nation
When the Solar America Initiative reaches its full potential in 2015, photovoltaic (PV) technologies could:

• Provide at least 5 gigawatts of electric capacity (equivalent to the amount of electricity needed to power 1.25 million homes)
• Avoid 7 million metric tons per year of CO2 emissions
• Employ 10,000 new workers

The Solar America Initiative benefits the U.S. economy even sooner than 2015 — with partner companies achieving as much as a tenfold increase in production at 30% lower costs by 2010.
Through these results, the Solar America Initiative will enhance U.S. energy security and improve the environment by:

• Diversifying electricity sources
• Displacing the costs of new electricity transmission infrastructure
• Utilizing safe and abundant U.S. solar resources
• Providing a clean source of electricity

Solar Heating and Utilities

The Utility Solar Water Heating Initiative (USH2O) is a coalition of utilities and the solar thermal industry that focuses on implementing cost-effective, reliable solar solutions for renewable portfolio standards and green pricing programs. The USH2O initiative provides services and support to help interested utilities learn about existing programs and develop their own efforts.
In January 2007, the Solar Energy Technologies Program sponsored the Solar Hot Water Market Expansion Workshop to find out the status of the solar water heating industry. More details about the workshop, including action items and presentations, are available on the Utility Solar Water Heating Initiative Web site.
Leading by Example
The federal government is committed to installing solar electric and solar thermal energy systems on 20,000 federal buildings by 2010. In fact, a preliminary commitment of installing 2,000 systems on federal buildings by the year 2000 was met and exceeded.

Youth Will Be Served

The core discipline of the Solar Program is research, pure and simple. That is why we are here and are doing what we do. But the fruits of that research must move beyond the lab if they are to have any value. And what better way to do that than to inspire the youth of America to get excited about solar energy and plant the seed that it will be part of their future?
With that in mind, the Solar Program shares in the sponsorship of two solar energy events for college students—events that test their ingenuity and ability to commit to a challenging project and see it through. These are the Solar Decathlon competition and the American Solar Challenge. The student competitors see this as an amazing opportunity, because they get to work closely with professionals from the national laboratories, universities, and the solar industry. The "pros" are right by their sides, helping to solve problems and give all the competitors their best shots.

Student competitors and volunteers from the DOE Solar Program and the solar industry constructed the Solar Village as part of the Solar Decathlon competition held in Washington, D.C., from October 7 to 16, 2005. The event was a living laboratory that showcased solar energy technologies to a willing public.

Solar Decathlon

Eighteen teams of college students did themselves proud in the 2005 Solar Decathlon competition held in Washington, D.C. They were charged with designing, constructing, and operating an attractive and effective solar-powered house—and using the solar energy systems connected to the house to fulfill all of its power needs. The students actually built the houses in their home towns and then "deconstructed" the houses, trucked them to Washington, D.C., and reconstructed them on the National Mall. The resulting solar village "lived" on the Mall for more than a week, and was open to the public and the media, both of which visited in droves.
In so doing, these intrepid students fulfilled one of the prime objectives of the competition: to demonstrate that market-ready technologies exist that can meet the energy requirements of our daily activities by tapping into the sun's power. Many of the students reported that they had worked harder and longer during the competition than they had ever worked in their lives—but that the pride and sense of accomplishment were worth every second.
You'll need to visit the Web site to learn which team emerged victorious in the 2005 event. In our minds, they were all winners. The next Solar Decathlon is slated for fall of 2007.

American Solar Challenge

Kansas State University follows Route 66 through the Mojave Desert in California during the American Solar Challenge. Twenty university teams from across the U.S. and Canada competed in the 2,300-mile cross-country race to design, build and race solar-powered vehicles. (Credit: American Solar Challenge)
On July 13, 2003, 20 teams of college students began racing their solar-powered cars across 2,300 miles of historic Route 66, from Chicago, Illinois, to Claremont, California. With students behind the wheels, the high-tech and high-efficiency solar cars crossed the Great Plains, climbed the Rocky Mountains, darted over the great American desert, and dashed across the finish line in Southern California. After months of designing and building these cars, the students were ready for the racing challenge. All of this was part of the American Solar Challenge.
Why is the race important? First, it inspires young people to pursue careers in science and engineering, and we will need many more scientists and engineers if this country is to remain competitive. Second, with each race, we make improvements in the cars, and some of those improvements make their way into solar and electric motors and cars as these young engineers go on to jobs. Finally, solar car racing helps demonstrate to the public that solar power is a viable option today to produce clean energy that can help reduce our use of energy derived from fossil fuels, an important step in enhancing our national security and protecting our environment. Teams are now preparing for the 2005 American Solar Challenge.