Washington, D.C. – Colorado U.S. Senators Michael Bennet (D) and Cory Gardner (R) this week announced that the Department of Energy awarded more than $4.5 million in grants to seven Colorado projects as part of its SunShot Initiative. These projects were selected to develop innovative, early-stage solar power technologies, which lower costs and improve reliability and efficiency. In total, the Department of Energy awarded $46.2 million to 48 projects.
“Colorado is helping to lead the nation to boost our clean energy economy, and solar is a large part of that,” Bennet said. “Investing in solar energy creates jobs and puts us on a path toward energy independence. Since 2008, solar energy production in the United States has grown more than 50 fold, due to investments like those funded through the SunShot Initiative. We congratulate the seven Colorado recipients and thank them for their commitment to clean energy research.”
“Solar power is an important part of our all-of-the-above energy approach and these Department of Energy grants will allow Colorado universities and companies to develop new technologies to make solar power even cheaper,” Gardner said. “This is a great example of public-private partnership that are a good investment for the American taxpayer. Colorado has always been a leader in developing innovative energy technologies and I will continue to support policies to bring more affordable power to Coloradans.”
The projects span two SunShot programs: Photovoltaics Research and Development 2: Modules and Systems (PVRD2), which will advance research in solar photovoltaic technology; and Technology to Market 3 (T2M3), which supports early-stage solar technology research.
In addition, cost-share requirements will leverage additional private-sector funding, yielding a total public and private investment of nearly $5.4 million in Colorado projects. The funds provided are cooperative agreements that involve substantial federal oversight and consist of go/no go technical benchmarks, which reinforce attentive project stewardship.
The following projects received grants for Photovoltaics Research and Development 2: Modules and Systems.
Colorado School of Mines 1
Project Name: Perovskite Solar Cells: Addressing Low Cost, High Efficiency, and Reliability through Novel Hole Transport Materials
Location: Golden, CO
SunShot Award Amount: $192,529
Awardee Cost Share: $21,385
Colorado School of Mines 2
Project Name: Revealing the Mechanism of Light Induced Degradation and Regeneration of p-type Cz-Si
Location: Golden, CO
SunShot Award Amount: $225,000
Awardee Cost Share: $25,000
University of Colorado Boulder
Project Name: Isovalent Alloying and Heterovalent Substitution for Super-efficient Halide Perovskite PV Solar Cells
Location: Boulder, CO
SunShot Award Amount: $225,000
Awardee Cost Share: $25,000
Colorado State University 1
Project Name: High Lifetime and Mobility Cadmium Telluride Alloys by Co-sublimation
Location: Fort Collins, CO
SunShot Award Amount: $162,702
Awardee Cost Share: $18,094
Colorado State University 2
Project Name: Advanced Module Architecture for Reduced Costs, High Durability and Significantly Improved Manufacturability
Location: Fort Collins, CO
SunShot Award Amount: $1,125,000
Awardee Cost Share: $125,000
The following projects received grants for SunShot Technology to Market 3: Incubator 12, SolarMat 5.
Solar Dynamics
Project Summary: This project will develop a new trough collector for concentrating solar power systems that uses a glass-mirrored space frame, which will allow the technology to be used in peaker power plants.
Location: Broomfield, CO
SunShot Award Amount: $1,600,000
Awardee Cost Share: $400,000
P4P Energy
Project Summary: This project will develop a novel photovoltaic panel suspension technology that uses tensioned steel cables to drive down the material requirements and costs of carport solar deployments.
Location: Carbondale, CO
SunShot Award Amount: $1,000,000
Awardee Cost Share: $250,000
View the full list of awardees HERE.
For more information on the Department’s SunShot Initiative and its programs click HERE.