Funding Opportunity: Technology to Market 2
SunShot Subprogram: Technology to Market
Location: San Francisco, CA
SunShot Award Amount: $1,762,968
Awardee Cost Share: $2,264,724

This project is developing a platform for solar energy system developers that uses sophisticated analytics and detailed local distribution systems data to help reveal where demand and grid value for solar and solar-plus-storage are most beneficial. The tool can also help at the regulator and commission level by increasing transparency and facilitating long-term planning activities. This new software lowers financial risk by providing transparency into the current and future value of projects based on their location.

Approach

The project team will conduct data acquisition, associated analysis and modeling, and develop the user interface of the platform. With prototype functionality already developed for each element of the platform, the work centers around implementation of each of these functions throughout the U.S. electricity market.

Innovation

This project will reduce costs associated with shrinking interconnection capacity and acquiring the best sites for solar development by making previously inaccessible data available to commercial and utility developers. The software platform gives developers access to the poles, prices, people, and properties that make up local distribution systems, reducing the time it takes project developers to find the best site while also providing them with the lowest costs and highest value.