The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) funds solar energy research and development projects through competitive solicitations known as funding opportunities, as well as prizes. View all current funding opportunities.

Funding programs encompass at least one research area: photovoltaics (PV), concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP), systems integration (SI), soft costs (SC), manufacturing and competitiveness (M&C), and solar workforce development (WF). For a list of individual projects, view our Solar Energy Resource Database. See a list of our National Laboratory funding programs and learn more about the projects SETO funds with other offices in DOE. Reports resulting from research projects can be found on the Office of Science and Technical Information (OSTI) website.

All active and completed funding programs are in the tables below. This data is subject to change and is for general informational purposes only. SETO does not guarantee that the data is complete or free of error. If you have a question about any of the information below, email solar@ee.doe.gov.

Active Funding Programs

Funding Program
Research Area
Year Announced
Amount Awarded
SETO Small Innovative Projects in Solar 2023: Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power and Photovoltaics Funding ProgramPV, CSP2024$7.8M
Solar Energy Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2023 Just-in-Time Lab CallSC2023$2.8M
Advancing Equity Through Workforce Partnerships Funding ProgramWF2023$13.5M
Solar and Wind Grid Services and Reliability DemonstrationSI2023$26M
Solar Manufacturing Incubator Funding ProgramMC2023$24M
Photovoltaics Research and Development (PVRD) Funding ProgramPV2023$29M
Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR)M&C2009-23$83M
Foundational Agrivoltaic Research for Megawatt Scale (FARMS)SC2022$8M
Renewables Advancing Community Energy Resilience (RACER)SI2022$33M
Deploying Solar with Wildlife and Ecosystem Services Benefits (SolWEB) Funding ProgramSC2022$14M
SETO Fiscal Year 2022 Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power Research, Development, and Demonstration Funding ProgramCSP2022$25M
SETO Fiscal Year 2022 Small Innovative Projects in Solar 2022: Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power and Photovoltaics Funding ProgramPV, CSP2022$6M
SolSmart Funding ProgramSC2022$10M
MSRDC Science and Technology Research PartnershipAll2022$3M
Connected Communities Funding ProgramSI, SC2021$61M
Solar Energy Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2021 Photovoltaics and Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power Funding ProgramPV, CSP2021$40M
Solar Energy Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2021 Systems Integration and Hardware Incubator Funding ProgramSI, M&C2021$45M
Solar Energy Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2022-24 Lab CallAll2021$235M
Education Materials for Professional Organizations Working on Efficiency and Renewable Energy Developments (EMPOWERED)SC2020$6M
Solar Energy Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2020 (SETO FY2020)All2020$130M
Solar Energy Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2020 Perovskite (SETO FY20 PVSK)PV2020$40M
Grid Modernization Lab Call FY19-21SI2019$20M
Solar Energy Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2019 (SETO FY2019)All2019$30M
Advanced Power Electronics Design for Solar Applications (Power Electronics)SI2018$20M
Advanced Systems Integration for Solar Technologies (ASSIST)SI2018$36M
Generation 3 Concentrating Solar Power Systems (Gen3 CSP)CSP2018$62M
Solar DesalinationCSP2018$21M
Solar Energy Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2018 (SETO FY2018)All2018$12M

Completed Funding Programs

Reports resulting from research projects can be found on the Office of Science and Technical Information (OSTI) website.

Funding Program
Research Area
Year Announced
Amount Awarded
Solar Energy Technologies Office FY2019-21 Lab CallAll2018$62M
Enabling Extreme Real-time Grid Integration of Solar Energy (ENERGISE)SI2017$30M
Innovative PathwaysM&C2017$3M
Orange Button℠ - Solar Bankability Data to Advance Transactions and Access (SB-DATA)SC2017$4M
Photovoltaic Research and Development 2: Modules and Systems (PVRD2)PV2017$20M
Resilient Distribution Systems Lab CallSI2017$10M
Solar Forecasting 2SI2017$12M
Technology to Market 3 (T2M3)M&C2017$25M
Concentrating Solar Power: Concentrating Optics for Lower Levelized Energy Costs (CSP: COLLECTS)CSP2016$9M
Grid Modernization Lab Consortium (GMLC)SI2016$10M
Photovoltaic Research and Development (PVRD)PV2016$17M
Photovoltaic Research and Development: Small Innovative Projects in Solar (PVRD-SIPS)PV2016$20M
Solar Energy Evolution and Diffusion Studies 2 – State Energy Strategies (SEEDS2-SES)SC2016$21M
Solar Training and Education for ProfessionalsSC2016$10M
Sustainable and Holistic Integration of Energy Storage and Solar PV (SHINES)SI2016$18M
Technology to Market 2: Incubator 11, SolarMat 4M&C2016$25M
Solar in Your Community ChallengeSC2016$5M
CSP: Advanced Projects Offering Low LCOE Opportunities (APOLLO)CSP2015$32M
Physics of Reliability: Evaluating Design Insights for Component Technologies in Solar 2 (PREDICTS 2)PV2015$7M
Solar Market PathwaysSC2015$16M
Solar Powering America by Recognizing Communities (SPARC)SC2015$13M
SunShot National Laboratory Multiyear Partnership (SuNLaMP)All2015$230M
SunShot PrizeSC2015$10M
Technology to Market: Incubator 10, SolarMat 3, SunPath 2M&C2015$23M
Catalyst Energy Innovation PrizeSC2014$1M
CSP: Efficiently Leveraging Equilibrium Mechanisms for Engineering New Thermochemical Storage (CSP ELEMENTS)CSP2014$10M
Next Generation Photovoltaics 3PV2014$14M
Solar Manufacturing Technology II (SolarMat 2)M&C2014$25M
SunShot Incubator Program (Rounds 1-9)All2007-14$127M
CSP Heat Integration for Baseload Renewable Energy Deployment (CSP HIBRED)CSP2013$10M
Diversity in Science and Technology Advances National Clean Energy in Solar (DISTANCE-Solar)PV2013$1M
Foundational Program to Advance Cell Efficiency 2 (F-PACE 2)PV2013$16M
Grid Engineering for Accelerated Renewable Energy Deployment (GEARED)SC2013$15M
National Laboratory R&DCSP2013$27M
Physics of Reliability: Evaluating Design Insights for Component Technologies in Solar (PREDICTS)PV2013$12M
Rooftop Solar Challenge IISC2013$12M
Solar Energy Evolution and Diffusion Studies (SEEDS)SC2013$9M
Solar Manufacturing Technology (SolarMaT)M&C2013$13M
Solar Utility Networks: Replicable Innovations in Solar Energy (SUNRISE)SI2013$8M
Bridging Research Interactions through collaborative Development Grants in Energy (BRIDGE)PV2012$8M
CSP SunShot R&DCSP2012$56M
National Laboratory R&DSI2012$77M
MURI HOT FluidsCSP2012$10M
Plug and Play PhotovoltaicsSI2012$25M
Solar ForecastingSI2012$11M
Extreme Balance of System Hardware Cost Reduction (BOS-X)SI2011$42M
High Impact Supply Chain R&D for PV Technologies and SystemsM&C2011$20M
Foundational Program to Advance Cell Efficiency (F-PACE)PV2011$35M
Next Generation Photovoltaics 2PV2011$24M
Photovoltaic Manufacturing Initiative (PVMI)M&C2011$110M
Rooftop Solar ChallengeSC2011$12M
Scaling Up Nascent PV AT Home (SUNPATH)M&C2011$37M
Solar Electric Grid Integration - Advanced Concepts (SEGIS-AC)SI2011$26M
Solar Projects to Reduce Market Barriers and Non-Hardware Balance of System CostsSC2011$14M
CSP BaseloadCSP2010$62M
CSP ARRACSP2009$30M
High Penetration Solar DeploymentSI2009$38M
Solar Outreach Partnership (Solar Ops)SC2009$10M
Advanced Heat Transfer Fluids and Novel Thermal Storage Concepts for CSPCSP2008$35M
Concentrating Solar Power R&DCSP2007$25M