The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) hosts webinars to provide updates on the office’s work to our stakeholders. Led by SETO Director Dr. Becca Jones-Albertus, these webinars discuss SETO’s priorities and provide information on current and upcoming activities.
Upcoming Webinars
None currently scheduled - check back soon!
Solar Workforce Priorities and Vision
August 19, 2021, 1-2 p.m. ET
This webinar focused on current research and future priorities of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) for building a diverse and well-supported solar industry workforce, including results from recent stakeholder outreach. SETO Deputy Director Garrett Nilsen gave an update on the latest office activities and a panel of external experts Rob Wallace, CEO of Power52 Energy Solutions, Elbert Walters III, Executive Director of Powering Chicago, and Chris Perron, Senior Vice President of Engineering, Procurement, and Construction at Nexamp discussed solar workforce development.
Leadership Roundtable: Empowering Cities to Accelerate Rooftop Solar Installations Across America
July 15, 2021, 1–2 p.m. ET
This webinar was held on July 15, 2021, at 1 p.m. ET and featured U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm for the launch of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Solar Automated Permit Processing (SolarAPP+) tool. SolarAPP+ makes it easy for local governments to permit residential solar project applications by reviewing projects for building code compliance and instantly approving the project. Guests discussed how local governments are speeding up the permit process and reducing barriers for solar energy. Webinar topics included:
- Summer of Solar campaign
- Solar Automated Permit Processing (SolarAPP+) tool
Guest Speakers:
- Jennifer M. Granholm, Secretary of Energy
- Regina Romero, Mayor of Tucson, Arizona
- Sam Liccardo, Mayor of San Jose, California
- Lynn Jurich, CEO of Sunrun
- Will Jawando, Councilmember of Montgomery County, Maryland
- John Alita, Deputy City Manager of Stockton, California
- Jeff Cook, NREL SolarAPP+ Project Lead
- Becca-Jones Albertus, Director of the Solar Energy Technologies Office
View the recording and download the slides.
A Force for Change: Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) in the Solar Industry
This webinar was held on May 4, 2021, at 11 a.m. ET and featured Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm announcing over $15 million in new funding to support equitable solar deployment by addressing the barriers people face in accessing the benefits of solar, through technical assistance, community solar, and workforce development. Webinar topics included:
- Request for Information: Workforce Development Strategies Supporting the Solar Industry – soliciting feedback about targeted training efforts and future workforce funding
- Request for Information: Equitable Access to Community-Based Solar – soliciting feedback about how to improve access to the resources necessary for underserved communities to participate in the clean energy transition
- Funding Opportunity Announcement: SolSmart Program Management - $10 million for administration of program that recognizes local governments that streamline installation of clean energy systems
- Solar Energy Innovation Network (SEIN) Round 3 – $5.5 million to support diverse teams that design solutions to reduce barriers to solar energy deployment
Guest Speakers
- Jennifer M. Granholm, Energy Secretary
- Kelly Speakes-Backman, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
- Shalanda Baker, Deputy Director for Energy Justice
- Becca Jones-Albertus, Director of the Solar Energy Technologies Office
- Jennifer Kropke, Director of Energy Jobs
- Abigail Ross Hopper, President and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association
- Sylvester Taylor, Director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1
- Van Vincent, President and CEO of VLV Development
- Bryan Garcia, CEO of Connecticut Green Bank
- Donnel Baird, CEO of BlocPower
Streamlining Solar Permitting with SolarAPP+
This webinar was held on April 29, 2021, and featured SETO Director Dr. Becca Jones-Albertus, Solar Energy Industries Association President and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper, and NREL SolarAPP+ Project Lead Jeff Cook. The Solar Automated Permit Processing (SolarAPP+) tool is an online platform that makes it easier for local governments to quickly and safely approve rooftop solar and solar+storage projects. It was developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and a collaborative team of industry and local government stakeholders. This webinar discussed the pilot test of SolarAPP+ and what the future holds for the tool.
View the recording and download the slides.
100% Clean: How DOE’s Solar Investments Will Help to Achieve Ambitious Decarbonization Goals
This webinar was held on March 25, 2021, at 2:30 p.m. ET and featured Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm announcing $128 million in new solar energy initiatives. Webinar topics included:
- DOE's expedited timeline for utility-scale solar cost targets: $0.03 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) by 2025 and $0.02/kWh by 2030
- Solar Energy Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2021 Photovoltaics and Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power (PV and CSP) funding opportunity - $40 million for PV and CSP research and development projects
- Generation 3 CSP Final Selection - $25 million awarded to build a demonstration for a Generation 3 CSP power plant
- Perovskite Funding Program Selections - $40 million awarded to advance perovskite PV device, manufacturing, and validation projects
- Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) PV Accelerator Program - $20 million for new consortium to advance CdTe thin-film solar cell technologies
- American-Made Perovskite Startup Prize - New $3 million prize competition to help entrepreneurs launch new businesses to accelerate commercialization of perovskite solar technologies
Guest Speakers:
- Jennifer M. Granholm, Energy Secretary
- Gina McCarthy, National Climate Advisor
- Kelly Speakes-Backman, Acting Assistant Secretary of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
- Becca Jones-Albertus, Director of the Solar Energy Technologies Office
- Stephan DeLuca, CEO of Energy Materials Corporation
- Joseph Berry, senior scientist, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
- Clifford Ho, senior scientist, Sandia National Laboratories
View the recording and download the slides.
2020 Webinars
December 2020 SETO Quarterly Stakeholder Webinar
This webinar was held on December 17, 2020, at 2:00 p.m. ET and focused on SETO's work supporting solar entrepreneurs. Webinar topics included:
- SETO latest updates
- Funding Opportunity Announcement: SETO Fiscal Year 2021 Systems Integration and Hardware Incubator Funding Program
- Funding Opportunity Announcement: SBIR/STTR FY 2021 Phase I Release 2
- SETO Fellowship Opportunity – Apply by January 15
- Manufacturing and competitiveness (M&C) research portfolio overview
- Guest Speakers: Awardees from SETO M&C funding programs
- Bill Nussey, Co-founder and CEO, Solar Inventions, American-Made Solar Prize
- Catlin Mattheis, Co-founder, Fracsun, LLC, Small Business Innovation Research
- Success Story: The Plug-and-Play Device That Streamlines Solar Cleaning
- Leila Madrone, Founder and CTO, Sunfolding, Inc., Technology to Market
View the recording (Password: UpZMpmw4; Use Google Chrome for best results).
Download the presentation and transcript.
September 2020 SETO Quarterly Stakeholder Webinar
This SETO Quarterly Webinar was held on September 10, 2020, at 11:00 a.m. ET. Webinar topics included:
- SETO latest updates
- American-Made Solar Prize Round 2 winners
- American-Made Solar Prize Round 3 finalists
- American-Made Solar Prize Round 4 launched
- Perovskite Funding Opportunity Announcement
- Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) solar awards
- Technology Commercialization Fund solar awards
- 2020 SETO Peer Review Report
- Solar Projects Map and Research Database
- Photovoltaics (PV) Research Overview
- Guest Speaker: Robert Flottemesch from Constellation on the PV Fleet Performance Data Initiative
June 2020 SETO Quarterly Stakeholder Webinar
This SETO Quarterly Webinar was held on June 4, 2020, at 2:00 p.m. ET. Webinar topics included:
- SETO latest updates
- Eight teams selected for the second round of the Solar Energy Innovation Network program
- Ten teams selected to compete in the final phase of the American-Made Solar Prize Round 2
- Announced the EMPOWERED funding opportunity (Educational Materials for Professional Organizations Working on Efficiency and Renewable Energy Developments)
- Launched the American-Made Solar Desalination Prize
- Rolled out the National Community Solar Partnership
- "Ask an Expert" Q&A
- SETO experts answered questions submitted by stakeholders
View the recording (Password: qPk2aJJP; Use Google Chrome for best results).
Download the presentation and transcript.
January 2020 SETO Quarterly Stakeholder Webinar
This SETO Quarterly Webinar was held on January 23, 2020, at 3:00 p.m. ET. Webinar topics included:
- SETO FY2019 Funding Program overview and highlights
- SETO latest updates
- New success story—Spreading Sunshine: SolSmart Recognizes 300th Community for Going Solar
- PV Cells 101 2-part series: A Primer on the Solar Photovoltaic Cell and Solar Photovoltaic Cell Research Directions
- CSP workshops: SETO CSP Program Summit 2019; DOE sCO2 Workshop 2019; and 2020 SolarPACES Conference in Albuquerque, NM this October
- DOE announced $80 Million For New Grid Modernization Lab Call Projects
2019 Webinars
October 2019 SETO Quarterly Stakeholder Webinar
This SETO Quarterly Webinar was held October 10, 2019, at 2:00 p.m. ET. This webinar discussed the following topics:
- Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's (EERE) priorities and vision – EERE Assistant Secretary Daniel R Simmons
- Solar Office overview and Q3 updates
- Announced Winners of Round 1 of the American-Made Solar Prize, in addition to:
- Launched the National Community Solar Partnership
- Teams Selected for the Solar District Cup
- Announced New Prize Competition: Solar Desalination Prize
- Systems Integration research overview
- ComEd guest speaker: Shay Bahramirad
July 2019 SETO Quarterly Stakeholder Webinar
This SETO Quarterly Webinar was held July 26, 2019, at 1:00 p.m. ET. This webinar discussed the following topics:
- SETO overview and 2019 updates
- Announced $130M for SETO Fiscal Year 2019 Funding Opportunity
- Hosted the SETO CSP Program Summit 2019 in California
- Announced the winners of the Solar in Your Community Challenge
- Announced a new collegiate challenge, the Solar District Cup
- Announced a Request for Information: Modeling and Analytics for Solar Grid Integration
- American-Made Solar Prize update
- Announced the second round of the American-Made Solar Prize
- Announced the Round 1 finalists for the American-Made Solar Prize
- American-Made Network
- Solar Energy Innovation Network update
- Innovation Network Round 1
- Innovation Network Round 2
- Guest speaker – Luis Reyes, CEO, Kit Carson Cooperative
View the recording (Password: Solar2019; Use Google Chrome for best results).