Fiscal Year 2022 SBIR/STTR Solar Topics Webinar – Text Version Here is the text version of the webinar, “Fiscal Year 2022 SBIR/STTR Solar Topics,” presented in November 2021 by the Solar Energy Technologies Office of the U.S. Department of Energy. ….. David Walter: … I'm a technology manager with the Solar Energy Technologies office. I want to thank you all for joining our webinar today on our SBIR program. So just as a quick housekeeping note, this Webex call is being recorded currently. So we may be posting it on our website and used internally. So if you do not wish to be recorded please do not speak during the call. Similarly, if you do not wish to have your image recorded, please turn off your camera or participate by phone. If you speak during the call or use a video connection, I presume that you are giving consent to the recording and the use of your voice or an image. Next slide, please. So like I said, thank-you very much for joining us today. I want to go over a little bit of our agenda. So this webinar will be covering the technical content only for the SBIR release to – just topics 15 and 16 covering the solar topics. So we're not going to be discussing anything about eligibility or the process or how the funding opportunity works. That funding opportunity announcement will actually not be released until December 13. So please make sure that you keep an eye out for when that FOA announcement actually comes out. And we will not be providing individual feedback on specific applications or ideas. So we'd like to maintain fairness for all potential applicants. So any questions that you may submit during this webinar, we will be making the answers to all those available to the rest of the public on our website. Next slide, please. And as I mentioned, there is – the funding opportunity announcement itself will be released on December 13. So keep an eye out for that to understand all of the requirements for the application. Other dates that have already been published, so there is a mandatory letter of intent that is required on January 3. So if you intend to apply to any one of the topics that we're discussing today, please make sure that you log in to [inaudible] and submit your letter of intent by 5 p.m. Eastern on January 3 and full applications will be due on February 22 of 2022. And that timeline is just before midnight. Next slide. So the rest of our agenda today: I'll be going over a little bit of who we are as the Solar Energy Technologies Office, then we'll turn it over to my colleague, Emanuele Pecora, to talk about some of our other funding opportunities for small businesses and how our programs work as well as the application guidelines. And then we'll go into some more specific details on the subtopics that we have at hand, and try to have some time for Q&A. Next slide. And for those of you who may not be aware of who the Solar Energy Technologies Office is, we’re an applied research office that focuses on solar technologies. Our whole research portfolio is designed around advancing solar technology and drive down costs to make solar more affordable and accessible to all Americans, while ensuring that all these technologies can support grid reliability and utilize storage to provide community resilience while supporting job growth and manufacturing in a wide variety of the venue. Next slide. And most of you may be aware, there has been an announcement by this administration to have a carbon-free electricity sector by 2035. So you know, in order to do that, we'll need to expand the rate that we're deploying solar from 2 to 5 times its current rate because in order to meet those goals, it's been modeled that anywhere between 30% to 50% of electricity generation will need to come from solar. And solar can also help beyond just the electricity sector, and working in a clean energy economy, which we'll discuss a little bit further as well. Next slide. And as I mentioned briefly earlier, we work in a wide variety of technologies. We have, in the hardware space, specifically working in photovoltaic, concentrating solar thermal power, which includes thermal storage and on the integration, Southern House, looking at how can we pair solar and energy storage, working at para electronics and inverters and grid sensors, so that grid operators can have a better understanding of what solar is on the grid. Next slide. And through these efforts, you know, a lot of the research is really being performed by the small businesses that are out there similar to yourself. There's currently over 10,000 plus businesses in the U.S. providing billions of dollars of value to the U.S. solar market. So in order for us to meet our goals, we're gonna need ideas and research from people like you. And I would like to turn it over now to my colleague, Emanuele, to discuss some of our programs where you can help. Emanuele. Emanuele Pecora: Yeah. Thank-you, Dave. So my name is Emanuele Pecora [inaudible] in the solar office. I'm the SBIR/STTR portfolio manager. And although today we will discuss mainly about SBIR and STTR we just want to mention real quick other programs we have for small businesses like you. We understand, we recognize that the path to market is not easy. It's a long journey. It's a complicated journey. And so we try to provide different programs that can assist you along the way. I just want to stress that not all programs are the same. Each program has its own objectives and application procedure and mechanisms. So we would really encourage you to look at the different programs and understand which one is the best fit for your technology, for the business maturity, for the technology maturity, where you're at. So in addition to SBIR/STTR that is open to small business only, we have, for example, the American-Made Solar Prize, which is a competition which is open to even individuals or small business or large companies. And you can enter to the Solar Prize through just an idea. You don't need to have any proof of concept; you just media is the first start to get into the prize. For small business, for SBIR, the first we are STTR. The idea is to have a Phase 1 focused on proving feasibility of your idea and then Phase 2 to show a prototype. And then we have also another program called Incubator. Again, look at these programs. For example, right now, if you go to the American-Made Challenges website, which is americanmadechallenges.org, you will see – these are the current, the prizes that are currently open. They go from solar to geothermal to [inaudible] batteries to water resources. So solar desalination, there's a variety of prize is open right now, and more prizes are constantly opening. So just keep an eye on this website, and again, the barrier to entry is very easy. You just need an idea, you record the video, and you may compete, but it's a competition. You get money only if you win the competition. On the other end of the spectrum, we have the Solar Manufacturing Incubator, which is a funding opportunity restricted only for to for-profit entities. So small businesses but also large companies In this case the award sites can be much larger than as we are. We can go up to $8 million, but we require a cost-share. Depending on the type of activity, the cost share would be 20% of 50%. And this funding opportunity is also great because it allows you to do also demonstration activities, not just R&D. So it's a perfect [inaudible] for like later stage technologies. So take a look at all the programs, find the one which is the best fit for your company, for your technology. But now today you're gonna be focusing only on SBIR and STTR. So the first thing we want to discuss is the technical and business assistance program in the American-Made network. So you, I'm pretty sure you're already thinking about what to – your proposal, your application, the details of your technology, and you're gonna be putting together the technical volume and the budget. Our topics, both topic 15 and 16 you can apply up, you can ask for up to $200,000 for Phase 1. However, we want to mention that in addition to your R&D funding, there is an opportunity to apply for this technical and business assistance called TABA program. And these are like extra money. For Phase 1 is $6,500, which is in addition to the $200,000 for R&D. And this program is specifically for commercialization activities. Now you have two options. You can work with a vendor provided by DOE, and if you choose to do that, you don't need to do anything. Just apply with your application for $200,000. And after you get awarded, you will be associated with a DOE vendor. Or you can select your preferred vendor, and if you want to do that you must include it in your application. So that's very important; if you want to work with your commercialization vendor, you must include that vendor as part of the application. So your application will be for $206,500. Read the funding opportunity announcement for more information. These are like a few examples of allowable services, what commercialization services means. You can work with your vendor for product sales, for IP protection, for market research and validation, for development of certification, regulatory plans, development and manufacturing plants. So these are things that are traditionally considered R&D. But you have money for that. So we strongly encourage you to take advantage of it. Of course, the decision to work with the DOE vendor or with your vendor is completely up to you. That has no influence in the review of your application or in the selection process. It’s completely up to you. But since it might be confusing, especially if you are a new company, a new startup, to identify where to find a good vendor, I went out invite Kimberlee Ott from NREL to discuss a network where you can find a lot of entities that can support you in your process. Kimberlee Ott: Yeah, thank-you, Emanuele. And as Emanuele mentioned, we have this program called the American-Made Challenges. It's a pretty unique program funded by the Department of Energy that allows innovators to go through the scale of commercialization through our prize program. So today we've funded over 200 startups, awarded $19 million in cash awards to those startups, and we have over 200 network members that support this program. Next slide. So just to give you a little bit more background on the network. So these are organizations across the United States that our universities, incubators, accelerators, other government agencies, maker spaces and facilities that join our network to support innovators like you. We can go ahead and go to the next slide. And so what we want to talk to you about today, I'm going to paste a link here in the chat, a little bitly link. Feel free to navigate there and you can work along with us, but we have created this network matching tool. So by visiting the network.americanmadechallenges.org, or the link here in the chat, you can create an account and get connected to this network. Go ahead and hit next. Yeah, so just go on the main page, then you can hit “create an account.” We ask you to review and accept those terms and conditions, and then you can continue to do a secure sign-up. Once you get to that stage, you can sign in with an existing account through Google or Facebook, or just use your email and create a password and hit the words “sign up.” Once you do that, you will get a verification code sent to that email. So once you verify that email address, you'll get to this first page here. Once you log in, we ask that you select the “I am an innovator” tile, so that blue arrow in the bottom right-hand corner. Go ahead and select that button, and then you'll get to set up your profile. So we want you to fill that in with basic information such as your name, your bio, your city, your state, and your zip code. There's gonna be a couple automations – Emanuele, if you want to click through those – and then you go ahead and select that update button, yep. OK? And then we do have an optional form on there to complete, kind of your background and your diversity. If you prefer to skip that, you're more than welcome to. Then you can go ahead and hit “finish my sign-up,” and once you do that, you'll see this box appear that says “find your challenge.” So what we've done for the TABA And SBIR/STTR support is create a program to help you connect with this network of 200 members to find support for that $6,500 for your SBIR and STTR program. So if you can select the view challenge button you'll get some more information about the TABA And SBIR/STTR support. But all you need to do is fill out your, what we call your technical needs. I'm just making note here that this can also be business-related assistance, as well. So when you go through that step, you're going to see a lot of different needs located here, and you can rank them on a scale of 1 to 5. So if you needed support in business development and commercialization, you can, you know, rank that from 1 to 5 of how much you need that level of support by clicking the appropriate button. If you do not need support in that area, just leave the “n/a” selected. Next. And then, so there's a couple of those. So just fill those out, and then at the bottom we just ask that you provide a little bit more context around what you need. This is information that the what we call connectors or partners in the network review to really understand how they can better help you. So then you'll go ahead and select “continue” once you've completed that. And then the tool will populate you with matches. So each of these matches has a quality percent match. So basically the higher the percentage, the more that that partner is able to help you with the needs you have, with the capabilities that they provide. And so you can see all of your different connections; you can work with one or more different providers for this TABA support. And if you're interested in engaging with them, you just select the message button. So there's a couple automations here, too, Emanuele. Yep. And then we just ask in that message, when you do connect with them, to give them some context. So let them know that you're applying for SBIR/STTR and you're looking for TABA support, and you can offer them up to $6,500 for this level of support. And then again as Emanuele mentioned, you'll need to list them on your application when you apply for the SBIR/STTR. If you run into any problems or have questions feel free to get in touch with us through AMN@nrel.gov, and we'll be happy to help you out. And then lastly, I'll mention if you choose to forego using the tool, there are resources available through DOE to support you as well, but this just an addition. If you're looking for local support or to support broader in the ecosystem. Thank-you. Emanuele Pecora: Thanks, Kimberlee. And once again, the choice of which vendor you want to utilize, it's completely up to you. This a tool which we hope you're gonna take advantage of because it's a really great tool with a lot of entities that are like with specific expertise in clean tech and solar. So just take advantage of it. Now moving forward, let's go into the details of the application process. So we, as a solar office, we have multiple programs for entities like yours, for startups, for small businesses, and we have been working with several hundreds of companies during the years. So we really want you to be successful. We want you to, at the end of this Phase 1 and all through Phase 2 to develop something that can bring you closer to the market if not being ready to sell a product into the market. So that's why we believe that the three key elements for a successful applications, to move an idea to R&D stage and then to market-relevant self-sustaining technology, is to plan, validate and engage. Make sure that your application clearly shows that you have a plan about how to move things to the market, your IP Strategy, why your product is a good market fit. How do you plan to scale the manufacturing of this product? That you have a clear idea of what your technical and business [inaudible] and metrics are. And how you're going to validate them. Are you going to validate your competition? What any certification you might need? Any assumption you're making in the development your product. So make it clear that you have a full understanding of the space, but also of what your targets should be. And how you're going to measure against those targets. And then, don't forget to engage as early as possible with a diverse group of stakeholders, your potential customers, but also all the stakeholders you need to be successful. If you need a supply chain, if you need manufacturing, if you need regulatory or certification bodies. If you need additional money, try to engage with investors early on. Do your customer discovery exercise. So make sure your application shows that you're doing your own work and that you're ready at least to move to the next step with a plan to be successful. Just to let you know that your Phase 1 awards will be in the form of a grant, and while the Phase 2 for people that apply for Phase 2 will be in the form of cooperative agreements. I won't go into the details of what that means, but read the funding opportunities for more details. Well, we really care. And in the topic document we put also an example that you really sit down when you write your application and think about what are the important milestones, technical business milestones, or stakeholder engagement milestones, that you want to work on during this project. And you identified quantifiable success metrics. Finishing a task is not a milestone. We strongly encourage you to quantify it. So it's a tough exercise but it's an important exercise, because it can help you identify what the critical steps are and what the critical needs are for your technology. So we put this table as a recommendation. It's not necessarily a format that we require, but this has been like very helpful to kind of again identify what the objectives are, identify what the metrics you need to meet to show a path to market success. We understand that applying for SBIR Is complicated. There's a lot of systems you need to sign up for. There's a lot of documents need to put together, all the forms. So that's why again we're gonna try to do our best to support you and to make sure that you are well-positioned to write the best application possible. And so that's why I'm gonna give the floor back to Kimberlee, because we have a new program that hopefully you can take advantage of and they can support you along the application process. Kimberlee Ott: Yeah, thank-you, Emanuele. Yeah, so as Emanuele mentioned, the SBIR process for new and existing applicants can be quite daunting. And so we've contracted the support of several organizations to be here to help you through that process. So the organizations are ADL Ventures, Clean Energy Business Network, Entrepreneur Futures Network, and the University of Arizona Center for Innovation. So between these four organizations, they're going to be providing office hours where you can come in and ask specific questions. They'll be hosting webinars where they cover specific topics on, you know, making budgets or having a strong application. They're hosting workshops to work with you through that, and then they're also providing application education. So I'm gonna drop here in the chat a link to a Box document. In that document it summarizes all of the events that these individuals are putting on. So you can feel free to register and attend those and we'll try to keep that updated for you as you progress through the process. Next slide, Emanuele. Also within the link I just pasted in the chat, at the end of every event, there is contact information for that organization, but if you'd like to take a screenshot or jot down names and emails, you're more than welcome to do so at this time. But again, these services are for you, for free, and their varied through their time, and so we hope that you attend some of these sessions and get to work with these contracted organizations, as well. Emanuele Pecora: Thanks, Kimberlee. And again, this really a way to support you, you're not required to use that, but it's free supports and we hope you're going to take advantage of. Now there are a couple of questions I want to address in the chat box before we move forward. There's a question of projects completed, a feasibility study: Can we include our study in our proposal, and use the funding for further project development? Yes, you can. That is not gonna disqualify, you as long as it's clear i in your application what you're going to do with $200,000. The Phase 1 is a specific project. It lasts six to nine months. You don't have a lot of money, so it needs to be clear what you're trying to do during the Phase 1 and what you're and why this an important step in your technology development. And the other question, I think it's really a couple of questions: Yes, we'll make all the slides and the recording of this webinar available on our website, so everything will be available in a few days. Moving forward, let's go into the details of our subtopics. This year we have a total of 11 subtopics. And they're actually distributed in two different topics. So I want to make clear that we have topic 15, which is open to both SBIR and STTR application, and the topic 15 has eight subtopics. And then we have topics 16, which is open to only STTR application. Now, these two programs are usually combined together. You might hear like SBIR/STTR like they are the same but actually are not. For SBIR, If you apply an SBIR application, the small business is going to do the majority of the work. The small business is the entity that is the prime recipient, but also the entity leading the majority of the innovation or the majority of the work. For STTR, if you apply an STTR, the small business is still the prime recipient, but a small business is required to partner with the research institution. The research institution could be a national laboratory, could be a university, but there's a requirement that at least that the research institution will do at least 30% of the work. And there's also the possibility for the principal investigator to be employed either by the small business or by the research institution. So STTR applications are meant to foster this collaboration with the small business and the research institution. And so these are really two different types of applications. So when you when we go through our topics we make clear, we're gonna stress what you can do for each of them. So let's start with topic 15, which again, this has eight subtopics. And this is open to both SBIR and STTR. So we can apply to this topic to either formal applications. The first subtopic subtopic, 15A, is Multiuse Integrated Photovoltaic Systems. And actually before we get into the topic, I'm gonna read the chat box, and each subtopic we're going to give you a short presentation. We're gonna have some time for Q&A. So we're gonna read the questions and answer. If we have too many questions and we don't have enough time, don't worry, we're going to have answer all questions on our website. So just put all the questions there in the chat box; we'll do our best to answer now. If we don't have time you still get an answer. So I'm gonna ask Andrew Dawson to present this subtopic. Andrew Dawson: Hi, everyone. Thanks, Emanuele. So this subtopic is Multiuse Integrated Photovoltaic Systems. So the motivation for this is that as we see increases in PV installations, the value of these more integrated multitechnology, the multisectoral systems, they grow. So they may grow because they enable reductions in land use competition. They may enable overall improvements in system performance, so not just the solar but the other aspects of the system, as well. And they may enable improvements in system grid responsiveness. So that could be connected to the siting flexibility. It could also be connected to the functionality of the system, and that it is something that is more responsive to grid needs. So just to give you sort of some – orient you all to this, this an image from the solar future study that we recently released, looking at the total surface area required for solar development by 2050 under those scenarios. So while it is dwarfed by the current agricultural land usage or disturbed site, it's certainly still something that's a pretty significant land consumption. And so it's something that we are looking at some of these more integrated systems as a way to address from the barriers that may occur. Go to the next slide, please. So really this is a solar and type topic. So some areas that might be responsive to this topic are things like photovoltaic building materials or building integrated photovoltaics. So this is something where the solar serves as part of the building functionality. So it's not just put on top of the building, but it would be something that would serve as part of the roof or part of the wall, or it could be something where you're looking at canopy or shade structures, more integrated into the built environment as opposed to simply buildings. Equally, we could be looking at something like agrivoltaic systems, where you are integrating solar with crop production or livestock production. And the idea here is you can potentially leverage some secondary benefits by reducing plant or animal stress, water evaporation, etcetera. Floating PV systems is pretty self-explanatory, integration with bodies of water. Again, this could be something where you're managing thermal inputs into the water or thermal evaporation from the body of water. And then one other area that we had identified is PV and transportation systems. So this could be solutions to deal with energy consumption of refrigerated trucking units or ways to minimize grid demands from transportation. There's a lot of space here, and the examples that we've included in the topic are just that, examples. It's not meant to be exhaustive. So it's a pretty broad section, and what I would say is just that it is a sort of solar ant where the solar should be providing a function in this sort of multitechnology or multisectoral system. Questions? Emanuele Pecora: Thanks, Andrew. So there are three questions, but they're really general to SBIR in general. So I'm going to address those. In the meantime, if you have questions for this specific topic, put them in the chat box. There are two questions about, can I apply to more than one topic? Yes, an individual entity can apply to more than one topic or can submit more than one application to the same topic. However, there are some limitations. I think there's a requirement no more than 10 letter of intent from the same organization. I would encourage you to read the funding opportunity that will be published on December 13 for the specifics or any limitation on that. There's another question in general, which is, is there any requirement for the company, does need to be a company started racing in recent one or two years? No, there are requirements about this would be a small business, so there's some eligibility criteria that we modify for small business. Again, read the funding opportunity announcement. But usually there's not a restriction the number of here since incorporation. There's another question; maybe, Andrew, you can address this one. Can you elaborate on the responsive criteria? Question is for each subtopic, but let's start from this one. Andrew Dawson: Sure, one second. So in general at least some of the … I'm trying to just pull that that up. So the nonresponsive categories for this topic area or subtopic are proposals addressing exclusively solar window technologies, applications targeting fully controlled environment agricultural applications, or only off-grid applications of floating photovoltaic systems, so water pumping, narration, etcetera, that don't involve a substantive change to the overall system design. Emanuele Pecora: There's another question; it's about the IPV with existing prototype and require commercialization and certification, that certification falls under Phase 1. I can answer, I think, for under Phase 1. You cannot pay for the actual certification, but you can pay for all the research and development activities. Do you need to conduct to be sure that you're going to be certified? Actually, it's important to make sure that you understand what the requirements are and that you develop the technology in a way that you're ready for that. So I think that's addressed that question. I'm going to take the last question for this subtopic and then we move on. For PV in transportation systems, is this limited to tracking refrigeration only? I ask because there's a broader range of the IPV. Andrew Dawson: Sure. So I can, and for that I don't think it's limited to that. I do think with all of these, right, we are looking for a strong cost value proposition. And so this is something where you would have to make the case as to why you believe whatever your solution is can be competitive in the environment. And so that's true against any of these – is particularly true where you're starting to talk about secondary benefits. You need a strategy to at least start validating whatever your value proposition is. The VIPV, I will just say I think it's important to think about what technologies you're considering, what your applications are and what your competitive landscape looks like. So it's certainly not, as I said, its areas of interest include but are not limited to. So it's pretty open to anything that addresses this, the integrated systems, but you are going to have to make a case about how you can be cost competitive and really bring value to the table. Emanuele Pecora: Thank-you. Yeah. OK, in the interest of time, let's move to the next subtopic, which is subtopic 15B, Photovoltaic Recycling. This also open to both SBIR and STTR applications. Let's see, Andrew, if we can stay there, because I think, Robert, can you hear us? Or can you, I think you're not connected to the audio system. Andrew Dawson: Yeah, so sure. So I can … Emanuele Pecora: Can you just quickly go through this? Andrew Dawson: So yeah, so this subtopic is looking at photovoltaic recycling specifically. And so there are a number of opportunities that have been identified here. Again, this is something that as we see increases in installation rate, for photovoltaics, and as we see some systems reaching the end of their operational life because they were installed decades ago, this going to become something that presents potentially more of an opportunity. So part of the question is, how do we handle some of these systems that may be getting decommissioned? And some of it is how do we consider system designs to improve recycle ability and recovery in the future? And so you can see here some opportunities include looking at either module designs for improved recycle-ability or module designs that reduce your second burden. So that's a little bit different because you're talking about material utilization or material selection versus sort of module construction and the ability to reclaim the materials. We're also looking at or interested in looking at methods to look at, to actually do the recycling and reclamation, or ways to potentially refurbish markets or refurbish modules to be put back on the market. So there is something of note here at the bottom, you can see applications that are focused solely on just resale platforms where you're just pretty much turning the modules around, reselling them are not of interest to this topic. Emanuele Pecora: OK, thanks. There's a general question, will we be able to follow up with individual presenters? I'm going to put email inbox you can sent an email to any time. This is an email box for all the topics and subtopics, solar.sbir@ee.doe.gov. But once again, we will not provide feedback on individual proposals or ideas or applications. If you have questions about the language, send us an email and we'll reply to your question with an answer that we put on the website. So we only clarify the language; we don't provide feedback on specific applications. So feel free to email if you have any questions. Any other question about this subtopic? I don't see any, so in the interest of time. Thanks, Andrew. Let's move to the next one, which is a subtopic, 15C, Next-Generation Power Electronics Based on Silicon Carbide and/or Planar Magnetics. And I'm gonna have my colleague Georgios Stefopoulos to present the topic. Georgios Stefopoulos: Thanks and good afternoon. Hope you can hear me because I also had a few technical issues. So this subtopic, as Emanuele mentioned, focuses on next-generation electronic for solar applications. The driver for this is we are seeing an expanding market in [inaudible] and materials especially here from carbide or value nitride. This is primarily driven by the vehicle industry, the electric vehicle industry. But the PV and energy systems market is also quite strong in this area and it's projected to grow significantly. So if you move to the next slide. So based on this growth, we do see and we do anticipate the dropping price for silicon carbide chips and other white bank up material chips. So the idea here is there is an opportunity for incorporating such devices to electronic components for solar applications in a cost-competitive way. In addition to that, the U.S. Is a preeminent supplier of such devices and therefore this creates a compelling case for domestic manufacturing. Therefore this subtopic top focuses on these two opportunities and try to leverage and combine these two opportunities. Next slide, please. So the goal is in focus of this topic is develop the next generation part of from the components, using such materials, taking advantage of what benefits these materials can provide, such as greater efficiencies, how power densities that result in lower weight and volume of devices, operation at lower temperatures, and create cost, competitive, high performance and reliability alternatives to existing devices that are silicon based. And a key area that we also want to focus is how can we do this in a way that promotes the case for domestic manufacturing of such equipment. And of course, an overarching umbrella for all this, we're looking for applications that accelerate the organization via solar power. Next slide, please. In terms of specific applications we’re quite open and quite broad, but just to give a high-level idea, we will be looking for new designs and topologies, especially the ones that have more impact on manufacturing. One example could be transformer-less designs. We're also looking into applications that move forward the state of the art. So looking into more high-power applications, higher-voltage applications. And of course, as an add-on to that, we will also be interested in applications that look into new ways to do the magnetics, like planar magnetics, for example, that can be used in conjunction with silicon carbide and gallium nitride components. And overall, the idea is how do we do it in a way that we marry it with the potential for domestic manufacturing. What we will not be looking – and you can go to the last slide, Emanuele – is applications that do revolve around the new power electronics, but they do not focus on silicon carbide or gallium nitride applications. So we're not looking for traditional silicon-based devices. That concludes the brief description a nutshell. If there are any questions, I will be happy to try to answer them. Otherwise you can send email to the address that Emanuele put in the chat. Thank-you very much. Emanuele Pecora: Thanks, Georgios. I don't see any question for you. We can wait maybe a few seconds, and then we can move to the next subtopic. Feel free to keep putting questions in the chat box or send them via email and we'll reply to everyone. So in the interest of time, since I don't see any question, let's move to the next one, which is the subtopic 15D. Once again open to both SBIR And STTR applications. And this is Technologies to Integrate Solar Generation with Energy Storage Systems and/or Electric Vehicle Charging. I'm gonna ask Kyle Fricker to present this subtopic. Kyle Fricker: Thanks, Emanuele. Hello, everyone. So with this subtopic we’re soliciting applications for the development of technologies to integrate and optimize PV distributed energy resources with energy storage capabilities and infrastructure for, and/or infrastructure for, electric vehicle charging, I should say. So as solar electricity costs continue to decline, the percentage of solar PV generation, both from distributed and utility scale systems in the U.S., is increasing. This opens up new challenges and opportunities for the development of novel technologies that can enable low-cost, dispatchable solar generation that can be integrated and operated flexibly to better match solar electricity with demand, as well as bring reductions of cost at the system level. So not only is solar growing rapidly, but storage and EV deployment is as well, as seen in the graphics on this slide. And I pulled these graphics out because I specifically wanted to direct applicants who are interested in this topic to recent DOE and NREL reports that are linked on the slide where these images come from, which discuss energy storage and EV synergies with solar in much greater detail that we can do on the call today. So ultimately the goal of this subtopic is to support ideas and prototypes for the development of technologies that can accelerate the decarbonization of the electricity and transportation systems. Next slide, Emanuele. So specifically SETO is seeking highly integrated systems that consist of distributed PV paired with energy storage systems and or electric vehicle charging systems. And that includes vehicle-to-grid and vehicle-to-home applications. So more specifically, the integrated co-located storage and or charging system should be fully compatible with and ultimately leverage the characteristics of a typical output of a solar inverter. So things like medium to low voltage, variable generation, etcetera. Applicants should also consider and optimize the cost of their systems. So we think that by leveraging the inherent flexibility of energy storage and EV charging technology, integrated systems can reduce the total capital and operational costs of these distributed energy resources, but that needs to be proven. So to that end, applicants must include a basic cost model analysis that shows the path to being cost-competitive with the current state of the art. And from a grid interactivity perspective, applicants must also demonstrate potential to increase the utilization of solar PV generation in the grid, including the potential to support the grid via grid services on-demand energy capacity, reliability and resiliency etcetera. And then, you know, we think about particular interest areas on the storage side. SETO is especially interested in novel thermal, mechanical, or chemical storage technologies that can demonstrate clear non-incremental differentiation from the current state of the art. And solutions that integrate EV charging should be capable of delivering power necessary for high-power, direct current fast charging. And then last up on this slide is just what we're not interested in and what will be deemed nonresponsive, and decline without review is applications that address self-consumption optimization exclusively. So essentially like off-grid solutions are not of interest. Emanuele Pecora: Thanks, Kyle. We have three questions already. Let's try to go through them quickly. The first one is, why does this have to be PV? Kyle Fricker: That's how the topic is – if you read the topic description, I believe, you'll see that we're talking about PV in this topic specifically. There are other topics where other solar technologies are applicable to, and there's an open topic, as well. Emanuele Pecora: OK. Does the storage address the battery storage only? Kyle Fricker: No, I think, like I was saying, we are interested in battery technology but we're also interested in other storage technologies and encourage applicants to be creative and push the envelope there. Emanuele Pecora: What about direct thermal energy storage in advanced materials like engineered geotechnical storage systems? Kyle Fricker: I think that would be in scope. Emanuele Pecora: And why are off-grid solutions deemed not responsive? Kyle Fricker: So in general, a lot of what our office is focused on is systemwide impacts. And so you'll see this in a lot of the solar offices, funding programs that were targeted on with on-grid technologies. That's not to say that off-grid is completely off the table. It isn't and there are certain topics where that is relevant. But this not one of those as it is written in the FOA. Emanuele Pecora: OK. We'll take two more because we're running out of time. There's also a question on 15A, so we're gonna get to that at the end. Can you please clarify the nonresponsive, I guess, area? Kyle Fricker: For this one? Emanuele Pecora: I think so. I think it refers to this one. Kyle Fricker: Yeah, I think it really relates to the idea that what we're seeking is these integrated systems that are also grid interactive. And so that there is some element of like load matching behind the meter, but there also needs to be an element that this thing, this system is interconnected with the grid and can interact with the grid if called upon. Emanuele Pecora: The last one we're gonna answer. If there's more, keep putting in the chat. Is EV optimization location in conjunction with distributed solar within topic? Kyle Fricker: So yeah, I think yes, I think that applicants that are addressing the EV charging piece of this topic, I think that EV optimization allocation would fit within that broad scope, although, you know, I think the focus is really on the interface between the solar and the vehicle charging system. But I think there are broader impacts and that should be taken into account. Emanuele Pecora: In the interest of time we're going to move forward. If there's more questions, we'll try to see if there's time at the end or we’ll anyway provide an answer, a written answer, in our website to all questions in general. So let's move to – thanks, Kyle. We’ll move to the next subtopic, 15E, Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power System Construction, Manufacturing, and Reliability. I'm going to ask Vijaykumar Rajgopal to present this subtopic. Vijaykumar Rajgopal: This topic is focused primarily on improving the performance, that is construction, design, engineering, commissioning, operations and maintenance of existing CSP plant. The background to this the 2019 CSP best practices study the reference which is in the next flight. The study identified best practices and lessons learned from EPC and other topics. It focuses primarily on CSP plant modeling, tank design, operations, training, plant automation, controls, standards and specifications, and showed that medics that from industry baselines you can produce the cost, increase the efficiency, improve ease of deployment, and lower barriers to deprive CSP in the United States. The documents as referred here, it's an NREL document which was published last year and flowing out of this. This particular topic is not only focused, is also although primarily focused on existing gentle plants that have Morton salt as a thermal energy storage and peak temperatures of 540° C. We are also exploring the idea that some aspects of the approaches that are pointed out here may even be applicable in higher temperature nonsalt [inaudible] regimes. If you can go to the next slide. We are focused on thermal energy storage improvement that is primarily below for 600° centigrade, nitrate salts is to increase the cost, to reduce the cost of construction, design, operation of the systems and in case of particle terminally storage systems, it's primarily focused on particle transport as a pointer to the next slide. The cost, the focus on the particle storage is on the cost of lift. We're trying to reduce the cost of the particle lift capable of 6,000 tons per hour and elevating very high particle temperatures from 200 to 600 degrees centigrade. For the steam generator as such, we are focused on novel heat exchanges designs and reducing the cost of steam generators using among other methodologies is 3D printing, but most important is for the stimulated system in general to be more fault-tolerant during operations. A number of the heat exchangers have shown to fail at various parts of the skin [inaudible]. We want to avoid these vehicle designs by proving the designs and thermal transient stress tolerant systems. Last is our design and construction. We want to reduce the cost, construction time and operation of solar installation of solar power towers in much shorter time frames than that is visible today. For these are the focus of this particular topic on concentrated solar thermal power system, construction, manufacturing and reliability. Emanuele Pecora: Thanks, V.J. I'm gonna wait a few seconds if there's any question for this subtopic. I haven't seen anything yet. In the interest of time – we're a little bit late – let's move to the next step to. Oh yeah, there is one question: Is there any interest in the upkeep of the mirrors? Vijaykumar Rajgopal: Not in this particular topic. We have additional subtopics that are available in additional funding opportunity announcement. Not on this. I don't think this topic focuses on mirrors. Emanuele Pecora: OK, so there will be a lot of interest. Are these the only topics that would be considered? You should read the topic documents. These release a lot of topics in terms for the Solar office. These are only – topic 15 and topic 16 are the two topics that we issue this year. Yes. OK, in the interest of time, let's move to the next one, subtopic – thanks, V.J. Next one is the topic 15F, again, open to both SBIR and STTR applications, Solar Hardware and Software Technologies for the Ability, Reliability, Performance, and Manufacturing. I'm going to ask David Walter to real quick discuss this subtopic. David Walter: Thank-you, Emanuele. So as Emanuele mentioned, this is kind of our open topic to cover things that our office works on that is outside of the topics that were already being discussed or laid out. So if you have ideas that work within the types of areas that we work in as an office, such as looking at metrology for PV manufacturing or module manufacturing, or reducing the soft costs of bouncing system cost of PV systems, this the area where we would expect you to apply. So outside of those other areas. So on that note, these are typically not of interest. That is an important part to go take a look at within the FOA. We have them listed here as well. I don't think I really need to read through all of them, but you know, if your idea falls into one of these categories or within one of the other topics that we have already had lifted, then we will decline it without review. If you want to just go to the next slide real quick. Yeah. And then there's some more of those areas. So really if it's duplicative or incremental, we're really not interested in those. You need to have a solid case on how it's going to change the state of the art. Thanks. I’ll take a couple questions if there are any. Emanuele Pecora: Yeah, there's a question already: Can you elaborate on the technologies you deem noncompetitive to be manufacturing in the U.S.? I think the question is referring to this bullet point. I can answer. So if there's a technology – we have a few examples there, PV modules based on CZTS, amorphous silicon thin films, or incorporation of functional materials like quantum dolls or luminescent concentrators – there are like plenty of house modeling showing us they're not like economically viable at least to compete with the current technologies. And so since we don't see a market path or parts of success in the market we are not interested in those technologies. Is solar to steam of interest? David Walter: So I would say – actually we have a topic 16 looking at industrial decarbonization using concentrating solar power. So that would probably more of an interest in that topic area, if you're looking at 16. Emanuele Pecora: Yeah. A kind of follow-up on the previous question: Have you evaluated [inaudible] manufacturing in America? We put out a lot of studies about these technologies and their kind of viability in the market within a time frame which is consistent with SBIR objectives. SBIR wants to have a company to be successful in the near medium term. And so that's kind of like our guideline there. I think these are all the [inaudible] reports of similar resources. Yeah, there's a lot of their websites. We can put some links when you answer to your question in the website. Decrease of maintenance cost fits in this topic? I'm assuming it’s maintenance cost of solar systems. And that will be, yes, that will be within the scope. Again, if it's not increasingly listed as another interest, it is within the scope of the topic. Is CSP water desalination and utility scale of interest? Dave, you want to take it? David Walter: Yeah, we've had desalination topics in the past, and I don't think it's specific – it's not specifically listed as an area not of interest. So, if you have some good analysis on how you're changing the current research in that area, then we would take a look at it. Emanuele Pecora: Yep. There's a question asking us, what is the best program fit for a specific technology? We cannot answer that question. It is up to you to decide which topic or which program to apply. We cannot direct you to a specific program. So let's move on in the interest of time. Let's go to this last question. Is multi-medium-sized land-based wind turbine tech in scope? If it's focused on wind turbine. We encourage you to look at the Wind Technologies Office topic; it's part of the same release. This is the topics about solar energy technologies. So that being said, that let's move to the next subtopic, which again is still open to both SBIR and STTR. So you can apply either way, with other applications. But this a special top topic that is a technology transfer opportunity. In this case, instead of putting out a specific space and asking your ideas, the difference is that for this subtopic we put out a specific technology, which has been developed by our national labs, by NREL, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, in this case. And we ask companies to continue development of this technology with the hope to get it closer to the market. We can award only one company that gets the $200,000 R&D funding and gets also six months nonexclusive license agreement to work on this technology and continue development towards commercialization. So this is the first of the two technology transfer opportunities we have. This first one is going to be presented by, I think, correct me if I’m wrong, should be Xinyang Zhou from NREL. You there? OK. Xinyang Zhou: Yeah, my name is Zhou. So I’ll quickly go through the background. So the increasing penetration of distributed energy resources or DERs has been turning the traditionally passive distribution networks into more active ones. So if not properly coordinated, the extra generation from DERs may cause system instability like voltage violation or failure to meet demand response. And all the user's comfort level or utility levels may drop because they may have to curtail a lot of their generations or cut their loads when the system needs them, too. But at the same time, such an extra control flexibility provided by DERs if properly used can also grant us the opportunities of a more robust and energy efficient for future power grid. So this motivates us to keep advancing organization control algorithm to better integrate and optimally coordinate DERs Into our systems. So one of the best way to do so is to solve so-called optimal power flow problems, which provides the best operating points for all the control devices, if they can be solved. However, solving open power flow for a large-scale realistic system in real time is not easy, particularly the computation complexity or computation time increased protectively or cubicly as the size of the network. So making this such a real-time implementation is very challenging. So the proposed solution method is to have this so-called hierarchical distributed algorithm. So we designed such algorithm to break down a large system into smaller subsystems and sub-sub-systems so that each small system requires much less competition burden. And they also add up to solve the original large problem without compromising performance. Next slide, please. So particularly compared with the centralized coordinate problem where a central coordinator talked to each controllable devices, we basically divide a large system into smaller areas and each area will be controlled or coordinated by a regional coordinator. And those regional coordinators talk to the central coordinator. By doing so, we are able to save a lot of computation time and therefore increase self-serving time of the large-scale OPS optimal power flow. And we have also tested the result in a real-time hardware in the loop test with 11K-nodes system and 100 power hardware devices. And we do update every four seconds, within which we spend one second for [inaudible], one second for optimum graphical updates, one second for communication. So and so forth. I don't have time for further details. I put all the references below. So some related and future research is – what we have designed here also has a market-based interpretation, where we can package the control signals into incentive, monetary incentives, to the customers for the DERs. And also hierarchical strategy can also be extended above distribution systems such that we can ask you to provide frequency control, what you control for transmission system, so on and so forth. Yeah, for the interest of time, I think I'll stop here, and I’m happy to take questions. Emanuele Pecora: There's a question already. Once again in this case for this subtopic, we are providing the technology, which is what has been just described. And we ask the company to develop and commercialize this specific technology. There's a question on [inaudible] grid optimization, quantum algorithm development and testing in scope. Correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think this technology relates to those algorithms, but correct me if I'm wrong, Xinyang Zhou: Yeah, I'm not familiar with this algorithm. Sorry. Emanuele Pecora: Yeah, they're not related to this technology. And this subtopic is to really commercialize this specific technology that's been just presented. I'm gonna wait a few more seconds, if there's another question. If not, thanks, Ziyang, and of course if there are more questions we will make sure that we provide them to NREL and get an answer. The next topic is also technology transfer opportunities. The same story. We provide the technology and we ask a small business to continue development and commercialization. This one is again, another technology developed by NREL and I think should be Rebecca Mitchell (you there?) presenting this technology. Rebecca Mitchell: Yeah. So this technology addresses issue at concentrating solar power plants that has to do with the ability to measure the optical errors of a solar field of a concentrating solar power plant. So 100 megawatt concentrated solar power plant, or CSP plant, can use 10,000 to 50,000 heliostats to focus on light at the centrally located receiver. And doing a survey of the optical efficiency of every mirror in one of these plants is a nontrivial task. And it's an important one because two mrads or a fraction of a degree of heliostat optical degradation can cause 20% decrease in total power generation of the plant. So full field heliostatic measurements are going to be an important component of allowing CSP plants to become more efficient and cost effective and be able to compete with other technologies. And at NREL, we've developed this nonintrusive optical technology, or the neo technology, which offers this innovative and efficient way to survey the solar field where we use a us to collect images. And so we can scan every heliostat in the field in a matter of seconds. And then we can calculate a detailed, optimal air data from every mirror in the field. If you go to the next slide please. So the overall process of the technology, of this particular technology and how we derived this tracking correction, is that we start with our initial automated image scan of every heliostat in the field. And then we're able to post-process these images showing a reflected tower in the mirror surface to detect distortions in the mirror and estimate the optical air on the mirror. And then from that we're able to derive a tracking direction of the heliostat by identifying offsets in optical errors on the mirror. And so we're getting an initial estimate then we're able to correct that estimate based on looking at this error distribution data. So if you go on to the next slide. So our next steps with this technology. So this a technology that's currently under development. And we're in the process of automating this for large-scale data collection. So reading in thousands or hundreds of thousands of image frames from data collected from a field. Being able to automatically identify heliostat targets in each of these images and post-process these images to derive this error automatically. We want to adapt this algorithm to run on a GPU or a parallel computing cluster as it will be a lot of data and we'll need a lot of operations to be able to post-process this data. We need to conduct full field test campaigns at commercial CSP plants. So we have done some of this but we need to do more large scale data collection to validate and develop this technology. And we plan to test this technology with a variety of commercially available drones. And so we've done this with a subset of drones, but we plan to expand the type of UAS devices that were able to use with this technology. So we’re looking for business partners to help us develop this technology with these steps. Emanuele Pecora: Thank-you. I think there are a couple of questions. Oh, sorry, it was your last slide? Sorry. Rebecca Mitchell: Yes. Emanuele Pecora: OK. And there are a couple of questions for you. Are using artificial intelligence programs together and analyze this data? If so, are you developing your own? Rebecca Mitchell: We are not currently. So our current algorithms are mostly computer vision based. We have done development into machine learning or deep learning approaches but had not developed that to a point of being able to implement it successfully for this purpose yet. So it is something we're looking to and we are definitely looking in to partner with businesses that may be able to incorporate that aspect into this technology. Emanuele Pecora: And I think there's another question which I think applies to you. The question is asking if this technology is applicable for trough technologies, also the same error correction opportunities. Rebecca Mitchell: Yes. So this method was actually – the initial idea for this came from an existing project called Distant Observer. So we do have a technology that we have developed that does something similar for troughs, where we collect image data of troughs and then derive optical errors. So that technology is in existence. So we've partnered with Solar Dynamics to develop that tool, as well. Emanuele Pecora: OK, I don't see other questions for you. Thanks, Rebecca; thanks for your time, and again, if there are more questions we'll make sure to send them to our NREL researchers and provide an answer in our website. So moving forward to topic 16. So now we're switching gears and we're going to discuss the three subtopics that are part of this topic, which is open only to STTR applications. So once again in this case you must partner with a research institution, could be a national lab, could be a university, and a research institution must be strongly engaged with a small business. And the research institution must conduct at least 30% of the work. So that's like the requirements. Read again the distinction between SBIR and STTR before applying. Make sure you meet all the requirements for STTR. We have three subtopics. The first one is 16A. It's really an open topic. In this case you want to leverage the STTR mechanisms to sustain technology transfer for research laboratories to the market. So it's very similar to what we discussed before. It's an open subtopic where everything within the mission of the office is within scope. We put like some emphasis on some areas, manufacturing of photovoltaics for quality control processes for manufacturing lines, metrology for PV systems, optical and milling technologies for photovoltaic module manufacturing including thin films or perovskites, system integration technologies, balanced system technologies. So it's pretty open, really, but in this case once again, we strongly encourage you to look at the areas not of interest. I'm not gonna read them. There's like a few bullet points of areas that are no other interests, but again, if it's not listed here, and it's still within the solar energy space, it's within the scope. And again, the goal here is to really have small businesses partnering with research institution to support technology transfer, to make sure that we can accelerate transitional technologies from universities, national labs, to companies and to the market. So let's see if there's any question. Can you reach out to the program manager to discuss whether an application will be nonresponsive? We do not provide assessment of technologies outside of our formal review process. You need to submit an LOI. Then you receive an assessment from us. If you have questions about the language, send it to us and we'll provide an answer in our website, but we don't provide feedback on individual ideas or ideas or individual projects. I don't see other questions for this subtopic, which again is a pretty open subtopic. Just make sure to look at the areas not of interest. And let's say, let's move to the next subtopic, subtopic 16B. Again, this is open to STTR only, and it's Concentrating Solar Power Technologies for Industrial Decarbonization. And I'm going to ask again Vijaykumar to present this subtopic. Vijaykumar Rajgopal: As Emanuele said, this subtopic is focused on concentrated solar thermal heat for solar thermal decarbonization activities. As the first figure shows, industrial sector that includes manufacturing, chemicals, refining iron and steel, cement, contribute nearly 30% of carbon dioxide that is emitted to the environment and also consume nearly 30% of the fuel fossil fuel that is used. One of the direct sales from the, from the secretary is to lead towards air decarbonization, complete decarbonization of industrial sector by 2050. And this particular topic is focused on concentrated solar thermal heat for industrial decarbonization. Next slide. Again the primary focus is thermally driven industrial processes for fuel and chemical. The word here is not mining; it would be other nonmetals such as cement, alumina and then metals processing. The existing technology is shown in the dark area below legacy at bottom. All processes burn fossil fuel, supply heat for industrial reaction. Now we are asking for novel CSP integrated processes that use direct on-sun heating or storage of thermal energy storage, storing energy [inaudible] and supplying the heat when the sun goes down. And between these two pathways, supply enough heat for industrial reactions to proceed and produce value-added output while replacing fossil fuel and eliminating carbon dioxide. Next half of the slide, please. Focus is on high impact industries. You always saw the slide there that said that select industries like steel, cement, ammonia, chemicals and fuels contribute most of the emissions. So if you can continue this, continue clicking on it. Thank you. So the goal first is to improve thermal efficiency. Solar thermal couple parts are not very efficient today. The applicants, with the support of national labs or universities, will focus on reactor design, heat input to reactors, catalysts, recuperators, and ways to heat the catalyst under catalyst bed to enable solar thermal chemical processes to happen, [inaudible] and often in parallel. They would also do modeling and development of new methods to deliver heat, either by on-sun heating or the thermal storage systems. And underlying the basis of all these are system concepts and key components for using process heat for chemicals, metals and elements from concentrated solar thermal. Next slide, please. Again, if you can just shift to the right, I don't know why. So there are two temperatures that we are focused on called gentle temperatures that are below 600 degrees centigrade, which does not allow high nickel alloys and use molten nitrate salt as thermal energy storage, and [inaudible] temperatures, which go to 700-plus temperatures and focus on particles and other advanced terminally storage mechanisms. Some specific examples are given here. The applicants don't need to limit themselves here. At our 600 degrees C we see the following chemistries: dehydrogenation from propane for example to propylene, and a few other examples that are shown here. Haber-Bosch ammonia production, thermal cracking of hydrocarbons, some mineral steps are all possible at temperatures 600 degrees centigrade and below. Above 600 degrees centigrade, there are examples such as iron ore reduction, calcium carbonate decarbonation, and syngas generation. But we don't want the applicants to be limited to this list. Anything that the industry can use and can make use of concentrated solar thermal energy is welcome. But what is not mentioned here is supplying steam, plainly low million pressure steam, to the industry right now is available from concentrated solar thermal. Not cost-competitive with natural gas, so that is not a part of this particular FOA. This particular FOA focuses on high-temperature solar thermal heat. Next slide. So again, the research topics already talked about are reactor design, thermal energy storage integration, component systems, processes, catalyst, catalyst bed heating, on-sun testing, sensors and control, and the production of fuels and hydrogen from solar energy. In all aspects we would like support from universities and national labs and small companies working towards developing these components for future industrial applications, or even labs testing on some national labs are at industry, as would be appropriate to your particular process. So I turn it out for some questions if any. Emanuele Pecora: Thank-you, Vijay. Gonna wait a few seconds if there's any question this subtopic. Oh there's one: Is a project that involves the development of an electrochemical process to replace a thermal process allowing solar energy to power instead of fossil fuel, is that within scope? Vijaykumar Rajgopal: Electrochemical processes as long as they will heat input some form of energy input from solar that is not purely electricity PV are applicable. Anything that allows PV input or steam input at low temperatures are not part of the process here. Emanuele Pecora: Thank-you. Let's wait a few more seconds if there is another question. OK, I don't see anything. So thank-you, Vijay. And let's move to the next subtopic, subtopic 16C, Next-Generation Solar Forecasting. This is again, open to STTR applications only. So you must partner with a research institution. And I'm gonna ask Tassos Golnas is to present the subtopic. Tassos Golnas: Thanks, Emanuele. So as you all know, solar power is both variable as well as unpredictable to a large extent. So when you try to integrate much of it in the power system, that presents a challenge to the system operators. A way to tackle that challenge is to use forecasting of the output of the source systems according to the grid, they're going to provide reliable and cost effective service. Forecasting has been around for some time. But again, given the unpredictability of solar power as well as the applicability of the loads in many cases, we believe that there is more value that can come out of probabilistic solar forecasting rather than point forecasting. In a recent funding opportunity, forecasting too, we have supported the development of probabilistic sort of forecasting both on the [inaudible] side as well as on the solar power side. We have also supported the development of a platform, an open platform, called Solar Forecast Arbiter, which used to evaluate and analyze forecasts, both point forecast and probabilistic forecasts. Now for this particular STTR opportunity, what we're looking for is the development of probabilistic sort of power forecasting products that essentially can generate the interest from vendors and end users. What I want to stress here is that this a market where we have challenges both on the supply side – there are not enough probabilistic forecasts out there as marketed products – and we also have [inaudible] is on the demand side. The system operators by nature [inaudible]. They're not trying to outcompete each other in terms of technology. So it's important to generate interest on their part and explain the value that probabilistic sort of forecasting and potentially probabilistic met load forecasting can provide to their operations. Emanuele, [inaudible] if there's any questions coming in. Emanuele Pecora: Yes, there's one, first question: What is the link to the open platform? I don't know if you can put in that chat box, or … Tassos Golnas: Sure, I can do it. Emanuele Pecora: Yeah, it's pretty easy. Solarforecastarbiter.org? Yes, solarforecastarbiter.org. There's a long, there's a question we think is not necessarily related to your subtopic. I'm going to go through this question: I don't see the name of any university in the list of awardees in the past few years. So the prime recipient is always small business. This funding opportunity is restricted to small businesses. In the STTR the small business will partner with the research institution, and the university will be a subcontractor, basically subrecipient, that has to do at least 30% of the R&D. But the university cannot apply directly. The applicant is still the small business, but the small business is required to work with the university. Hopefully that answers that question. For Phase one – yes, that's the same for Phase 1 and Phase 2. Yes. This funding opportunity in general is restricted to small businesses, but with STTR, there's a requirement to work with universities or national labs. Any other questions for Tassos, topic 16C? Tassos Golnas: And the last thing I want to mention on that topic, Emanuale, is that the required – the products that will be so, you know, supported, they will need to show that they can beat the benchmark forecasts. And the full document describes the benchmark forecasts as a probabilistic example [inaudible]. Emanuele Pecora: There's a question for you: Is there interest only in software solutions? Does introduction of technology will include hardware solutions to be considered? Tassos Golnas: I think even if the hardware is supported, software side of the part is necessary. So let me face another way: Hardware alone, I don't think it probably can deliver the probabilistic side of the requirement, but obviously if it includes hardware, it was in software, it will still be, I think, accepted. Emanuele Pecora: Yeah. The person is clarifying that the [inaudible] will be the source of data. Tassos Golnas: Yeah, of course. Emanuele Pecora: So yes. OK. We are actually a time. We are going to, as I said, collect all the questions and put an answer on our websites. I'm going to put the link to the website in the chat box once again. So you all have it. And with that, thanks again for your interest in our FY22 SBIR/STTR funding opportunity. If you have any other questions about the language of the topics, free to reach out your email. Please understand that we don't provide feedback on specific ideas, but we're very happy to clarify our language and to put the answer on our website so it's accessible to all potential applicants. That being said, thank-you all and have a great day.