The mission of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) is to support research & development to harness America's abundant solar energy for secure, affordable, and reliable solar energy.
SETO works to:
- Drive innovation to make American-made solar technology affordable and its supply chain secure
- Enable solar energy with storage to support the reliability, resilience, and security of the electricity grid
- Provide relevant and objective technical information to cut red tape and meet growing electricity demand
SETO supports solar energy research, development, demonstration and technical assistance in the following areas; photovoltaics (PV), concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP), systems integration, manufacturing and competitiveness, soft costs, and solar workforce development. Learn more about SETO’s research areas.
In May 2021, SETO released its Multi-Year Program Plan, which describes the office’s activities and specific goals for 2025. Download the plan.
Technology Cost Targets
SETO drives innovation in technology and soft cost reduction to make solar affordable and accessible for all Americans. To do that, SETO tracks the cost of solar energy systems to measure progress towards national goals for reducing the cost of solar electricity and to guide the direction of its research and development program. Learn more about our cost targets and our current benchmark.
Safe and Reliable Grid Integration
SETO works to enable solar energy and storage systems to support the reliability, resilience, and security of the grid. SETO is working to address these challenges by studying the integration of solar with energy storage, load control, and other distributed energy resources, as well as advancing thermal energy storage that is paired with CSP technologies.
Meet Growing Electricity Demand
Meeting demand for new electricity will require rapid solar deployment by providing data and tools to streamline siting, permitting, installation, and interconnection processes. Rapid deployment must also be responsive to the needs of host communities, the solar industry and workers.
Objective and Relevant Technical Information
SETO partners with agencies and funds research to develop resources to support informed decision-making at the consumer, local, state, and industry level. SETO compiles domestic and global market data across manufacturing, employment, prices, and more, providing subject matter expertise to decision-makers inside and outside the federal government via reports, databases, benchmarks, and quick-turn analyses.
Past Goals
In 2011, SETO launched the SunShot Initiative to lower the cost of solar-generated electricity by 75% to enable utility-scale solar costing approximately $1 per watt or $0.06 per kWh by 2020, which was achieved three years ahead of schedule. Learn more about the SunShot Initiative.
Learn more about SETO, its research areas, and current funding opportunities.