The Energy Department’s national laboratory system has been a key partner in accelerating and achieving progress towards the goals of the SunShot Initiative. The SunShot National Laboratory Multiyear Partnership (SuNLaMP) funding program allows the national labs to continue to address the most critical barriers that remain to achieving a total installed cost of solar energy systems to $.06 per kilowatt-hour by 2020. SuNLaMP projects address all five of SunShot’s subprograms in fiscal years 2016 through 2018.

APPROACH

SuNLaMP projects target high-impact problems, make a significant difference in research areas, focus on broad problems with new approaches, and have a significant return on investment. Projects under this $230 million funding program must meet agreed-upon objectives, deliver on milestones, yield valuable results, and remain relevant to the current research and development needs of the technology and the solar marketplace.

SUBPROGRAM OBJECTIVES

Photovoltaics (PV) projects aim to lower material and process costs, increase efficiency, and improve the reliability and durability of PV modules. Learn more about PV SuNLaMP awards.

Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) projects support research and development into technologies that have the potential for lower cost, higher efficiency, and more reliable performance than existing commercial and near-commercial CSP systems. Learn more about CSP SuNLaMP awards.

Systems Integration projects address potential challenges of integrating hundreds of gigawatts of solar energy onto the grid by focusing on grid performance and reliability, dispatchability, power electronics, and communications. Learn more about Systems Integration SuNLaMP awards.

Soft Costs projects focus on analysis, education, and outreach, and support soft cost reductions, expanding access to solar energy, and accelerate solar deployment. Learn more about Soft Costs SuNLaMP awards.

The Technology to Market project provides strategic cost and competitiveness analysis in the commercial sphere with respect to new technology development, scale-up, and domestic competitiveness. Learn more about the Technology to Market SuNLaMP award.