DE-FOA-0002243 Solar Energy Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2020 Funding Program | DE FOA 0002243

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002243

DE-FOA-0002243, the Solar Energy Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2020 Funding Program, is a discretionary funding opportunity released by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), specifically the Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO), with administration through the DOE Golden Field Office. The program is set up to fund research, development, and demonstration work that makes solar power cheaper, more reliable, and easier to use at scale on the electric grid, while also strengthening U.S. manufacturing and business competitiveness tied to solar technologies. The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which generally means DOE expects to have substantial involvement during the project period (for example, through technical direction, milestones, go/no-go decisions, or coordination), rather than operating as a hands-off grant.

The technical scope centers on three core areas that reflect SETO's portfolio: photovoltaics (PV), concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP), and systems integration. In practical terms, this means the FOA is looking for projects that can push PV and CSP performance forward and lower costs, while also tackling the real-world challenges of operating solar as a major grid resource. Systems integration is a major emphasis because cost and performance are not only about the solar hardware; they also depend on how well solar plants, inverters, controls, forecasting, storage, and grid operations work together, especially as solar penetration increases.

Beyond the traditional technology tracks, the opportunity highlights several crosscutting priorities that signal where DOE wanted innovation in 2020. One is grid reliability and energy management technologies, reflecting the need for better control strategies, power electronics, and operational tools that help utilities and grid operators manage variability and maintain stability. Another is cybersecurity, acknowledging that modern solar and distributed energy resources rely on networked communications, software, and remote control interfaces that can introduce vulnerabilities if not designed and maintained securely. The FOA also calls out expansion of solar into new applications, including agricultural solar (often associated with agrivoltaics), which pairs solar generation with farming or grazing to make dual use of land and broaden deployment options. It further emphasizes integrating solar with storage, an important pathway for improving dispatchability, smoothing output, and providing grid services. Finally, it notes the use of artificial intelligence to address research challenges, which can include areas like system optimization, fault detection, predictive maintenance, improved forecasting, design automation, and advanced materials or device discovery approaches.

In terms of program logistics, the FOA was created on February 5, 2020, with an original closing date of May 21, 2020. It is associated with CFDA number 81.087 and classified under the Energy funding activity category. Eligibility is described as unrestricted, meaning it is broadly open to many entity types, with the caveat that applicants must still follow any additional eligibility clarifications contained in the full announcement text. The FOA lists an expected number of awards of about 80, suggesting DOE anticipated supporting a relatively wide set of projects across multiple topic areas and maturity levels. The posted award ceiling in the source data appears as "2" (without units), which likely reflects a formatting or truncation issue in the extracted record rather than a complete statement of maximum award size; in practice, DOE FOAs typically specify ceilings in dollars by topic area within the full FOA document.

Overall, the SETO FY2020 funding program is best understood as a broad R&D push meant to accelerate solar cost reductions and deployment-readiness while solving grid integration problems that become more important as solar scales. It aims to deliver both technology advances (in PV and CSP) and enabling capabilities (integration, energy management, cybersecurity, storage coupling, and AI-driven tools) so solar can function as a dependable, secure, and economically competitive part of the U.S. energy system.

• The Department of Energy, Golden Field Office in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DE-FOA-0002243 Solar Energy Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2020 Funding Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.087.
• This funding opportunity was created on Feb 05, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 21, 2020. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 80 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for DE FOA 0002243

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