PV Manufacturing R&D Accomplishments and Status

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) PV Manufacturing Research and Development Project has worked for 11 years in partnership with the U.S. photovoltaic industry to reduce manufacturing costs while significantly scaling up production capacity. Over this period, the PV Manufacturing R&D Project has issued seven solicitations for partnerships that have resulted in over 50 cost-shared R&D subcontracts that addressed the cost and capacity goals of the Project, including 10 that are currently active. The previous and current contracts have typically focused on addressing Project goals in one of two areas: module manufacturing and balance-of-systems (BOS)/systems work. The majority of the DOE investment has been targeted toward module manufacturing. The partnerships have resulted in a significant and measurable increase in PV module/systems production capacity, a decrease in PV manufacturing costs, and a subsequent return on the joint public and private investments facilitated by the Project.