DOE Request for Information (RFI) DE-FOA-0000484

$1/W Photovoltaic (PV) Systems: Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems Advanced Concepts (SEGIS-AC)
Program Manager/Area Ramamoorthy Ramesh, Program Manager, Solar Energy Technologies Program, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Background and Rationale The United States Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Solar Energy Technologies Program (SETP) held a workshop in Washington, DC on August 11 and 12, 2010 to identify approaches to reduce the cost of installed, gridconnected photovoltaic (PV) systems to $1 per watt by 2017. This goal significantly accelerates DOEs cost reduction efforts through transformational approaches. The full summary of the $1/W Workshop can be found on the DOE Solar Programs website1. For the purposes of planning, the $1/W goal has been broken down into $0.50/W for modules, $0.10/W for power electronics, and $0.40/W for installation and remaining balance of system (BOS)2 costs. This served as the framework for discussions at the workshop and also for the targets associated with this RFI. Also for purposes of discussion, the DOE has identified several major areas where significant cost reductions in power electronics can be made including: 1) economies of scale; 2) advanced components; 3) reliability; 4) smart grid integration and 5) understanding of system implications. The DOE also considers how changes in power electronics impact the cost of the PV system as a whole. Figure 1 illustrates the cost reductions necessary to achieve the $0.10/W goal based on utilityscale PV power electronics costs. It is clear that utility-scale PV system costs are currently closest to the $1/W goal. However, the DOE is also interested in achieving BOS cost reductions for commercial and residential systems to achieve widespread, near-term PV costcompetitiveness in the retail market.
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The full workshop summary $1/W Photovoltaic Systems Workshop Summary is available on the Solar Energy Technology Program Website at: http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/dollar_per_watt.html 2 Balance of system is defined as any and all components other than the PV modules and the power electronics.

Figure 1. One snapshot for potential cost reduction in utility-scale inverters.

Figure 1 above shows a snapshot of current prices for inverters used in utility-scale PV systems. The current installed price for these inverters is approximately $0.22/W. An additional $0.08/W (30% premium for 30-year warranty) is required for the warranty and an additional $0.03/W is required for smart-grid functionality (10% premium on installed price for larger inverter requirements). For the purposes of this RFI, it is assumed that all inverters will be required by utilities to have smart-grid functionality by 2017 to enable a much higher penetration of solar systems on the grid. DOE estimates that the cost reductions in power electronics shown in Figure 1 will be needed by 2017. Reducing the costs necessary to develop a 30-year inverter is an estimate of what may be possible. Reductions in the cost of smart-grid capability and BOS reductions are assumptions that need further verification, but can be derived from DOEs current and prior work in grid integration systems. $1/W Program Structure The overall concept for a $1/W Program is shown in Figure 2 below. The proposed effort is broken down into three phases, but system integration must be a focus from the start. The three phases are labeled: Component Technology Development, Systems Integration, and Systems Demonstration. The goal of the Component Technology Development phase is to explore and develop many different technologies and approaches before a vertically integrated systems approach is attempted. In the Systems Integration phase, promising approaches discovered in the Component Technology Development Phase for each of the three major funded areas will be combined to form vertically integrated teams that can deliver the complete installed systems solutions. During this Systems Integration phase, these teams will optimize system designs and develop a supply chain necessary to credibly demonstrate $1/W installed systems. Phase 3 is a potential Systems Demonstration phase where commercial scale
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systems designed in Phase 2 could be demonstrated. Leverage and coordination with other federal funding sources such as DOEs Loan Guarantee Program would be critical during this phase.

Figure 2 $1/W Program Phases (Does not indicate required coordination between phases)

Approach From a strategic perspective, it is clear that there may be at least two pathways to potentially achieve this aggressive goal. One pathway involves solving fundamental power electronics problems at the component level that can be leveraged by advances across multiple industries (e.g. automotive). This includes reducing the cost of advanced components (e.g. SiC, GaN), which will reduce the size and cost of the magnetic materials (and other components) traditionally used in power electronic inverters and converters. This may also include addressing reliability failures due to the thermal cycling of materials with different coefficients of thermal expansion. The second pathway involves solving problems that are more specific to the solar industry. This includes developing technologies that allow high penetrations of solar technologies onto the grid (e.g. reactive power, energy storage, advanced functionalities), developing PV system technologies that reduce overall balance-of-system costs (e.g. high voltage systems), developing technologies that harvest more energy from the sun (e.g. MPPT, micro-inverters), and demonstrating the feasibility of these technologies on a larger scale (micro-inverters). The purpose of this RFI is to collect information on this second pathway.

Power Electronics and the PV System To ensure that high penetrations of solar technologies can be integrated into the grid in a safe and reliable manner, the industry needs to develop and demonstrate equipment with new or advanced functionalities to address PV system and utility interconnection related issues. Some system level innovations provide clear pathways to enhanced performance and reduced system cost; others will be required to remove barriers to wide-scale adoption of PV systems as a primary energy source for the nation. These system level innovations can be broadly categorized into grid integration, and performance, reliability, and safety. Grid Integration In his speech providing the vision for the $1/W initiative, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu indicated that the nation would receive 14% of its energy from solar power by 2030 if PV systems cost $1/W by 2017. Unfortunately, the utility grid as it exists today was not designed for PV systems installed either on the transmission or distribution systems. The inevitable transformation of the electrical grid to a more distributed generation configuration requires solar system capabilities well beyond simple net-metered, grid-connected approaches. Intelligent controls of power flow into and out of the utility grid will be required to ensure grid reliability, stability, and power quality. Alternative protection strategies will also be required to accommodate large numbers of distributed energy sources. Time-of-use and peak-demand rate structures will require more sophisticated systems designs that integrate energy management and/or energy storage into the system architecture. One way to help ensure the stability of the grid at high penetration of solar is to develop smart-grid capabilities such as reactive power support to help stabilize system voltage and control the variability of the system output. According to the $1/W Workshops power electronics working group, reactive power support may add up to 10% to inverter costs and the interface for energy storage may add $0.05/W. While these additional features further increase the price of the power electronics equipment, these new functionalities must be included and be reduced in price to meet the goal of $0.10/W. In addition, active communication protocols must be developed in tandem with utilities and be consistent with IEEE standards for interconnecting distributed resources with electric power systems (e.g. IEEE 1547 and 1547.8) to ensure that new functionalities on these distributed resources can be properly utilized and controlled. With the hundreds of thousands of PV systems that are expected to be installed in the next decade, utilities may require the ability to control a large number of systems in aggregate. New hardware and software must be developed to enable utilities to have visibility on these systems in aggregate and control them for reliability purposes as necessary. Another area of concern for utilities with high penetration scenarios is system islanding. Many inverters use a variety of anti-islanding protocols to determine when it is appropriate for the PV system to shut down. While all commercial products are tested to meet the existing standard, they are not tested with other inverters working together in parallel. As an example, this issue was addressed in Japan by developing a single anti-islanding protocol that all inverters utilize. While that is one approach, others may be equally viable and need to be investigated. Other

innovative methods that include utility control of islanding functionality will likely reduce overall costs of the inverter and provide stabilizing features for the utility infrastructure. Performance, Reliability, and Safety System level innovations will be necessary to bring install costs within the $1/W target. While innovations like cell-level power electronics clearly have the potential to increase performance and lower cost, other system innovations such as advanced string combiners do as well. Operating systems at high voltage (above 600V) can reduce voltage drop in the array wiring and reduce the amount of copper conductor needed in the system. However, new cost effective switchgear will need to be developed to handle these high DC voltages. In addition, high DC voltage, and in fact all systems on buildings, will require reliable arc-fault detection schemes to ensure the systems can operate safely without causing fires. Another performance enhancement is the system integration of monitoring equipment. While this is commonly done today, information is not readily available within energy management protocols and may not meet utility requirements for accuracy (approximately energy measurement within 2%). New methodologies must provide this information easily and accurately. Communications methodologies for monitoring should be included to ensure that there are no unnecessarily long PV system generation outages. In addition, accurate power and energy measurements will allow for the recording of renewable energy credits, time-of-day effects, and potentially carbon credits. Improved monitoring will lead to overall value of the systems by enabling conservation efforts within the connected systems. A final potential place for enhanced energy harvesting may lie in new algorithms for maximum power point tracking (MPPT). With the variety of new PV module technologies and concentrator systems on the market, MPPT algorithms may require advanced tuning to harvest the most energy possible from the modules. Investigation into new algorithms for these modules is necessary. Funding for Power Electronics With a significant investment in supporting power electronics of approximately $7-9M annually for three years ($24-27M), subject to annual appropriations, the DOE may be able to reach the aggressive target of $0.10/W by investing in both power electronics research and in technologies more specific to grid-connected, photovoltaic systems. It is anticipated that in year one, projects will focus on research and development (minimum required cost share of 20%). In year two, projects will focus on prototype development (minimum required cost share of 20%). In the final year, which marks the beginning of Phase 2 of the $1/W Initiative, projects will focus on demonstration at scale (minimum required cost share of 50%). The following are potential topic areas that DOE is considering for a potential funding opportunity announcement: Smart-Grid Functionality: As PV technologies become more ubiquitous, these systems may potentially impact grid reliability on both the distribution (e.g. voltage fluctuation) and transmission systems (e.g. variability). This may cause utilities to severely limit PV installations or severely increase integration and interconnection costs. Awardees will develop cost-effective technologies to mitigate these issues using reactive power, storage, utility communication protocols, etc. Using Power Electronics to Address Balance of System Costs: Power electronics can be used to harness more energy from the sun effectively reducing the need for PV modules
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or BOS equipment. They may also be used to enhance safety. Awardees will develop new ways to harness more energy through MPPT algorithms or by mitigating the effects of issues like PV module mismatch, shading, etc. Awardees may also develop new ways to reduce the amount of copper wiring in the system using high-voltage techniques. Awardees should develop monitoring equipment to be integrated into the power electronics equipment that is inexpensive, accurate, and easily integrated into existing energy management systems. Awardees may also consider using technologies to mitigate fire hazards and enhance safety in general (e.g. arc-fault detection).

Anticipated DOE Funding (subject to annual appropriations) and number of awards, including an anticipated down-select after Year 1 (an additional down-select may occur after Year 2): o Year 1: Four awards at approximately $2M each o Year 2: Three awards at approximately $3M each o Year 3: Three awards at approximately $3M each

Request for Information Guidelines Respondents are asked to comment on the questions below. Respondents are also encouraged to comment on the value of the anticipated SEGIS-AC Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), as well as your organizations anticipated interest in participating in such an opportunity. Questions: 1) Is the FOA, as outlined, sufficiently comprehensive? For example, what role should energy storage play? Are there other power electronics development considerations that should be included explicitly? 2) This RFI offers a breakdown of the power electronics innovations across grid integration, performance, reliability, and safety. Does this breakdown effectively and comprehensively address all areas where power electronics technology development can play a direct role in reaching the $1/W objectives stated herein? Is there a better organizational structure that more clearly conveys a comprehensive picture, such as, by application (eg, utility, commercial, residential), by functionality (e.g., power conversion, MPPT, reactive power support, islanding, etc.), or some other organizational structure? 3) What is the role of reactive power, and how does increased operational hours throughout the day affect reliability of the inverter? 4) DOE has also recently published an RFI regarding a PV Balance of Systems (BOS).3 What approach should DOE take to assure smooth integration of the developments and results obtained from these FOAs in the systems integration phase of the overall program? 5) Power electronics components for PV systems come in different sizes, depending on the market sector. What size ranges should this FOA address, especially in consideration of the finite funding for the FOA? Should DOE give consideration to linkages to existing infrastructure and energy management, especially in the context of building systems? 6) Are the funding levels for each award and award phase sufficient? If not, what level in total or per award is required to meet the DOE goals, taking into account investment
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from federal, state, and private entities? Would it be better for DOE to fund more awards at lower levels or fewer awards at higher levels? Does the level of cost share seem appropriate? 7) What other services and support, and at what cost, would you anticipate receiving beyond financial assistance (e.g. support from DOE technical experts, independent testing)? 8) As new products are developed, will development or modification of building or product codes and standards be required? If so, specifically which codes and standards. What kind of support would you need and how much would it cost to provide? 9) What evaluation criteria should be included in the FOA to help measure the potential of a proposal to be successful? What evaluation criteria should DOE use to evaluate Applicants qualifications to ensure they meet the needs of the industry? 10) How should energy management and energy storage development be addressed in this FOA and how should the associated costs be considered with respect to $/W targets? 11) How should communications (internal to the customer and to the utility for control purposes) be included in this FOA and how should costs associated with install, reliability, and operation be addressed with respect to $/W targets? Respondents are requested to provide the following information at the start of their response to this RFI: Company/Institutional Name, Company/Institutional Contact, Address, phone number, and e-mail address, Brief description of the operations and mission of business or institution (several sentences will suffice).

All responses to this RFI must be delivered electronically in Microsoft Word (.doc) format as an attachment to an email sent to the following email address: PowerElectronics@go.doe.gov Emails should have the subject line SEGIS-AC RFI Response. Questions may also be sent to PowerElectronics@go.doe.gov with the subject line Question.

Responses to this RFI must be submitted by 11:59 pm Eastern Time on February 4, 2011. Responses should be limited to five pages. However, more than one response is allowed per respondent. Please identify your answers by responding to a specific question if possible. We welcome other comments as well. Please identify these additional comments and indicate which portion of the RFI they are addressing. Any information obtained as a result of this RFI is intended to be used by the Government on a non-attribution basis for program planning and procurement strategy development. Information or data that is restricted in any way or limited for use by the Government is not solicited and will not be considered. Responses will not be considered confidential. Please do not respond with any information you deem proprietary or confidential.

This is a Request for Information (RFI). Only responses to the questions stated herein and general comments are being solicited. DOE will not pay for information provided under this RFI. This RFI is not accepting applications for financial assistance or financial incentives. A response to this RFI will not be viewed as a binding commitment to develop or pursue the project or ideas discussed. DOE has no obligation to respond to those who submit comments, and/or give any feedback on any information received, nor does DOE have any obligation to provide information regarding any decisions related to comments received as a result of this RFI regarding the prospective FOA. Although DOE intends to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement as described herein, DOE reserves the right issue the announcement as described, to make changes to the description contained herein, or not issue an announcement at all. DOE thanks you for your assistance and comments in helping build the solar energy industry in the United States.