The mission of the Solar Energy Technology Office's Tech-to-Market sub-program is to enable the widespread market penetration of highly impactful solar technologies and solutions through technology research, development and demonstration to overcome technical, institutional and market challenges. The FOA is divided into Tiers that are based on the technology type, hardware or software, as well as its stage in the development cycle, e.g. prototype refinement, manufacturing tooling, beta testing, etc. In addition to achieving rigorous technical milestones, awardees are expected to deliver on business development and commercial metrics that de-risk the technology/solution and enable its progression to the next phase of commercial development. Successful awardees will be well positioned for investment from the private sector and have a path to market impact.
This FOA will be separated into Tiers based on the stage and type of technology development:
Hardware Tiers:
Tier 0: SunShot Incubator Program Round 12 - 20% cost share, up to $1M in funding, up to 24 month project periods - Accelerate transition from a proof-of-concept of all critical components to an early stage functional prototype.
Tier 1: SunShot Incubator Program Round 12 - 20% cost share, up to $2M in funding, up to 24 month project period- Accelerate transition of an early stage functional prototype to a lab made, manufacturing- and commercially-relevant prototype whose full functionality has been proven in all possible commercial use cases.
Tier 2: SunShot Incubator Program Round 12 - 50% cost share, up to $3M in funding, up to 24 months project periods – Accelerate transition of a lab-made, manufacturing and commercially relevant prototype to a full developed prototype whose initial reliability and certification testing has been passed and is ready to begin/develop pilot manufacture.
Tier 3: Solar Manufacturing Technology (SolarMat) Round 5 - 50% cost share, up to $5 in funding, up to 24 months project periods - Develop and demonstrate innovative manufacturing technology, step process(es), or equipment that enable a globally best-in class cost advantage.
Soft cost (Non-Hardware) Tiers:
Tier 1S: SunShot Incubator Round 12 - 20% cost share, up to $800k in funding, 24 month project periods - Accelerate the transition of a proof-of-concept or business plan to alpha capability and early customer trials.
Tier 2S: SunShot Incubator program Round 12 - 50% cost share, up to $2M in funding, 24 month project periods - Transition alpha software capability through beta launch and full commercialization.
11/22/16 Webinar link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4370144583210082563