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Past Meetings and Workshops

Photo taken from above showing event attendees interacting with each other at poster stations in a large room.Industry workshops help the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office obtain a wide range of stakeholder feedback to guide the SunShot Initiative. DOE held the workshops below to identify barriers and opportunities associated with the SunShot goals.

Workshop summaries and presentation content are available for the following events:

2016 Systems Integration Power Electronics Workshop 

October 11-12, 2016
Golden, CO

This workshop was held to identify critical challenges and opportunities associated with integrating high levels of solar energy into the electric grid, specifically in the advanced power electronic area. Download the white paper, agenda, and presentations.

2016 SunShot Strategy Forum: PV Modules and Systems

September 16, 2016
Las Vegas, NV

This workshop brought together academic and industry stakeholders to discuss key areas for future research and development within photovoltaics. Participants discussed current and future technology barriers and development opportunities in order to inform future funding directions. Download a summary of the workshop.

2016 SunShot Strategy Forum: PV Codes and Standards

September 16, 2016
Las Vegas, NV

This event featured breakout sessions dedicated to defining key areas for future attention within the photovoltaic (PV) codes and standards space. Participants discussed current and future priorities in order to inform future funding directions. Download the presentations.

2016 Solar Forecasting Workshop

This workshop identified the technical challenges and opportunities in solar forecasting as a capability that can significantly reduce the integration cost of high levels of solar energy into the electricity grid. Download the presentations and white paper.

2015 Grid Integration of Solar Energy Workshop

October 29, 2015

This workshop identified critical challenges and opportunities associated with integrating hundreds of gigawatts of solar energy into the electric grid, assessed state of the art technologies, and proposed a set of solutions that will address near- and long-term research and development needs. Download notes and presentations.

SunShot Grand Challenge Summit and Peer Review 2014

May 19-22, 2014
Anaheim, CA

Building on the successes of first Grand Challenge Summit in 2012, this premier gathering brought together more than 800 members of the solar community to review the progress made toward the SunShot goal and discuss the challenges ahead to make solar energy more affordable and widespread across America. Download the presentations.

PVMapper: A Tool for Energy Siting

September 17, 2013

This webinar introduced solar developers, environmental consulting firms, data companies, and software developers to a new open-source GIS siting tool. Developed by the Center for Advanced Energy Studies' Energy Policy Institute with support from the SunShot Initiative, the PVMapper project is designed to allow utility-scale solar developers to compare multiple potential sites with a focus on reducing balance of system (BOS) soft costs. These soft costs include variables such as proximity to power infrastructure, endangered species habitat, and potential social implications. This introduction will provide an advanced look at the software, which is currently in beta testing with a target launch date of June 2014.

Below are materials associated with the webinar.

2013 Solar Action Webinar Series

The SunShot Initiative and the Solar Outreach Partnership hosted five webinars as part of the Solar Action Webinar Series: Successes from the Rooftop Solar Challenge. Topics such as financing, zoning, net metering, interconnection, and inspection are covered in this series featuring best practices developed by Rooftop Solar Challenge I teams from across the country.

2013 SunShot CSP Program Review

April 23–25, 2013

The SunShot Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) Program Review 2013, held near Phoenix, Arizona, featured presentations from awardees on the forefront of CSP technologies that are currently or recently funded by the SunShot Initiative.

DOE/CPUC High Penetration Solar Forum Webinar

May 15, 2013

This webinar provided information on the results of the second High Penetration Solar Forum that convened in February, including an overview of DOE's and CPUC's grid integration awards as well as future efforts.

Below are materials associated with the webinar.

2013 State Technical Assistance Team Webinars

May 1, 2013

The popular Solar Technical Assistance Team webinars provide an overview of solar technologies, resources, and the role that state and local governments play in supporting the development of those resources. The 2013 series includes webinars on virtual net metering and community solar, among other topics.

Residential PV Price Comparison Webinar

February 28, 2013

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) SunShot Initiative, in conjunction with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), discusses the installed price of residential photovoltaics (PV) being significantly lower in Germany than in the United States. In order to better characterize the nature of these differences, LBNL surveyed German PV installers using a survey on residential PV soft costs that the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) previously fielded to U.S. solar installers. This webinar presents a comparative analysis of these surveys and a broader discussion of underlying drivers for soft cost differences between the United States and Germany, with a focus on customer-owned residential solar energy systems.

Below are materials associated with the webinar.

2013 Photovoltaic Module Reliability Workshop

February 26–27, 2013

The Photovoltaic (PV) Module Reliability Workshop was held in Golden, Colorado. The objective was to share information to improve PV module reliability because such improvements reduce the cost of solar electricity and give investors confidence in the technology.

Thermochemical Energy Storage Workshop

January 8, 2013

The concentrating solar power (CSP) program of the SunShot Initiative hosted a workshop on thermochemical energy storage for CSP in Washington, D.C. A distinguishing feature of CSP compared to other renewable technologies is its ability to include thermal energy storage at the point of power generation to handle the intermittencies of solar availability. A thermochemical energy storage system captures solar energy in chemical bonds. These systems offer the potential to achieve much higher specific energy of storage compared to current sensible and latent heat storage options. Thermochemical energy storage, therefore, represents a significant potential for being a cost-effective storage option for CSP, which will help accomplish SunShot goals.

The goal of the workshop was to identify scientific, economic, and engineering challenges and opportunities in developing thermochemical energy storage systems for CSP. To this end, the workshop convened experts from around the world in the areas of high temperature processes, catalyst development, reactor design, chemical and mechanical engineering, and material science; these participants came from academia, industry and national laboratories.

Best Practices in the Design of Utility Solar Programs Webinar

September 27, 2012

This webinar brought together representatives from industry, utilities, and regulatory authorities to share lessons learned from designing and implementing solar energy incentive programs. The discussion featured topics ranging from responding to changing solar costs, implementing consumer protection measures, incentivizing optimal system performance, emerging third-party ownership models, and stimulating various market segments.

Below are materials associated with the webinar.

State Technical Assistance Team 2012 Webinars

July 18-September 11, 2012

This webinar series was developed for state policymakers and staff.

2012 SunShot Grand Challenge Summit and Technology Forum

June 13-14, 2012
Denver, Colorado

The Summit and Technology Forum was the first event in a series of Department of Energy Grand Challenges. This event focused on SunShot Initiative goals of achieving grid-parity solar energy by 2020.

Ad Lucem: Modeling Market Transformation Pathways Workshop

February 17, 2012
Berkeley, California

This SunShot workshop focused on the development, analysis, modeling, and implementation of pathways that could enable solar energy technologies to diffuse at an accelerated rate. A diverse set of researchers and technical experts from academia, industry, government, and national labs provided insight into market dynamics and market transformation pathways.

Below are materials associated with the workshop.

Plug-and-Play Workshop

October 27, 2011
Washington, D.C.

The purpose of the DOE workshop was to identify the current barriers and possible solutions for the development of plug-and-play solar technologies in the residential sector. Over 60 people attended the conference, including representatives from utilities, code officials, inverter companies, PV module companies, and installers. Results from the workshop are available.

Photovoltaic (PV) Validation and Bankability Workshop

August 31, 2011
San Jose, Calif.

DOE's Solar Energy Technologies Program hosted a workshop to discuss a planned regional test center program as part of the SunShot Initiative. During the workshop, more than 60 solar industry leaders provided input on ways for the Solar Program to support the needs of the stakeholder community and encourage private financing to fund U.S. PV industry growth.

Below are the presentations given at the workshop. The following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs.

PV Manufacturing Workshop

March 25, 2011
Berkeley, Calif.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory hosted a SunShot workshop focused on ways to scale up domestic manufacturing of solar energy technologies. Industry partners attending the workshop discussed how government incentives and private investment can continue to stimulate photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing capabilities through corporate partnerships.

Below are the presentations given at the workshop. The following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs.