§16238 Solar Energy Research and Development

Summary

Creates a Department of Energy program to fund and run research, build and test new ideas, and help bring solar technologies to market. The program must work to make solar cheaper, cleaner, more reliable, easier to make and install, safer for people and wildlife, and better at working with the electric grid and other energy systems. The Secretary of Energy must set goals within 180 days after December 27, 2020 for near-term (up to 2 years), mid-term (up to 7 years), and long-term (up to 15 years) progress. The program can give competitive grants, run demonstrations, do precompetitive research, offer technical help and small business vouchers, hold prize contests, support education and training, and make studies and reports. It must cover many topics such as new solar materials and device types, siting and performance, integration with the grid and storage, manufacturing improvements, recycling and life‑cycle impacts, forecasting and modeling, and ways to reduce nonhardware barriers to wider use. The Secretary should give priority to projects spread across different regions, those that help economically distressed or pollution‑impacted areas or use former disturbed lands like landfills and mines, projects that can be copied in many climates, efforts that boost U.S. manufacturing or exports, partnerships with Tribal, Native Hawaiian, minority‑serving, or territorial organizations, and training that brings more underrepresented people into solar jobs. The Secretary must run a national call for demonstration applications at least once every two years. For manufacturing, the Secretary must fund projects that increase manufacturing efficiency, reduce use of energy, water, and critical materials, support domestic supply chains, use safer alternative materials, work with Tribal or underserved groups, or are in distressed areas, and must complete an independent review not later than 3 years after December 27, 2020 and every 4 years after that. The program must also fund work to improve reuse and recycling of solar technologies, put special attention on recovering critical materials, protect sensitive business information, and publish project results. A full materials physical‑property database must be created by September 1, 2022. A strategic report on goals, progress, and market and manufacturing assessments must be submitted to Congress by September 1, 2022 and every 6 years after, including a study with a 10‑year plan to boost U.S. solar manufacturing and an analysis of siting solar on current and former mine land. Congress authorized $300,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2021 through 2025 for the program. Defined terms (one line each): Critical material — meaning given in title 30, section 1606. Economically distressed area — meaning in section 3161(a) of this title. Eligible entity — includes colleges, minority‑serving schools, National Laboratories, federal and state research agencies, territorial or freely associated state research agencies, Tribal energy development groups, Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, Native Hawaiian community groups, nonprofit research groups, industry, other entities the Secretary allows, and consortia of these. Indian Tribe — meaning in title 25, section 5304. Institution of higher education — meaning in title 20, section 1001. Mine land — lands under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 and lands subject to the Mining Law of 1872. Minority‑serving institution — meaning in title 20, section 1067q(a). National Laboratory — meaning in section 15801(3) of this title. Native Hawaiian community‑based organization — meaning in title 20, section 7517. Photovoltaic device — a device that turns sunlight into electricity plus its cells and electrical parts. Program — the program created under subsection (b)(1)(A). Secretary — the Secretary of Energy. Solar energy — thermal or electric energy from the Sun, or energy from a chemical reaction caused by recent sunlight. Territory or freely associated state — meaning “insular area” in title 7, section 3103. Tribal energy development organization and Tribal organization — meanings in title 25 (sections 3501 and 5304).