Notice of Opportunity for Technical Assistance

Subject Notice of Opportunity for Technical Assistance was posted today (10/11/2006) by the Golden Field Office at this DOE IIPS website. It is Opportunity Number DE-PS36-07GO97008. The following summary is provided; however, you may access the full Opportunity at the Golden Field Office section of the website: In January 2006, the President announced his Advanced Energy Initiative. An integral part of this Initiative is the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Solar America Initiative (SAI). The goal of the SAI is to reduce the cost of solar photovoltaic technologies so that they become cost-competitive by 2015. To complement the R&D and testing/evaluation activities that are the backbone of the SAI, the DOE will conduct Market Transformation (MT) efforts. MT activities fall into two areas: 1. activities which provide technical, regulatory, institutional, financial and educational solutions to Market Transformation barriers; and 2. those which accelerate demand for new solar technologies primarily through provision of technical assistance. There are several aspects to SAI that define it as a new approach for DOE and should be kept in mind by applicants in formulating applications: 1. SAI MT is looking to identify and remove market barriers; 2. SAI MT is looking for significant market changing activities; 3. SAI MT is focused on near- and mid-term results; and 4. SAI MT is looking for performers and partners who are committed to the SAI mission. Solar America Showcases Description/Objectives The purpose of Solar America Showcases (SAS) is to accelerate demand for solar technologies among key end use market sectors. Under this activity, DOE will provide Technical Assistance to large-scale (in excess of 100kW), high-visibility solar installation projects that have the ability to impact the market for solar technologies through large project size, use of a novel solar technology, and/or use of a novel application for a solar technology. In addition, it is desired that the project be replicable or have replicable components. It is not expected that all projects will meet all of these parameters, but projects would ideally reflect some or most of these qualities. Large-scale installations may include photovoltaic, concentrating solar power, and solar water heating applications. DOE will not purchase hardware or otherwise provide direct funding to organizations selected from this Notice. Technical Assistance described under this Notice will be provided via a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between DOE, the organization selected to receive the Technical Assistance, and the Tiger Team members providing the Technical Assistance. A MOA is a collaborative agreement between the Federal Government and other parties to work together on a mutually beneficial activity. The MOA will detail the scope of the Technical Assistance activities, the forms of collaboration, the responsibilities of the partners to the Agreement, and the treatment of any potential intellectual property. Federal funding cannot be provided to a partner under a MOA.