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[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 176 (Thursday, September 11, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Page 54273]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-21696]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Notice of Request for Information on Photovoltaic Reliability and 
Durability Research and Development

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of 
Energy.

ACTION: Request for Information (RFI).

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SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) today gives notice of a request 
for information on photovoltaic reliability and durability research and 
development. Photovoltaic modules are exposed to severe operating 
conditions involving temperature, thermal cycling, UV radiation, 
humidity, environmental weathering and soiling, electrical and other 
stresses. It is necessary to address the risk and uncertainty in 
photovoltaic performance due to these conditions in order to enable 
greater investor confidence, which ultimately can lead to lower 
financing costs and greater volume of installations. The DOE SunShot 
Program therefore requests information to determine fruitful areas of 
research and development that could lead to improved reliability and 
durability of photovoltaic modules, with the purpose of creating 
increased appetite for photovoltaic projects for investors, developers, 
integrators, and utilities.
    The RFI document is posted at: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov.

DATES: Comments regarding this RFI must be received by Monday, October 
6, 2014.

ADDRESSES: U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave., 
Washington, DC 20585, Attn: Marie Mapes.
    The RFI document is posted at: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions may be directed to--Marie 
Mapes at 202-586-3765 or by email at marie.mapes@ee.doe.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The DOE SunShot Program currently believes 
that research is needed to establish correlation between photovoltaic 
module degradation mechanisms and module lifetime. The goal would be to 
correlate degradation mechanisms to basic material and device 
properties to develop early indicators and advanced predictive testing 
with physics based acceleration factors. Furthermore, degradation 
models validated by laboratory experimental data and correlations to 
field data from installed modules need to be developed to provide 
confidence in accelerated test conditions. The purpose of this RFI is 
to solicit feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, 
government agencies, and other stakeholders on issues related to 
photovoltaic reliability and durability research and development. The 
SunShot Program has identified a list of Questions and a list of 
Potential Topic Areas of Interest for comment. Feedback from 
respondents in these two sections will inform future programmatic 
activity in the area of photovoltaic module reliability and durability 
research and development.
    The RFI document is posted at: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on August 28th, 2014.
Marie Mapes,
Acting Program Manager.
[FR Doc. 2014-21696 Filed 9-10-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
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