SOLAR ENERGY

Federal Initiatives 

Overlap but Take 

Measures to Avoid 

Duplication

Report to Congressional Requesters

August 2012

GAO-12-843

United States Government Accountability Office

GAO
 United States Government Accountability Office 

Highlights of GAO-12-843, a report to 

congressional requesters 

 

August 2012 

SOLAR ENERGY

Federal Initiatives Overlap but Take Measures to 

Avoid Duplication 

Why GAO Did This Study 

The United States has abundant solar 

energy resources and solar, along with 

wind, offers the greatest energy and 

power potential among all currently 

available domestic renewable 

resources. In February 2012, GAO 

reported that 23 federal agencies had 

implemented nearly 700 renewable 

energy initiatives in fiscal year 2010—

including initiatives that supported 

solar energy technologies 

(GAO-12-260). The existence of such 

initiatives at multiple agencies raised 

questions about the potential for 

duplication, which can occur when 

multiple initiatives support the same 

technology advancement activities and 

technologies, direct funding to the 

same recipients, and have the same 

goals. 

GAO was asked to identify (1) solarrelated initiatives supported by federal 

agencies in fiscal years 2010 and 2011 

and key characteristics of those 

initiatives and (2) the extent of 

fragmentation, overlap, and 

duplication, if any, of federal solarrelated initiatives, as well as the extent 

of any coordination among these 

initiatives. GAO reviewed its previous 

work and interviewed officials at each 

of the agencies identified as having 

federal solar initiatives active in fiscal 

years 2010 and 2011. GAO developed 

a questionnaire and administered it to 

officials involved in each initiative to 

collect information on: initiative goals, 

technology advancement activities, 

funding obligations, number of 

projects, and coordination activities. 

This report contains no 

recommendations. In response to the 

draft report, USDA generally agreed 

with the findings, while the other 

agencies had no comments. 

What GAO Found 

Sixty-five solar-related initiatives with a variety of key characteristics were 

supported by six federal agencies (see table). Over half of these 65 initiatives 

supported solar projects exclusively; the remaining initiatives supported solar and 

other renewable energy technologies. The 65 initiatives exhibited a variety of key 

characteristics, including multiple technology advancement activities ranging 

from basic research to commercialization by providing funding to various types of 

recipients including universities, industry, and federal laboratories and 

researchers, primarily through grants and contracts. Agency officials reported 

that they obligated about $2.6 billion for the solar projects in these initiatives in 

fiscal years 2010 and 2011, an amount higher than in previous years, in part, 

because of additional funding from the 2009 American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act. 

Number of Federal Initiatives That Supported Solar Energy Technology in Fiscal Years 2010 

and 2011, by Agency and Total Obligations 

Agency 

Number of 

solar initiatives 

Total

obligations

Department of Energy (DOE) 20 $2,342,765,827 

Department of Defense (DOD) 27 154,637,296 

National Science Foundation (NSF) 7 48,761,556 

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 7 34,818,345 

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) 3 577,247 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 1 200,000 

Total 65 $2,581,760,271

Source: GAO analysis of agency-provided data. 

The 65 solar-related initiatives are fragmented across six agencies and overlap 

to some degree in their key characteristics, but most agency officials reported 

coordination efforts to avoid duplication. The initiatives are fragmented in that 

they are implemented by various offices across the six agencies and address the 

same broad areas of national need. However, the agencies tailor their initiatives 

to meet their specific missions, such as DOD’s energy security mission and 

NASA’s space exploration mission. Many of the initiatives overlapped with at 

least one other initiative in the technology advancement activity, technology type, 

funding recipient, or goal. However, GAO found no clear instances of duplicative 

initiatives. Furthermore, officials at 57 of the 65 initiatives (88 percent) indicated 

that they coordinated in some way with other solar-related initiatives, including 

both within their own agencies and with other agencies. Such coordination may 

reduce the risk of duplication. Moreover, 59 of the 65 initiatives (91 percent) 

require applicants to disclose other federal sources of funding on their 

applications to help ensure that they do not receive duplicative funding. 

View GAO-12-843. For more information, 

contact Frank Rusco at (202) 512-3841 or 

ruscof@gao.gov. 
Page i GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Letter 1 

Background 4

Six Agencies Supported Sixty-Five Solar-Related Initiatives with a 

Variety of Key Characteristics 6

Initiatives Are Fragmented across Agencies and Sometimes 

Overlap, but Agency Officials Reported Coordination to Avoid 

Duplication 16

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 25

Appendix I Scope and Methodology 26 

Appendix II Solar-Related Initiatives at Six Federal Agencies, Descriptions and 

Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011 Obligations 29 

Appendix III GAO’s Questionnaire for Federal Agencies with Initiatives Supporting 

Solar Energy Technologies 43 

Appendix IV GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 53

Tables 

Table 1: Initiatives and Projects by Agency, Fiscal Years 2010 

and 2011 7

Table 2: Number of Federal Initiatives That Supported Solar 

Energy Technology for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011, by 

Agency and Total Actual and Estimated Obligations 16

Table 3: Number of Initiatives Supporting Technology 

Advancement Activities and Eligible Funding Recipients 17

Table 4: Department of Defense Solar-Related Initiatives 29

Table 5: Department of Energy Solar-Related Initiatives 36

Table 6: Environmental Protection Agency Solar-Related Initiatives 39

Table 7: National Aeronautics and Space Administration SolarRelated Initiatives 40

Table 8: National Science Foundation Solar-Related Initiatives 41

Table 9: U.S. Department of Agriculture Solar-Related Initiatives 42 

Contents 
Page ii GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Figures

Figure 1: Number of Agencies’ Solar-Related Initiatives That 

Supported Technology Advancement Activities 9

Figure 2: Number of Agencies’ Solar-Related Initiatives That 

Supported Various Recipient Types 12

Figure 3: Number of Agencies’ Solar-Related Initiatives Employing 

Various Funding Mechanisms 14

Abbreviations

ARPA-E Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy 

DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

DOD Department of Defense

DOE Department of Energy

EERE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

EIA Energy Information Administration

EPA Environmental Protection Agency

IAPG Interagency Advanced Power Group

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NNI National Nanotechnology Initiative

NSF National Science Foundation

OMB Office of Management and Budget

R&D research and development

Recovery Act American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

SETP Solar Energy Technologies Program

TRL technology readiness level

USDA United States Department of Agriculture

This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright protection in the 

United States. The published product may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety 

without further permission from GAO. However, because this work may contain 

copyrighted images or other material, permission from the copyright holder may be 

necessary if you wish to reproduce this material separately.
Page 1 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

United States Government Accountability Office 

Washington, DC 20548

August 30, 2012

The Honorable Ralph M. Hall

Chairman

Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

House of Representatives

The Honorable Andy Harris

Chairman

Subcommittee on Energy and Environment

Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

House of Representatives

The United States has abundant solar energy resources and solar, along 

with wind, offers the greatest energy and power potential among all 

commercial domestic renewable resources currently available, according 

to the National Academies of Science. While helping meet the nation’s 

energy needs, solar sources of electricity could also offer substantial 

environmental benefits, such as a reduction in greenhouse gas 

emissions, over conventional electricity generation. However, solar and 

wind energy as sources of electricity at the utility scale also face 

numerous challenges related to their intermittent availability and higher 

costs compared with traditional energy sources. The Department of 

Energy’s (DOE) Energy Information Administration, an independent 

statistical and analytical agency, reports that although solar energy 

accounted for only 1 percent of all renewable energy electricity consumed 

in the United States in 2010, solar energy use increased by about 60 

percent from 2006 to 2010. DOE has also embarked on a comprehensive 

effort to reduce the cost of generating electricity using solar power.

Beyond supplying electricity to the existing infrastructure or grid (i.e., the 

electricity networks that carry electricity from the plants where it is 

generated to consumers, including wires, substations, and transformers), 

solar energy technologies have extensive defense and space 

applications. For example, the Department of Defense (DOD) has 

undertaken efforts to develop technologies that allow it to use solar 

energy in operational environments, such as the conflicts in Iraq and 

Afghanistan, to help reduce its reliance on conventional fuel, which is very 

difficult and costly to deliver and store. In addition, the National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is working to develop 

high-power solar electric propulsion systems to provide low-cost 

abundant power for deep-space missions. As the availability and 

 
 

Page 2 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

utilization of solar energy technologies have increased, so too has federal 

support to some of the agencies addressing challenges associated with 

further expansion of solar energy as an electricity source and to meet 

other mission-specific goals.

In February 2012, we reported that 23 federal agencies had implemented 

nearly 700 renewable energy initiatives in fiscal year 2010—and a number 

of these initiatives supported solar energy technologies.1 The existence of 

such initiatives at multiple agencies has raised questions about the 

potential for duplication that, in this context, occurs when multiple initiatives 

support the same technology advancement activities and technologies, 

direct funding to the same recipients, and have the same goals. As we 

have previously reported, unnecessary duplication can potentially result 

from fragmentation and overlap among government programs.2

In this context, you asked us to review federal initiatives that supported 

solar energy technology—which we termed “solar-related initiatives.” Our 

objectives were to identify (1) solar-related initiatives supported by federal 

agencies in fiscal years 2010 and 2011 and key characteristics of those 

initiatives and (2) the extent of fragmentation, overlap, and duplication, if 

any, among federal solar-related initiatives, as well as the extent of 

coordination among these initiatives.

Fragmentation occurs when more than one federal agency, or more than 

one organization within an agency, is involved in the same broad area of 

national need. For the purposes of this report, overlap occurs when multiple 

initiatives support similar technology advancement activities, similar 

technologies, similar funding recipients, or have similar goals.

To address these objectives, we collected and analyzed information from 

our previous work and conducted new work. More specifically, to identify 

federal solar-related initiatives and to assess the extent of fragmentation, 

overlap, and duplication among these initiatives, we relied on data from 

 

1

GAO, Renewable Energy: Federal Agencies Implement Hundreds of Initiatives, 

GAO-12-260 (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 27, 2012).

2

GAO, Managing for Results: Using the Results Act to Address Mission Fragmentation 

and Program Overlap, GAO/AIMD-97-146 (Washington, D.C.: Aug. 29, 1997). For more 

information on fragmentation, overlap, and duplication in federal programs see GAO, 

Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax 

Dollars, and Enhance Revenue, GAO-11-318SP (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 1, 2011). 
 

Page 3 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

our February 2012 report on renewable energy,3 which identified and 

collected information from solar-related initiatives active4

Because initiatives often supported more than one type of technology 

advancement activity, some of the initiatives included in this report may 

also support deployment activities. We eliminated initiatives that focused 

solely on the deployment of readily available solar energy technologies. 

Although not covered in this report, a range of federal, state, and other 

initiatives support such deployment activities. These federal deployment 

activities facilitate or achieve widespread use of technologies—for 

example, by federal agencies’ procurement of solar energy technologies 

or by federal tax or other incentives that encourage households and 

businesses to adopt these technologies. We have ongoing work that 

looks at some of these deployment activities, including DOE’s Loan 

Guarantee and Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan 

Programs, and a review of wind energy technology initiatives, including 

those that support deployment activities. We also recently issued reports 

on tax incentives for residential energy efficiency

in fiscal year 

2010, as well as other renewable energy initiatives. For the purposes of 

this report, we defined an initiative as a program or group of agency 

activities serving a similar purpose or function that involved solar energy 

technologies through a specific emphasis or focus, even if solar energy 

was only one part of a broader effort. We restricted our analysis to those 

initiatives that supported research and development (R&D) on, or 

commercialization of, innovative solar energy technologies.

5 and on renewable 

energy deployment activities.6

After using our February 2012 report to identify solar-related initiatives 

that supported R&D and commercialization, we developed a 

questionnaire and surveyed cognizant officials at each of the six agencies 

that had such initiatives to collect additional information on the initiatives’ 

scope and key characteristics—DOD, DOE, the Environmental Protection 

 

3

GAO-12-260. 

4

For the purposes of this report, we defined “active” initiatives as those that were planned 

or funded or implemented or authorized in the fiscal year described.

5

GAO, Energy Conservation and Climate Change: Factors to Consider in the Design of 

the Nonbusiness Energy Property Credit, GAO-12-318 (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 2, 2012).

6

GAO-12-260. 
 

Page 4 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Agency (EPA), NASA, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the 

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Specifically, we asked questions 

to ascertain the number of projects, funds obligated, type of technology 

advancement activities supported, recipients funded, funding 

mechanisms, initiative goals, and efforts to coordinate across other solarrelated initiatives. To determine the extent to which agencies coordinated 

their initiatives, we used survey responses and interviews to identify 

coordination activities within and among the six agencies. We also asked 

the agencies to provide us with any additional relevant initiatives that 

were implemented in fiscal year 2011 that were not on our initial list, and 

we sent a copy of the questionnaire to officials representing those 

initiatives as well. (For further information on our questionnaire, see app. 

I. For a copy of our questionnaire, see app. III.) We then analyzed the 

information collected for the February 2012 report and from our 

questionnaire for this report to determine the extent to which we could 

identify fragmentation, overlap, and duplication of solar-related initiatives. 

In addition, we interviewed agency officials responsible for solar-related 

initiatives for follow-up information as needed.

We conducted this performance audit from September 2011 to August

2012 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing 

standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to 

obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for 

our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe 

that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings 

and conclusions based on our audit objectives.

Solar energy can be used to heat, cool, and power homes and 

businesses with a variety of technologies that convert sunlight into usable 

energy. Examples of solar energy technologies include photovoltaics, 

concentrated solar power, and solar hot water. Solar cells, also known as 

photovoltaic cells, convert sunlight directly into electricity. Photovoltaic 

technologies are used in a variety of applications. They can be found on 

residential and commercial rooftops to power homes and businesses; 

utility companies use them for large power stations, and they power 

space satellites, calculators, and watches. Concentrated solar power 

uses mirrors or lenses to concentrate sunlight and produce intense heat, 

which is used to generate electricity via a thermal energy conversion 

process; for example, by using concentrated sunlight to heat a fluid, boil 

water with the heated fluid, and channel the resulting steam through a 

turbine to produce electricity. Most concentrated solar power technologies 

are designed for utility-scale operations and are connected to the 

Background
 

Page 5 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

electricity-transmission system. Solar hot water technologies use a 

collector to absorb and transfer heat from the sun to water, which is 

stored in a tank until needed. Solar hot water systems can be found in 

residential and industrial buildings.

Innovation in solar energy technology takes place across a spectrum of 

activities, which we refer to as technology advancement activities, and 

which include basic research, applied research, demonstration, and 

commercialization.7

Solar energy technology advancement activities are financed through 

both public and private investment. According to a Congressional Budget

Office report, without public investment, the private sector’s investment in 

technology advancement activities is likely to be inefficiently low from 

society’s perspective because firms cannot easily capture the “spillover 

benefits” that result, particularly at the early stages of developing a 

technology.

For purposes of this report, we defined basic 

research to include efforts to explore and define scientific or engineering 

concepts or is conducted to investigate the nature of a subject without 

targeting any specific technology; applied research includes efforts to 

develop new scientific or engineering knowledge to create new and 

improved technologies; demonstration activities include efforts to operate 

new or improved technologies to collect information on their performance 

and assess readiness for widespread use; and commercialization efforts 

transition technologies to commercial applications by bridging the gap 

between research and demonstration activities and venture capital 

funding and marketing activities.

8

 

7

We developed definitions that could be applied broadly to make comparisons across 

agencies and that covered the full spectrum of advancement activities. Federal agencies 

use various definitions and categories for describing the stages of technology 

advancement. For example, NASA and DOE use technology readiness level (TRL) 

categories and definitions to measure and communicate technology readiness for first-ofa-kind technology applications. However, these agencies’ TRL categories and definitions

are not the same. In addition, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) provides 

federal definitions for the terms basic research, applied research, and development in 

OMB Circular A–11, Section 84—Character Classification (Schedule C), but does not 

provide definitions for demonstration activities and commercialization activities. During 

pretests of our questionnaire, agency officials were able to fit their initiatives’ activities 

within our categories and based on our definitions, which validated our use of them.

In these stages, technology advancement activities can 

create fundamental knowledge leading to numerous benefits for society 

8

Congressional Budget Office, Federal Financial Support for the Development and 

Production of Fuels and Energy Technologies (Washington, D.C.: March 2012).
 

Page 6 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

as a whole but not necessarily for the firms that invested in the activities. 

For example, basic research can create general scientific knowledge that 

is not itself subject to commercialization but that can lead to multiple 

applications that private companies can produce and sell. As activities get 

closer to the commercialization stage, the private sector may increase its 

support because its return on investment increases.

We identified 65 solar-related initiatives with a variety of key 

characteristics at six federal agencies.9 Over half of the 65 initiatives 

supported solar projects exclusively; the remaining initiatives supported 

solar energy technologies in addition to other renewable energy 

technologies. The initiatives demonstrated a variety of key characteristics, 

including focusing on different types of solar technologies and supporting 

a range of technology advancement activities from basic research to 

commercialization, with an emphasis on applied research and 

demonstration activities. Additionally, the initiatives supported several 

types of funding recipients including universities, industry, nonprofit

organizations, and federal labs and researchers, primarily through grants 

and contracts. Agency officials reported that they obligated around $2.6 

billion for the solar projects in these initiatives in fiscal years 2010 and 

2011.

In fiscal years 2010 and 2011, six federal agencies—DOD, DOE, EPA, 

NASA, NSF, and USDA—undertook 65 initiatives that supported solar 

energy technology, at least in part. (See app. II for a full list of the 

initiatives). Of these initiatives, 35 of 65 (54 percent) supported solar 

projects exclusively and 30 (46 percent) also supported projects that were 

not solar. For example, in fiscal years 2010 and 2011, DOE’s Solar Energy 

Technologies Program—Photovoltaic Research and Development initiative, 

had 263 projects, all of which focused on solar energy. In contrast, in fiscal 

years 2010 and 2011, DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Research and 

Development initiative—which supports wind10

 

9

We identified as solar-related those initiatives that supported or could have supported 

solar technologies, either solely or as part of a larger suite of renewable energy 

technologies, such as wind or biofuels. For the purposes of this report, we defined an 

initiative as a program or group of agency activities serving a similar purpose or function 

that involved solar energy technologies through a specific emphasis or focus, even if solar 

energy was only one part of a broader effort.

and other renewable 

10Wind energy is energy produced by the movement of air. 

Six Agencies 

Supported Sixty-Five 

Solar-Related 

Initiatives with a 

Variety of Key 

Characteristics

Over Half of the Agencies’ 

Initiatives Exclusively 

Supported Solar Energy 

Technology
 

Page 7 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

sources that could be used to produce hydrogen—had 209 projects, 26 of 

which were solar projects. Although initiatives support solar energy 

technologies, in a given year, they might not support any solar projects. For 

example, NSF officials noted that the agency funds research across all 

fields and disciplines of science and engineering and that individual 

initiatives invite proposals for projects across a broad field of research, 

which includes solar-related research in addition to other renewable energy 

research. However, in any given year, NSF may not fund proposals that 

address solar energy because either no solar proposals were submitted or 

the submitted solar-related proposals were not deemed meritorious for 

funding based upon competitive, merit-based reviews.

Although more than half of the agencies’ initiatives supported solar 

energy projects exclusively, the majority of projects supported by all 65 

initiatives were not focused on solar. As shown in table 1, of the 4,996 

total projects active in fiscal years 2010 and 2011 under the 65 initiatives, 

1,506 (30 percent) were solar projects, and 3,490 (70 percent) were not 

solar projects.

Table 1: Initiatives and Projects by Agency, Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011

Agency

Number of 

initiatives

Total projects 

supported

Total solar 

projects 

supported

Percentage of 

projects that 

were solar

DOD 27 623 293 47%

DOE 20 1,736 906 52%

EPA 1 239 14 6%

NASA 7 1,326 202 15%

NSF 7 349 86 25%

USDA 3 723 5 .7%

Total 65 4,996 1,506 30%

Source: GAO analysis of agency-provided data.
 

Page 8 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Agencies’ solar-related initiatives supported different types of solar 

energy technologies. According to agency officials responding to our 

questionnaire, 47 of the 65 initiatives supported photovoltaic 

technologies, and 18 supported concentrated solar power; some 

initiatives supported both of these technologies or other solar 

technologies.11 For example, NSF’s CHE-DMR-DMS Solar Energy 

Initiative (SOLAR)12

These initiatives supported solar energy technologies through multiple 

technology advancement activities, ranging from basic research to 

commercialization. As shown in figure 1, five of the six agencies 

supported at least three of the four technology advancement activities we 

examined, and four of the six supported all four.

supports both photovoltaic and concentrated solar 

power technologies, including a project that is developing hybrid 

organic/inorganic materials to create ultra-low-cost photovoltaic devices 

and to advance solar concentrating technologies.

 

11Rather than specifying that the initiative specifically supported photovoltaic or 

concentrating solar power, some agency officials indicated that their initiative supported 

“solar” technology as a general category. Others indicated that they supported “other” 

solar technology, such as DOD’s Novel Power Sources initiative, which supports solar 

fuels.

12According to NSF, the purpose of the CHE-DMR-DMS Solar Energy Initiative is to 

support interdisciplinary efforts by groups of researchers to address the scientific 

challenges of highly efficient harvesting, conversion, and storage of solar energy. Such 

groups must include three or more co-Principal Investigators, of whom one must be a 

researcher in chemistry, a second in materials, and a third in mathematical sciences, in 

areas supported by the Divisions of Chemistry (CHE), Materials Research (DMR), and 

Mathematical Sciences (DMS), respectively.

Key Characteristics of 

Solar-Related Initiatives 

Include Supporting 

Different Solar 

Technologies, Technology 

Advancement Activities, 

and Types of Funding 

Recipients
 

Page 9 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Figure 1: Number of Agencies’ Solar-Related Initiatives That Supported Technology 

Advancement Activities

Note: Because agency initiatives often supported more than one technology advancement activity, 

the sum of initiatives across the agencies in this figure will not total 65, the number of initiatives in our 

review. 
 

Page 10 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Our analysis showed that of the 65 initiatives, 20 initiatives (31 percent) 

supported a single type of technology advancement activity; 45 of the 

initiatives (69 percent) supported more than one type of technology 

advancement activity; and 4 of those 45 initiatives (6 percent) supported 

all four. For example, NASA’s Solar Probe Plus Technology Development

initiative—which tests the performance of solar cells in elevated 

temperature and radiation environments such as near the sun—

supported applied research exclusively. In contrast, NASA’s Small 

Business Innovations Research/Small Business Technology Transfer 

Research initiative—which seeks high-technology companies to 

participate in government-sponsored research and development efforts 

critical to NASA’s mission—supported all four technology advancement 

activities. The technology advancement activities supported by the 

initiatives were

• applied research (47 initiatives),

• demonstration (41 initiatives),

• basic research (27 initiatives), and

• commercialization (17 initiatives).

The initiatives supported these technology advancement activities by 

providing funding to four types of recipients: universities, industry, 

nonprofit organizations, and federal laboratories and researchers. The 

initiatives most often supported universities and industry. In many cases, 

initiatives provided funding to more than one type of recipient. 

Specifically, our analysis showed that of the 65 initiatives, 23 of the 

initiatives (35 percent) supported one type of recipient; 21 of the initiatives 

(32 percent) provided funding to at least two types of recipients; 17 

initiatives (26 percent) supported three types; and 4 initiatives (6 percent) 

supported all four. In two cases, agency officials reported that their 

initiatives supported “other” types of recipients, which included college 

students and military installations.
 

Page 11 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Initiatives often supported a variety of recipient types, but individual 

agencies more often supported one or two types. As shown in figure 2, 

DOE’s initiatives most often supported federal laboratories and 

researchers; DOD’s most often supported industry recipients; NASA’s 

supported federal laboratories and industry equally; NSF’s supported 

universities exclusively. For example, NASA’s Small Business 

Innovations Research/Small Business Technology Transfer Research

initiative provided contracts to industry to participate in governmentsponsored research and development for advanced photovoltaic 

technologies to improve efficiency and reliability of solar power for space 

exploration missions. NSF’s Emerging Frontiers in Research and 

Innovation initiative provided grants to universities for, among other 

purposes, promoting breakthroughs in computational tools and intelligent 

systems for large-scale energy storage suitable for renewable energy 

sources such as solar energy.
 

Page 12 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Figure 2: Number of Agencies’ Solar-Related Initiatives That Supported Various 

Recipient Types

Note: Agency initiatives often supported more than one recipient type; therefore, the sum of initiatives 

across the agencies in this figure will not total 65, the number of initiatives in our review. 
 

Page 13 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

a

EPA’s P3: People, Prosperity & the Planet Student Design Competition for Sustainability initiative 

supports teams of college students who participate in a competitive grants program in which they 

propose the research and development of sustainable designs related to water, energy, agriculture, 

the built environment, or materials and chemicals. DOD’s Smart Power Infrastructure Demonstration 

for Energy Reliability and Security (SPIDERS) Joint Capability Technology Demonstration supports 

military installations to integrate renewable energy and storage in order to reduce the risk of extended 

electric grid outages. 

Federal solar-related initiatives provided funding to these recipients 

through multiple mechanisms, often using more than one mechanism per 

initiative. As shown in figure 3, the initiatives primarily used grants and 

contracts. Of the 65 initiatives, 27 awarded grants, and 36 awarded 

contracts;13 many awarded both. Agency officials also reported funding 

solar projects via cooperative agreements,14 loans, and other 

mechanisms.15

 

13“Contract” means a mutually binding legal relationship obligating the seller to furnish the 

supplies or services (including construction) and the buyer to pay for them. It includes all 

types of commitments that obligate the Government to an expenditure of appropriated 

funds and that, except as otherwise authorized, are in writing. In addition to bilateral 

instruments, contracts include (but are not limited to) awards and notices of awards; job 

orders or task letters issued under basic ordering agreements; letter contracts; orders, 

such as purchase orders, under which the contract becomes effective by written 

acceptance or performance; and bilateral contract modifications. Contracts do not include 

grants and cooperative agreements covered by 31 U.S.C. 6301, et seq.

14Like grants, cooperative agreements involve the provision of financial or other support to 

accomplish a public purpose of support or stimulation authorized by federal statute. 

However, cooperative agreements differ from grants in terms of agency involvement, 

supervision, and intervention in the project. Whereas grants restrict government 

involvement to the minimum necessary to achieve program objectives, under cooperative 

agreements, the government and prime recipients share responsibility for the 

management, control, direction, and performance of projects.

15Officials from eight initiatives at three agencies reported that their initiative supported 

“other” funding mechanisms including administrative costs, cash prizes to competition 

winners, and laboratory work authorizations.
 

Page 14 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Figure 3: Number of Agencies’ Solar-Related Initiatives Employing Various Funding 

Mechanisms

Note: Agency initiatives often used more than one funding mechanism, therefore the sum of initiatives 

across the agencies in this figure will not total 65, the number of initiatives in our review. 

a

Officials from eight initiatives at three agencies reported that their initiative supported “other” funding 

mechanisms including administrative costs, cash prizes to competition winners, and laboratory work 

authorizations. 

Agency officials reported that the 65 initiatives as a group used multiple 

funding mechanisms, but we found that individual agencies tended to use 

primarily one or two funding mechanisms. For example, USDA 

exclusively used grants, while DOD tended to use contracts. DOE 

reported using grants and cooperative agreements almost equally. For 

example, DOE’s Solar ADEPT initiative, an acronym for “Solar Agile 

Delivery of Electrical Power Technology,” awards cooperative 

agreements to universities, industry, nonprofit organizations, and federal 

laboratories and researchers. Through a cooperative agreement, the 

initiative supported a project at the University of Colorado at Boulder that 

is developing advanced power conversion components that can be 

integrated into individual solar panels to improve energy yields. According 

to the project description, the power conversion devices will be designed 

for use on any type of solar panel. The University of Colorado at Boulder
 

Page 15 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

is partnering with industry and DOE’s National Renewable Energy 

Laboratory on this project.

In responding to our questionnaire, officials from the six agencies reported 

that they obligated around $2.6 billion for the 1,506 solar projects in fiscal 

years 2010 and 2011. These obligations data represented a mix of actual 

obligations and estimates. Actual obligations were provided for both years 

for 51 of 65 initiatives. Officials provided estimated obligations for 12 

initiatives for at least 1 of the 2 years, and officials from another 2 initiatives 

were unable to provide any obligations data.16 Those officials who provided 

estimates or were unable to provide obligations data noted that the 

accuracy or the availability of the obligations data was limited because 

isolating the solar activities from the overall initiative obligations can be 

difficult. (See app. II for a full list of the initiatives and their related 

obligations.) As shown in table 2, over 90 percent of the funds (about $2.3 

billion of $2.6 billion) were obligated by DOE. The majority of DOE’s 

obligations (approximately $1.7 billion) were obligated as credit subsidy 

costs—the government’s estimated net long-term cost, in present value 

terms, of the loans—as part of Title XVII Section 1705 Loan Guarantee 

Program from funds appropriated by Congress under the American 

Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act).17

 

16Agency officials were asked to provide obligations data for fiscal years 2010 and 2011. 

In some cases, they provided estimated obligations for both years. In other cases, the 

officials were able to provide actual obligations data for 1 year and estimated obligations 

for the second. As a result, estimates were provided for 10 initiatives in fiscal year 2010 

and for 9 initiatives in 2011. These estimates were for 12 initiatives.

Even excluding the 

Loan Guarantee Program funds, DOE obligated $661 million, which is 

more than was obligated by the other five agencies combined.

17DOE’s Loan Guarantee Program supports both commercialization and deployment 

technology advancement activities. The obligations provided by the agency and represented 

here do not distinguish between the commercialization and deployment technology 

advancement activities. In February 2009, the Recovery Act amended the Energy Policy Act 

of 2005, authorizing the Loan Guarantee Program to guarantee loans under section 1705. 

Funding was provided to pay credit subsidy costs for section 1705 projects—including those 

that support solar technologies—that began construction by September 30, 2011, and met 

other requirements. DOE estimated that the $2.5 billion in funding would be sufficient to 

provide about $18 billion in guarantees under section 1705. Section 1705 authorized 

guarantees for commercial energy projects that employ renewable energy systems, electric 

power transmission systems, or leading-edge biofuels that meet certain criteria. Credit 

subsidy costs exclude administrative costs and any incidental effects on governmental 

receipts or outlays. Present value is the worth of the future stream of returns or costs in 

terms of money paid immediately. In calculating present value, prevailing interest rates 

provide the basis for converting future amounts into their “money now” equivalents.
 

Page 16 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Table 2: Number of Federal Initiatives That Supported Solar Energy Technology for Fiscal Years 2010 and 2011, by Agency 

and Total Actual and Estimated Obligations

Agency

Number of initiatives for 

which data were provided Actual obligations Estimated obligations Total obligations

DOE 18 $2,338,765,827a $4,000,000 $2,342,765,827b 

DOD 27 131,923,296 22,714,000 154,637,296 

NSF 7 47,485,645 1,275,911 48,761,556 

NASA 7 34,412,352 405,993 34,818,345 

USDA 3 577,247 0 577,247 

EPA 1 200,000 0 200,000 

Total 63 $2,553,364,367 $28,395,904 $2,581,760,271 

Source: GAO analysis of agency-provided data.

a

Of the more than $2.3 billion obligated by DOE in 2010 and 2011 for solar projects, about $1.7 billion 

was obligated for credit subsidy costs for loan guarantees. 

b

Does not include two agency initiatives for which DOE did not provide obligations data. 

The 65 solar-related initiatives are fragmented across six agencies and 

many overlap to some degree, but agency officials reported a number of 

coordination activities to avoid duplication. We found that many initiatives 

overlapped in the key characteristics of technology advancement activities, 

types of technologies, types of funding recipients, or broad goals; however, 

these areas of overlap do not necessarily lead to duplication of efforts 

because the initiatives sometimes differ in meaningful ways or leverage the 

efforts of other initiatives, and we did not find clear evidence of duplication 

among initiatives. Officials from most initiatives reported that they engage 

in a variety of coordination activities with other solar-related initiatives, at 

times specifically to avoid duplication.

The 65 solar-related initiatives are fragmented in that they are 

implemented by various offices across six agencies and address the 

same broad area of national need. In March 2011, we reported that 

fragmentation has the potential to result in duplication of resources.18

 

18

However, such fragmentation is, by itself, not an indication that 

unnecessary duplication of efforts or activities exists. For example, in our 

March 2011 report, we stated that there can be advantages to having 

multiple federal agencies involved in a broad area of national need—

GAO-11-318SP. 

Initiatives Are 

Fragmented across 

Agencies and 

Sometimes Overlap, 

but Agency Officials 

Reported 

Coordination to Avoid 

Duplication

Fragmented Initiatives 

Overlapped in Their 

Technology Advancement 

Activities, Types of 

Technologies, Funding 

Recipients, and Goals
 

Page 17 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

agencies can tailor initiatives to suit their specific missions and needs, 

among other things. In particular, DOD is able to focus its efforts on solar 

energy technologies that serve its energy security mission, among other 

things, and NASA is able to focus its efforts on solar energy technologies 

that aid in aeronautics and space exploration, among other things.

As table 3 illustrates, we found that many initiatives overlap because they 

support similar technology advancement activities and types of funding 

recipients. For example, initiatives that support basic and applied 

research most often fund universities, and those initiatives that support 

demonstration and commercialization activities most often fund industry.

Table 3: Number of Initiatives Supporting Technology Advancement Activities and 

Eligible Funding Recipients 

Technology advancement activities

Eligible funding 

recipient

Basic 

research

Applied 

research

Demonstration 

activities Commercialization

Federal 

laboratories/researchers

12 27 18 9 

Industry 14 33 32 15

Nonprofit organizations 2 4 1 2 

Universities 23 36 27 11

Othera 1 1 2 1 

Source: GAO analysis of agency-provided data.

Note: Many solar-related initiatives support multiple technology advancement activities and multiple 

eligible funding recipients. Therefore, the totals in table 3 will not total 65, the number of initiatives in 

our review. 

a

Two initiatives supported other types of recipients: EPA’s P3: People, Prosperity & the Planet 

Student Design Competition for Sustainability initiative supports teams of college students who 

participate in a competitive grants program in which they propose the research and development of 

sustainable designs related to water, energy, agriculture, the built environment, or materials and 

chemicals. DOD’s Smart Power Infrastructure Demonstration for Energy Reliability and Security 

(SPIDERS) Joint Capability Technology Demonstration supports military installations to integrate 

renewable energy and storage in order to reduce the risk of extended electric grid outages. 

Almost all of the initiatives overlapped to some degree with at least one 

other initiative in that they support broadly similar technology 

advancement activities, types of technologies, and eligible funding 

recipients.

• Twenty-seven initiatives support applied research for photovoltaic 

technologies by universities. For example, NSF’s Engineering 

Research Center for Quantum Energy and Sustainable Solar 

Technologies at Arizona State University pursues cost-competitive 
 

Page 18 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

photovoltaic technologies with sustained market growth. The Air 

Force’s Space Propulsion and Power Generation Research initiative

partners with various universities to develop improved methods for 

powering spacecraft, including solar cell technologies.

• Sixteen initiatives support demonstration activities focused on 

photovoltaic technologies by federal laboratories and researchers. For 

example, NASA’s High-Efficiency Space Power Systems initiative 

conducts activities at NASA’s Glenn Research Center to develop 

technologies to provide low cost and abundant power for deep space 

missions, such as highly reliable solar arrays, to enable a crewed 

mission to explore a near Earth asteroid. DOE’s Solar Energy 

Technologies Program (SETP), which includes the Photovoltaic 

Research and Development initiative, works with national laboratories 

such as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Sandia National 

Laboratories, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge 

Laboratory to advance a variety of photovoltaic technologies to enable 

solar energy to be as cost competitive as traditional energy sources 

by 2015.19

• Seven initiatives supported applied research on concentrated solar 

power technologies by industry. For example, DOE’s SETP

Concentrated Solar Power subprogram, which focuses on reducing 

the cost of and increasing the use of solar power in the United States, 

funded a company to develop the hard coat on reflective mirrors that 

is now being used in concentrated solar power applications. In 

addition, DOD’s Fast Access Spacecraft Testbed Program, which 

concluded in March 2011, funded industry to demonstrate a suite of 

critical technologies including high-efficiency solar cells, sunlight 

concentrating arrays, large deployable structures, and ultralightweight solar arrays.

Additionally, 40 of the 65 initiatives overlap with at least one other 

initiative in that they supported similar broad goals, types of technologies, 

and technology advancement activities.

 

19In GAO-12-260, we separated SETP into four initiatives: Concentrated Solar Power, 

Photovoltaic Research and Development, Market Transformation, and Systems 

Integration.
 

Page 19 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

• Providing lightweight, portable energy sources. Officials from several 

initiatives within DOD reported that their initiatives supported 

demonstration activities with the broad goal of providing lightweight, 

portable energy sources for military applications. For example, the 

goal of the Department of the Army’s Basic Solar Power Generation 

Research initiative is to determine the feasibility and applicability of 

lightweight flexible, foldable solar panels for remote site power 

generation in tactical battlefield applications. Similarly, the goal of the 

Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Engineered Bio-Molecular NanoDevices and Systems initiative is to provide a low-cost, lightweight, 

portable photovoltaic device to reduce the footprint and logistical 

burden on the warfighter.

• Artificial photosynthesis. Several initiatives at DOE and NSF reported 

having the broad goal of supporting artificial photosynthesis, which 

converts sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water into a fuel, such as 

hydrogen. For example, one of DOE’s Energy Innovation Hubs, the 

Fuels from Sunlight Hub, supports basic research to develop an 

artificial photosynthesis system with the specific goals of (1) 

understanding and designing catalytic complexes or solids that 

generate chemical fuel from carbon dioxide and/or water; (2) 

integrating all essential elements, from light capture to fuel formation 

components, into an effective system; and (3) providing a pragmatic 

evaluation of the system under development. NSF’s Catalysis and 

Biocatalysis initiative has a specific goal of developing new materials 

that will be catalysts for converting sunlight into usable energy for 

direct use, or for conversion into electricity, or into fuel for use in fuel 

cell applications.

• Integrating solar energy into the grid. Officials from several initiatives 

reported focusing on demonstration activities for technologies with the 

broad goal of integrating solar or renewable energies into the grid or 

onto military bases. For example, DOE’s Smart Grid Research and 

Development initiative has a goal of developing smart grid 

technologies,20

 

20According to DOE, “smart grid” generally refers to a class of technology to bring utility 

electricity delivery systems into the twenty-first century, using computer-based remote 

control and automation. These systems are made possible by two-way communication 

technology and computer processing that has been used for decades in other industries.

particularly those that help match supply and demand 

in real time, to enable the integration of renewable energies, including 

solar energy, into the grid by helping stabilize variability and facilitate 
 

Page 20 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

the safe and cost-effective operation by utilities and consumers. The 

goal of this initiative is to achieve a 20 percent improvement in the 

ratio of the average power supplied to the maximum demand for 

power during a specified period by 2020. DOD’s Installation Energy 

Research initiative has a goal of developing better ways to integrate 

solar energy into a grid system, thereby optimizing the benefit of 

renewable energy sources.

Some initiatives may overlap on key characteristics such as technology 

advancement activities, types of technologies, types of recipients, or 

broad goals, but they also differ in meaningful ways that could result in 

specific and complementary research efforts, which may not be apparent 

when analyzing the characteristics. For example, an Army official told us 

that both the Army and Marine Corps were interested in developing a 

flexible solar substrate, which is a photovoltaic panel laminated onto 

fabric that can be rolled up and carried in a backpack. The Army 

developed technology that included a battery through its initiative, while 

the Marine Corps, through a separate initiative, altered the Army’s 

technology to create a flexible solar substrate without a battery. Other 

initiatives may also overlap on key characteristics, but the efforts 

undertaken by their respective projects may complement each other 

rather than result in duplication. For example, DOE officials told us that 

one solar company may receive funding from multiple federal initiatives 

for different components of a larger project, thus simultaneously 

supporting a common goal without providing duplicative support.

While we did not find clear instances of duplicative initiatives, it is possible 

that there are duplicative activities among the initiatives that could be 

consolidated or resolved through enhanced coordination across agencies 

and at the initiative level. Also, it is possible that there are instances in 

which recipients receive funding from more than one federal source or 

that initiatives may fund some activities that would have otherwise sought 

and received private funding. Because it was beyond the scope of this 

work to look at the vast number of activities and individual awards that are 

encompassed in the initiatives we evaluated, we were unable to rule out 

the existence of any such duplication of activities or funding.
 

Page 21 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Officials from 57 of the 65 initiatives (88 percent) reported coordinating 

with other solar-related initiatives.21 Coordination is important because, as 

we have previously reported, a lack of coordination can waste scarce 

funds and limit the overall effectiveness of the federal effort.22 We have 

also previously reported that coordination across programs may help 

address fragmentation, overlap, and duplication.23 Officials from nearly all 

initiatives that we identified as overlapping in their broad goals, types of 

technologies, and technology advancement activities, reported 

coordinating with other solar-related initiatives. In October 2005, we 

identified key practices that can help enhance and sustain federal agency 

coordination, such as (1) establishing joint strategies, which help align 

activities, core processes, and resources to accomplish a common 

outcome; (2) developing mechanisms to evaluate and report on the 

progress of achieving results, which allow agencies to identify areas for 

improvement; (3) leveraging resources, which helps obtain additional 

benefits that would not be available if agencies or offices were working 

separately; and (4) defining a common outcome, which helps overcome 

differences in missions, cultures, and established ways of doing 

business.24 Agency officials at solar-related initiatives reported 

coordination activities that are consistent with these key practices, as 

described below.

 

21Officials were asked to report up to five examples of coordination activities with other 

solar-related initiatives. See app. III for questionnaire.

22GAO, Results-Oriented Government: Practices That Can Help Enhance and Sustain 

Collaboration among Federal Agencies, GAO-06-15 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 21, 2005). 

The following additional key practices were noted in this report: (1) agreeing on roles and 

responsibilities, which clarifies who will do what, organizes joint and individual efforts, and 

facilitates decision making; (2) establishing compatible policies, procedures, and other 

means to operate across agency boundaries, which facilitates collaboration; (3) reinforcing 

agency accountability for collaborative efforts through agency plans and reports, to ensure 

that goals are consistent; and (4) reinforcing individual accountability for collaborative 

efforts through performance management systems, which strengthens accountability for 

results. 

23GAO-11-318SP and GAO, Employment For People With Disabilities: Little Is Known 

About the Effectiveness of Fragmented And Overlapping Programs, GAO-12-677 

(Washington, D.C.: June 29, 2012). 

24GAO-06-15. 

To Avoid Duplication, 

Agencies Coordinate and 

Verify That Recipients Did 

Not Receive Duplicative 

Funding
 

Page 22 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Some agency officials reported undertaking formal activities within their 

own agency to coordinate the efforts of multiple initiatives. For example:

• Establishing a joint strategy. NSF initiatives reported participating in 

an Energy Working Group, which includes initiatives in the agency’s 

Directorates for Mathematical and Physical Sciences and for 

Engineering. Officials from initiatives we identified as overlapping 

reported participating in the Energy Working Group. NSF formed this 

group to initiate coordination of energy-related efforts between the two 

directorates, including solar efforts, and tasked it with establishing a 

uniform clean, sustainable energy strategy and implementation plan 

for the agency.

• Developing mechanisms to monitor, evaluate, and report results. DOD 

officials from initiatives in the Army, Marine Corps, and Navy that we 

identified as overlapping reported they participated in the agency’s 

Energy and Power Community of Interest.25

In responding to our questionnaire, agency officials also reported 

engaging in formal activities across agencies to coordinate the efforts of 

multiple initiatives. For example:

The goal of this group is 

to coordinate the R&D activities within DOD. The group is scheduled 

to meet every quarter, but an Army official told us the group has been 

meeting every 3 to 4 weeks recently to produce R&D road maps and 

to identify any gaps in energy and power R&D efforts that need to be 

addressed. Because of the information sharing that occurs during 

these meetings, the official said the risk of such duplication of efforts 

across initiatives within DOD is minimized.

• Leveraging resources. The Interagency Advanced Power Group 

(IAPG), which includes the Central Intelligence Agency, DOD, DOE, 

NASA, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, is a 

federal membership organization that was established in the 1950s to 

streamline energy efforts across the government and to avoid 

duplicating research efforts. A number of smaller working groups were 

formed as part of this effort, including the Renewable Energy 

Conversion Working Group, which includes the coordination of solar 

 

25Although it was not noted in the Air Force initiative’s completed questionnaires, DOD 

officials told us the Air Force also participates in the Energy and Power Community of 

Interest.
 

Page 23 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

efforts. The working groups are to meet at least once each year, but 

according to a DOD official, working group members often meet more 

often than that in conjunction with outside conferences and 

workshops. The purpose of the meetings is to present each agency’s 

portfolio of research efforts and to inform and ultimately leverage 

resources across the participating agencies. According to IAPG 

documents, group activities allow agencies to identify and avoid 

duplication of efforts. Several of the initiatives that we identified as 

overlapping also reported participating in the IAPG.

• Leveraging resources and defining a common outcome. DOE’s SETP

in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) 

coordinates with DOE’s Office of Science and the Advanced 

Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) through the SunShot 

Initiative, which according to SunShot officials, was established 

expressly to prevent duplication of efforts while maximizing 

agencywide impact on solar energy technologies. The goal of the 

SunShot Initiative is to reduce the total installed cost of solar energy 

systems by 75 percent. SunShot officials said program managers 

from all three offices participate on the SunShot management team, 

which holds “brain-storming” meetings to discuss ideas for upcoming 

funding announcements and subsequently vote on proposed funding 

announcements. Officials from other DOE offices and other federal 

agencies are invited to participate, with coordination occurring as 

funding opportunities arise in order to leverage resources. Officials 

said meetings may include as few as 25 or as many as 85 attendees, 

depending on the type of project and the expertise required of the 

attending officials. Additionally, DOE and NSF coordinate through the 

SunShot Initiative on the Foundational Program to Advance Cell 

Efficiency (F-PACE), which identifies and funds solar device physics 

and photovoltaic technology research and development that will 

improve photovoltaic cell performance and reduce module cost for 

grid-scale commercial applications. The initiatives that reported 

participating in SunShot activities also included many that we found to 

be overlapping.

• Developing joint strategies; developing mechanisms to monitor, 

evaluate, and report results; and defining a common outcome. The 

National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) an interagency program, 

which includes DOD, DOE, NASA, NSF, and USDA, among others, 

was established to coordinate the nanotechnology-related activities 

across federal agencies that fund nanoscale research or have a stake 

in the outcome of this research. The NNI is directed to (1) establish 

goals, priorities, and metrics for evaluation for federal nanotechnology 
 

Page 24 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

research, development, and other activities; (2) invest in federal R&D

programs in nanotechnology and related sciences to achieve these 

goals; and (3) provide for interagency coordination of federal 

nanotechnology research, development, and other activities. The NNI 

implementation plan states that the NNI will maximize the federal 

investment in nanotechnology and avoid unnecessary duplication of 

efforts. NNI includes a subgroup that focuses on nanotechnology for 

solar energy collection and conversion. Specifically, this subgroup is 

to (1) improve photovoltaic solar electricity generation with 

nanotechnology, (2) improve solar thermal energy generation and 

conversion with nanotechnology, and (3) improve solar-to-fuel 

conversions with nanotechnology.

In addition to the coordination efforts above, officials reported through our 

questionnaire that their agencies coordinate through discussions with 

other agency officials or as part of the program and project management 

and review processes. Some officials said such discussions and reviews 

among officials occur explicitly to determine whether there is duplication 

of funding occurring. For example, SETP projects include technical merit 

reviews, which include peer reviewers from outside of the federal 

government, as well as a federal review panel composed of officials from 

several agencies. Officials from SETP also participate in the technical 

merit reviews of other DOE offices’ projects. ARPA-E initiatives also go 

through a review process that includes federal officials and independent 

experts. DOE officials told us that an ARPA-E High Energy Advanced 

Thermal Storage review meeting, an instance of potential duplicative 

funding was found with an SETP project. Funding of the project through 

SETP was subsequently removed because of the ARPA-E review 

process, and no duplicative funds were expended.

In addition to coordinating to avoid duplication, officials from 59 of the 65 

initiatives (91 percent) reported that they determine whether applicants 

have received other sources of federal funding for the project for which 

they are applying. Twenty-one of the 65 initiatives (32 percent) further 

reported that they have policies that either prohibit or permit recipients 

from receiving other sources of federal funding for projects. Some 

respondents to our questionnaire said it is part of their project 

management process to follow up with funding recipients on a regular 

basis to determine whether they have subsequently received other 

sources of funding. For example, DOE’s ARPA-E prohibits recipients from 

receiving duplicative funding from either public or private sources, and 

requires disclosure of other sources of funding both at the time of 

application, as well as on a quarterly basis throughout the performance of 
 

Page 25 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

the award. Even if an agency requires that such funding information be 

disclosed on applications, applicants may choose not to disclose it. In 

fact, it was recently discovered that a university researcher did not identify 

other sources of funding on his federal applications as was required and 

accepted funding for the same research on solar conversion of carbon 

dioxide into hydrocarbons from both NSF and DOE. Ultimately, the 

professor was charged with and pleaded guilty to wire fraud, false 

statements, and money laundering in connection with the federal 

research grant.

We provided DOD, DOE, EPA, NASA, NSF, and USDA with a draft of this 

report for review and comment. USDA generally agreed with the overall 

findings of the report. NASA and NSF provided technical or clarifying 

comments, which we incorporated as appropriate. DOD, DOE, and EPA 

indicated that they had no comments on the report.

As agreed with your offices, unless you publicly announce the contents of 

this report earlier, we plan no further distribution until 30 days from the 

report date. At that time, we will send copies to the Secretaries of 

Agriculture, Defense, and Energy; the Administrators of EPA and NASA; 

the Director of NSF; the appropriate congressional committees; and other 

interested parties. In addition, the report will be available at no charge on 

the GAO website at http://www.gao.gov. 

If you or your staff members have any questions about this report, please 

contact me at (202) 512-3841 or ruscof@gao.gov. Contact points for our 

Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on 

the last page of this report. GAO staff who made key contributions to this 

report are listed in appendix IV. 

Frank Rusco

Director

Natural Resources and Environment

Agency Comments 

and Our Evaluation
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

Page 26 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

The objectives of our report were to identify (1) solar-related initiatives 

supported by federal agencies in fiscal years 2010 and 2011 and key 

characteristics of those initiatives and (2) the extent of fragmentation, 

overlap, and duplication, if any, among federal solar-related initiatives, as 

well as the extent of coordination among these initiatives.

To inform our objectives, we reviewed a February 2012 GAO report that 

was conducted to identify federal agencies’ renewable energy initiatives, 

which included solar-related initiatives, and examine the federal roles the 

agencies’ initiatives support.1 The GAO report on renewable energyrelated initiatives identified nearly 700 initiatives2

• Research and development. Efforts ranging from defining scientific 

concepts to those applying and demonstrating new and improved 

technologies.

that were implemented 

in fiscal year 2010 across the federal government, of which 345 initiatives 

supported solar energy. For purposes of this report, we only included 

those solar-related initiatives that we determined were focused on 

research and development (R&D), and commercialization, which we 

defined as follows:

• Commercialization. Efforts to bridge the gap between research and 

development activities and the marketplace by transitioning 

technologies to commercial applications.

We did not include those initiatives that focused solely on deployment 

activities, which include efforts to facilitate or achieve widespread use of 

existing technologies either in the commercial market or for nonmarket 

uses such as defense, through their construction, operation, or use.

Initiatives that focus on deployment activities include a variety of tax 

incentives. We also narrowed our list to only those initiatives that focused 

research on advancing or developing new and innovative solar 

technologies.

 

1

GAO-12-260. 

2

For purposes of GAO-12-260, and therefore this report as well, a renewable energy 

initiative is defined as a program or group of agency activities serving a similar purpose or 

function that involved renewable energy through a specific emphasis or focus, even if 

renewable energy was only one part of a broader effort.

Appendix I: Scope and Methodology
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

Page 27 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Next, we shared our list with agency officials and provided our definitions 

of R&D and commercialization. We asked officials to determine whether 

the list was complete and accurate for fiscal year 2010 initiatives that met 

our criteria, whether those initiatives were still active in fiscal year 2011, 

and whether there were any new initiatives in fiscal year 2011. If officials 

wanted to remove an initiative from our list, we asked for additional 

information to support the removal. In total, we determined that there 

were 65 initiatives that met our criteria.

To identify and describe the key characteristics of solar-related initiatives 

implemented by federal agencies, we developed a questionnaire to 

collect information from officials of those 65 federal solar energy-related 

initiatives. The questionnaire was prepopulated with information that was 

obtained from the agencies for GAO’s renewable energy report including 

program descriptions, type of solar technology supported, funding 

mechanisms, and type of funding recipients. Questions included the type 

of technology advancement activities, obligations for solar activities in 

fiscal years 2010 and 2011, initiative-wide and solar-specific goals, and 

coordination efforts with other solar-related initiatives. We conducted 

pretests with officials of three different initiatives at three different 

agencies to check that (1) the questions were clear and unambiguous, (2) 

terminology was used correctly, (3) the questionnaire did not place an 

undue burden on agency officials, (4) the information could feasibly be 

obtained, and (5) the questionnaire was comprehensive and unbiased. An 

independent GAO reviewer also reviewed a draft of the questionnaire 

prior to its administration. On the basis of feedback from these pretests 

and independent review, we revised the survey in order to improve its 

clarity.

After completing the pretests, we administered the questionnaire. We 

sent questionnaires to the appropriate agency liaisons in an attached 

Microsoft Word form, who in turn sent the questionnaires to the 

appropriate officials. We received questionnaire responses for each 

initiative and, thus, had a response rate of 100 percent. After reviewing 

the responses, we conducted follow-up e-mail exchanges or telephone 

discussions with agency officials when responses were unclear or 

conflicting. When necessary, we used the clarifying information provided 

by agency officials to update answers to questions to improve the 

accuracy and completeness of the data.

Because this effort was not a sample survey, it has no sampling errors. 

However, the practical difficulties of conducting any survey may introduce 

errors, commonly referred to as nonsampling errors. For example, 
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

Page 28 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

difficulties in interpreting a particular question, sources of information 

available to respondents, or entering data into a database or analyzing 

them can introduce unwanted variability into the survey results. However, 

we took steps to minimize such nonsampling errors in developing the 

questionnaire—including using a social science survey specialist for 

design and pretesting the questionnaire. We also minimized the 

nonsampling errors when collecting and analyzing the data, including 

using a computer program for analysis, and using an independent analyst 

to review the computer program. Finally, we verified the accuracy of a 

small sample of keypunched records by comparing them with their 

corresponding questionnaires, and we corrected the errors we found. 

Less than 0.5 percent of the data items we checked had random 

keypunch errors that would not have been corrected during data 

processing. To conduct our analysis, a technologist compared all of the 

initiatives and identified overlapping initiatives as those sharing at least 

one common technology advancement activity, one common technology, 

and having similar goals. A second technologist then completed the same 

analysis, and the two then compared their findings and, where they 

differed, came to a joint decision as to which initiatives broadly 

overlapped on their technology advancement activities, technologies, and 

broad goals. If the two technologists could not come to an agreement, a 

third technologist determined whether there was overlap. To assess the 

reliability of obligations data, we asked officials of initiatives that 

comprised over 90 percent of the total obligations follow-up questions on 

the data systems used to generate that data. While we did not verify all 

responses, on the basis of our application of recognized survey design 

practices and follow-up procedures, we determined that the data used in 

this report were of sufficient quality for our purposes.

We conducted this performance audit from September 2011 to August 

2012 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing 

standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to 

obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for 

our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe 

that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings 

and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
Appendix II: Solar-Related Initiatives at Six 

Federal Agencies, Descriptions and Fiscal 

Years 2010 and 2011 Obligations 

Page 29 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Tables 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 provide descriptions, by agency, of the 65 

initiatives that support solar energy technologies and the obligations for 

those initiatives’ solar activities in fiscal years 2010 and 2011.

Table 4: Department of Defense Solar-Related Initiatives

Initiative name and 

implementing 

organization Description

FY 2010 and 

FY 2011 total (actual 

and estimated) 

obligations

Air Force

Aviation Propulsion / 

Power Generation 

Research 

Renewable fuels evaluation is conducted as part of component testing for new 

propulsion and power systems. The initiative’s goals are to carry out research, 

development, and demonstration efforts to integrate high-efficiency, lightweight, and 

flexible solar cells into operational small unmanned air systems in order to extend 

flight endurance. The Air Force also conducts congressional or committee-directed 

work. 

$7,086,000

Other Power 

Generation Research 

This initiative comprises several basic research efforts related to improving materials 

to be used in producing renewable energy. Renewable energy-related research 

under this program includes, for example, efforts to design organic solar cells and to 

design new nanostructures for conversion of solar energy to electricity. Solar-related 

research includes developing the capability to produce low-cost, lightweight, flexible, 

and efficient solar cells with numerous military applications including powering of 

autonomous unmanned air vehicles, remote sensors, and deployed systems. A 

variety of next-generation, advanced solar cell technologies are being pursued 

including both polymer-based and nanoparticle-based devices.

8,100,000a

Other Research and 

Development Efforts

This area includes several Air Force research efforts, most of which are 

congressional or committee-directed, that involve renewable energy. For example, 

as part of the Support Systems Development Program’s Logistics Systems 

Development Project, Air Force efforts include alternate energy research and 

integration, and demonstration and validation of renewable energy technology. 

Specific projects will validate that on-base or near-base deployment of thin-film solar 

photovoltaic arrays and concentrated solar designs are a cost effective solution that 

will allow the Air Force installations at-large to achieve renewable energy mandates, 

while also providing a secure clean and reliable back-up source of energy.

6,290,643

Power Generation 

Research for Facilities 

and Deployed 

Locations

This area of Air Force research includes activities to reduce costs and improve the 

performance and sustainability of Air Force operations. Renewable energy-related 

research in this area includes specific efforts to develop higher efficiency solar power 

technologies for deployed applications. Also, as part of programs under this area, the 

Air Force is charged with administering some congressional or committee-directed 

work that, in some instances, includes a renewable energy-related focus. The goal 

for the Solar Integrated Power Shelter System is to generate 3kW power and reduce 

demands by 50% to allow cooling two shelters with a single environmental control 

unit. In this project, deployable shelters are retrofit with improved or emerging shelter 

liner (insulation), shelter fly, and/or thin photovoltaic modules and evaluated for their 

effectiveness to improve efficiency and reduce energy consumption. 

2,270,000a

Appendix II: Solar-Related Initiatives at Six 

Federal Agencies, Descriptions and Fiscal 

Years 2010 and 2011 Obligations
Appendix II: Solar-Related Initiatives at Six 

Federal Agencies, Descriptions and Fiscal 

Years 2010 and 2011 Obligations 

Page 30 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Initiative name and 

implementing 

organization Description

FY 2010 and 

FY 2011 total (actual 

and estimated) 

obligations

Space Propulsion / 

Power Generation 

Research 

This area of Air Force research includes several programs with work that includes 

developing improved methods for powering spacecraft. Renewable energy-related 

research under this area is focused on the use of solar power with the goal of 

developing solar cells that are higher in efficiency and lower in mass while providing 

flexibility for integration into novel array structures. For example, under the Space 

Technology and Advanced Spacecraft Technology Programs, the Air Force is 

working to develop and improve solar cell technologies for space applications. Also, 

as part of this area of research, the Air Force is charged with administering some 

congressional or committee-directed work that, in some instances, includes a 

renewable energy-related focus. 

17,517,562

Army

Basic Solar Power 

Generation Research

Army research efforts in this area involve two programs that fund applied research 

on technologies in areas such as electronic and power components, as well as 

demonstration of more advanced military engineering technologies. Renewable 

energy-related research activities in this area include investigating the use of solar 

energy technologies for various Army applications. These efforts are funded as part 

of congressional or committee-directed work that the Army is charged with 

administering. For example, in fiscal year 2010, the Army funded research on 

advanced flexible solar photovoltaic technologies, among other projects related to 

solar energy.

5,770,928

Installation Energy 

Research 

This area of Army research includes programs that develop and demonstrate military 

engineering technologies, among other efforts. Renewable energy-related research 

activities in this area involve developing energy technology solutions, including 

renewable energy, for fixed installations and enduring forward operating bases. For 

example, as part of the Military Engineering Technology Program, the Army 

researches technologies necessary for secure, energy efficient, sustainable military 

installations, including developing methods to optimize sustainable energy 

generation and integrate renewable energy resources. Also, as part of these 

programs, the Army is charged with administering some congressional or committeddirected work that, in some instances, includes a renewable energy-related focus. 

Specific solar goals for this initiative include developing better ways to integrate solar 

energy into a grid system and improving the conversion efficiency of solar 

photovoltaic devices for creating novel photovoltaic configurations allowing flexible 

mounting of solar cells onto Army systems.

850,500

Intelligent Power

Distribution System 

Research 

Army research efforts in this area span several programs that focus on technology 

development and demonstration to meet a variety of military needs. Renewable 

energy-related research activities in this area focus on developing power distribution 

systems that can accept inputs from a variety of energy sources, including 

alternative/renewable energy sources. For example, as part of the Army’s work on 

the Transportable Hybrid Electric Power Station project, the Army is demonstrating 

intelligent power management technology that helps incorporate renewable energy 

sources to reduce the use of fossil fuel generators. Also, as part of these programs, 

the Army is charged with administering some congressional or committed-directed 

work that, in some instances, includes a renewable energy-related focus. For 

example, in fiscal year 2010, this work included an effort to build and demonstrate a 

microgrid with plug-in electric vehicles to determine the technical readiness of 

microgrids to accept power from various inputs while charging the selected vehicles 

and providing power to other applications.

1,372,000a
Appendix II: Solar-Related Initiatives at Six 

Federal Agencies, Descriptions and Fiscal 

Years 2010 and 2011 Obligations 

Page 31 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Initiative name and 

implementing 

organization Description

FY 2010 and 

FY 2011 total (actual 

and estimated) 

obligations

National Defense 

Center for Energy and 

Environment

This Army research effort includes funding for the National Defense Center for 

Energy and Environment, which was established in 1990 to address high-priority 

environmental problems for DOD, other government agencies, and the industrial 

community. The center is used to demonstrate and validate environmentally 

acceptable technologies and assist in the training of potential users as part of the 

technology transfer process. The center is managed by the Army on behalf of the 

Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment. 

The center conducts work at the request of multiple stakeholders, including, among 

other topics, research related to alternative fuels and renewable energy. While not 

specifically focused or directly related to solar energy research and/or technology, 

the goal of this program in terms of solar energy is to demonstrate renewable energy 

solutions (that include solar technology) and capture technology performance and 

cost-related data that can be used by the customer as a basis for determining if the 

technology is viable for their installation or operational needs.

1,775,000a

Other Power 

Generation Research 

Army research efforts in this area encompass two programs; one that focuses on 

fundamental research to provide new concepts and technologies to meet the Army’s 

future needs, and another that supports advanced development of technologies to 

reduce the logistics burden. Renewable energy-related research activities in this 

area focus on using renewable energy sources for power generation. However, 

unlike Army renewable energy-related research in other areas, research in this area 

examines renewable energy sources in general and is not specifically targeted to 

certain renewable energy sources. For example, under the Defense Research 

Sciences Program, the Army funds the investigation of a variety of approaches for 

novel energy harvesting (e.g., from light, heat, vibration, isotope, and biological 

energy sources). Alternatively, under the Soldier Support and Survivability Program, 

the Army has funded demonstrations of improvements to combat feeding equipment 

to improve the energy efficiency of refrigeration equipment to allow the equipment to 

be powered by renewable energy sources (e.g., solar power). Current solar-related 

activities include efforts to improve the energy conversion efficiency of photovoltaic 

devices to create novel photovoltaic configurations allowing flexible and conformal 

mounting of solar cells onto Army systems. Thermophotovoltaic energy sources are 

also being examined.

389,000

Other Vehicle Energy 

Storage Research

Army research in this area involves the Combat Vehicle and Automotive Technology 

Program, which funds development of automotive technologies through various 

efforts, including, for example, the National Automotive Center—a shared 

government and industry program to leverage commercial investments in automotive 

technology research for Army ground combat and tactical vehicle applications. 

Renewable energy-related research in this area focuses on advancing vehicle 

energy storage technologies that will allow vehicles to incorporate 

alternative/renewable energy into hybrid electric vehicles.

3,526,831
Appendix II: Solar-Related Initiatives at Six 

Federal Agencies, Descriptions and Fiscal 

Years 2010 and 2011 Obligations 

Page 32 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Initiative name and 

implementing 

organization Description

FY 2010 and 

FY 2011 total (actual 

and estimated) 

obligations

Tactical Electric Power 

Research 

Army efforts in this area span several research programs that develop, mature, and 

accelerate technologies to meet a variety of military needs. Renewable energyrelated research activities in this area focus on incorporating renewable energy 

technologies into tactical electric power generation. For example, the Combating 

Terrorism-Technology Development Program includes an effort to develop a 

Transportable Hybrid Electric Power Station that incorporates solar and wind energy 

technologies to reduce use of fossil fuel generators. As part of these programs, the 

Army is charged with administering some congressional or committee-directed work 

that, in some instances, includes a renewable energy-related focus. For example, in 

fiscal year 2010, this work included developing a flexible solar cell for a man portable 

power generator.

3,100,000

Marine Corps

Enhanced Company 

Operations Small Unit 

Power and Logistics 

Demand Reduction

This initiative represents a series of Marine Corps efforts to examine the training, 

tactics, equipment, and other aspects of the operations of a Marine Corps infantry 

company in order to identify ways to improve the ability of the company to operate 

independently. In fiscal year 2010, these efforts included assessment of renewable 

energy options to include the use of a reformed methanol fuel cell to support a small 

unit electrical power system that could reduce the number, weight, and types of 

replacement batteries carried by the Marine Corps. Another renewable energyrelated effort under this initiative involves examining ways to reduce the logistics 

demand of a company-sized unit in a variety of ways, including the use of renewable 

energy technologies. Solar energy is one of several areas explored for the Logistics 

Demand Reduction initiative. All of these efforts support the goal identified in the 

Marine Corps Expeditionary Energy Strategy of meeting operational demand with 

renewable energy.

18,790,000

Experimental Forward 

Operating Base

This initiative is a Marine Corps process that brings together stakeholders from 

across the Marine Corps’ requirements, acquisitions, and technology development 

communities to quickly evaluate and deploy technologies to reduce the need for 

battlefield “liquid logistics” (fuel and water) and to inform requirements development. 

For example, in August 2010, a Marine unit tested three renewable technologies—

the Ground Renewable Expeditionary Energy System, the Solar Portable Alternative 

Communications Energy System, and the Zerobase Solar Regenerator. 

1,886,000

Navy

Future Naval 

Capabilities Program

The Future Naval Capabilities Program represents the requirements-driven, delivery 

oriented portion of the Navy’s Science and Technology portfolio. Future Naval 

Capabilities investments respond to Naval Science and Technology Gaps that are 

generated by the Navy and Marine Corps after receiving input from Naval Research 

Enterprise stakeholders. The Future Naval Capabilities Program focuses on highpriority capabilities and transitioning developed products to naval acquisition and naval 

forces. This program focuses on taking technologies that have reached the applied or 

advanced technology development research stages, and maturing them for transition 

to Naval acquisition programs. Two areas of focus under the program include (1) 

“Lightening the Load” and (2) “Battlefield Power.” In fiscal years 2010 and 2011, the 

Advanced Power Generation product did have one solar-related initiative: the Ground 

Renewable Expeditionary Energy System (GREENS). This portable hybrid 

photovoltaic/battery power system was developed and demonstrated for the Marine 

Corps and was subsequently deployed forward as part of Operation Enduring 

Freedom. The solar research goal under this initiative was to develop and demonstrate 

a photovoltaic energy system capable of providing 300 watts of power continuously for 

24 hours per day/7 days per week and suitable for fielding by the Marine Corps.

700,000a
Appendix II: Solar-Related Initiatives at Six 

Federal Agencies, Descriptions and Fiscal 

Years 2010 and 2011 Obligations 

Page 33 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Initiative name and 

implementing 

organization Description

FY 2010 and 

FY 2011 total (actual 

and estimated) 

obligations

Other Power 

Generation Research

This initiative has a goal of discovering and developing new power generation 

materials, devices and systems, maturing power generation concepts capable of 

meeting application specific metrics and constraints to Technology Readiness Level 

(TRL) 6, and transitioning those new energy storage technology capabilities to Navy 

and Marine Corps acquisition program offices for final maturation and fielding (TRL 

7-9). The goal for this solar initiative is to develop low cost, lightweight, rollable, and 

easily deployable solar cells that can greatly reduce the logistics burden of supplying 

power to the Marine Corps and could also power remote sensors for the Navy. 

These goals include the development of new active materials by computation, 

organic synthesis, and characterization, as well as materials and technology scaleup and development of devices with improved stability. 

6,825,000a

Office of the Secretary of Defense

Engineered BioMolecular NanoDevices and Systems This initiative is part of the Materials Processing Technology project under Alternate 

Power Sources which includes the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency 

(DARPA) Portable Photovoltaic Program. Other programs in the Alternate Power 

Sources heading are not solar-related. The overall goal of DARPA’s Portable 

Photovoltaic Program is to provide a low-cost, lightweight, portable photovoltaic 

device that has high-power conversion efficiency in a form factor amenable to lowcost production on flexible substrates for widespread use by DOD forces to reduce 

the footprint and logistical burden on the warfighter. 

3,256,201

Environmental Security 

Technology 

Certification Program – 

Energy and Water 

Program

This initiative is a DOD demonstration/validation program, under which DOD 

provides funding to take environmental and energy technologies that are ready to be 

demonstrated and places them at DOD facilities for the purpose of collecting data on 

cost and performance to see if the technologies should be brought to scale and 

used. Demonstration projects are selected from across the federal government and 

the private sector using a competitive solicitation process. There are five program 

areas under the initiative, including an Energy and Water Program, which provides 

funding for demonstrations of renewable energy technologies, among other types of 

energy and water projects. The demonstrations help increase the speed and scale of 

commercialization of emerging renewable energy technologies by helping to build 

acceptance of the technologies through partnerships between technology developers 

and DOD. Solar energy, including technologies such as solar thermal technologies 

for hot water and HVAC applications, is a subset of efforts to find cost competitive 

distributed energy generation that will improve DOD installation energy security.

10,400,000

Fast Access Spacecraft 

Testbed Program

The Fast Access Spacecraft Testbed (FAST) Program was part of the Space 

Programs and Technology project. Its goal was to demonstrate a suite of critical 

technologies, including high-efficiency solar cells, sunlight concentrating arrays, and 

ultra lightweight solar arrays. Combined with electric propulsion, these technologies 

would enable fast-transfer roaming satellites with nearly five times the fuel efficiency 

of conventional chemical propulsion. 

3,060,000
Appendix II: Solar-Related Initiatives at Six 

Federal Agencies, Descriptions and Fiscal 

Years 2010 and 2011 Obligations 

Page 34 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Initiative name and 

implementing 

organization Description

FY 2010 and 

FY 2011 total (actual 

and estimated) 

obligations

Mobile Smart Power 

Initiative

This initiative was started to demonstrate alternative power generation options for 

small forward operating bases. These efforts included assessing the performance, 

safety, reliability, and maintainability of a hybrid photovoltaic battery system. Special 

Operations Command evaluated several different systems as part of this initiative 

under two programs: one that provides funding to demonstrate and evaluate 

emerging/advanced technologies for Special Operations Forces; and another that 

provides funding to develop and deploy special capabilities for Special Operations 

Forces to perform intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance. Special Operations 

Command sought to demonstrate that larger scale solar power (28kW - 56kW) 

systems could save fuel and lives at forward operating bases in austere locations 

such as Afghanistan. 

1,650,000

Net Zero Plus Joint 

Capability Technology 

Demonstration Program

This program has demonstrated various technologies to reduce fuel use at forward 

operating bases. It leverages research and development from federal and private 

labs and available technologies in, for example, alternative fuels, novel power 

storage, and innovative power generation. Technologies ranged from energy efficient 

structures to smart power management. The renewable energy technologies 

consisted of solar panels built into tent structures and 200 kW solar panel arrays 

integrated with the microgrid to reduce fuel usage. The program is part of the Joint 

Capability Technology Demonstration Program, which demonstrates joint solutions to 

prioritized combatant commander capability gaps and speeds solutions to 

warfighters in 18 to 36 months. The Joint Capability Technology Demonstration 

Program goal for solar energy technology included incorporation of flexible 

photovoltaic panels to utilize solar energy as a renewable energy source to provide 

electricity that would normally be supplied by conventional generators.

2,442,000

Novel Power Sources This initiative is part of the Materials Processing Technology project, which seeks to 

develop materials that will lower the cost, increase the performance, or enable new 

missions for military platforms and systems. Under this initiative, DARPA explores 

new materials and processes to efficiently generate and control power, with a focus 

on energy sources that are compatible with military fuels. Renewable energy efforts 

under this initiative include developing and integrating new processes to convert 

carbon dioxide and water into syngas and cellulosic biomass into synthetic fuel for 

use in fuels cells, biomass conversion systems, and solar fuel systems.

16,511,706

Photovoltaic Power 

Supply

As part of the work under its Advanced Technology Development Program, Special 

Operations Command is charged with administering some congressional or 

committee-directed work. In some instances, this work includes a renewable energyrelated focus. For example, in fiscal year 2010, this work included conducting 

research and development of technologies to improve the efficiency of solar 

photovoltaic panels for small scale charging systems. The goal of this project is to 

develop increased efficiency in photovoltaic cell technology for Special Operations 

Command applications, including developing various photovoltaic compositions to 

increase solar cell conversion efficiency and to assess their ability to power 

autonomous sensors.

1,970,851

Photovoltaic Ribbon 

Solar Cell Technology 

Project 

As part of the work under its Materials Processing Technology project, the Defense 

Advanced Research Projects Agency is charged with administering some 

congressional or committee-directed work. In some instances, this work includes a 

renewable energy-related focus. For example, in fiscal year 2010, this work included 

conducting research into photovoltaic ribbon solar cell technology. The goal of this 

project is to create a new process for synthesis of thin, flexible, high‐quality solar 

cells. The solar cells will be appropriate for coupling with prismatic holographic films 

for the purpose of creating lightweight, flexible modules.

2,869,963
Appendix II: Solar-Related Initiatives at Six 

Federal Agencies, Descriptions and Fiscal 

Years 2010 and 2011 Obligations 

Page 35 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Initiative name and 

implementing 

organization Description

FY 2010 and 

FY 2011 total (actual 

and estimated) 

obligations

Smart Power 

Infrastructure 

Demonstration for 

Energy Reliability and 

Security (SPIDERS) 

Joint Capability 

Technology 

Demonstration

SPIDERS will demonstrate cyber-secure “smart” microgrids with demand side 

management and integration of renewable energy and storage on military 

installations, in partnership with Department of Homeland Security and Department 

of Energy. SPIDERS will reduce the “unacceptably high risk” of extended electric grid 

outages by developing the capability to “island” installations while maintaining 

operational surety and security. SPIDERS will protect task critical assets from loss of 

power due to cyber attack, integrate renewable (solar, wind) and other distributed 

energy generation concepts to power task critical assets in times of emergency, 

sustain critical operations during prolonged power outages, and manage installation 

electrical power and consumption efficiency to reduce petroleum demand and carbon 

“bootprint”. 

4,421,000

Very High Efficiency 

Solar Cell Program

This program addresses a variety of issues with improving the efficiency of 

photovoltaic technologies, including the development of high-efficiency design 

concepts; new and innovative components, materials, and processes necessary to 

achieve these concepts; and scalable fabrication processes that allow industrial 

manufacturing of an affordable product. In particular, work under this program seeks 

to raise the efficiency of a new class of solar modules to 40 percent and deliver 

engineering prototypes. The technology would be used to power both permanent and 

mobile bases, as well as to reduce the logistical burden of supplying energy (e.g., 

batteries and fuel) in the field.

4,753,111

Vulture Program The objective of the Vulture program is to develop and demonstrate the technology 

to enable an airborne payload to remain persistently on-station, uninterrupted and 

unreplenished, for over 5 years performing strategic and tactical communications, 

position/navigation/timing and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance 

missions over an area of interest. Vulture technology enables a retaskable, 

persistent pseudo-satellite capability, in an aircraft package. The program is pursuing 

technologies that advance the state of the art for a self-contained solar regenerative 

closed cycle energy system to be used to propel and provide prime power on long 

endurance air platforms. To this end, the program plans to integrate and test 

commercially available technologies that include solar and solid oxide fuel cells. 

17,053,000

Total $154,637,296

Source: GAO analysis of agency-provided data.

a

All or part of the agency-provided obligations are estimated. 
Appendix II: Solar-Related Initiatives at Six 

Federal Agencies, Descriptions and Fiscal 

Years 2010 and 2011 Obligations 

Page 36 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Table 5: Department of Energy Solar-Related Initiatives 

Initiative name and 

implementing office Description 

FY 2010 and 

FY 2011 total (actual 

and estimated) 

obligations

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy 

ARPA-E Funding 

Opportunity 

Announcement 1a

Under this initiative, ARPA-E provides funding to support research on a variety of 

energy ideas and technologies. This research funding is focused on applicants with 

well-formed research and development plans for potentially high-impact concepts or 

new technologies, including renewable technologies. 

$5,000,272

High Energy Advanced 

Thermal Storage 

(HEATS)a

Through this initiative, ARPA-E seeks to develop revolutionary cost-effective thermal 

energy storage technologies in three focus areas: (1) high temperature storage 

systems to deliver solar electricity more efficiently around the clock and allow nuclear 

and fossil baseload resources the flexibility to meet peak demands, (2) fuel produced 

from the sun’s heat, and (3) HVAC systems that use thermal storage to dramatically 

improve the driving range of electric vehicles. 

0

Solar Solar Agile 

Delivery of Electrical 

Power Technology 

(Solar ADEPT)a

Solar ADEPT is ARPA-E’s portion of the SunShot collaboration. SunShot leverages 

the unique strengths across DOE to reduce the total cost of utility-scale solar 

systems by 75 percent by 2017. If successful, this collaboration would deliver solar 

electricity at roughly 6 cents a kW hour—a cost competitive with fossil fuels. Solar 

ADEPT focuses on integrating advanced power electronics into solar panels and 

solar farms to extract and deliver energy more efficiently. Specifically, ARPA-E aims 

to invest in key advances in magnetic, semiconductor switches, and charge storage, 

which could reduce power conversion costs by up to 50 percent for utilities and 80 

percent for homeowners. 

0

Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy 

Emerging Technologies Through this initiative, EERE works to develop cost-effective technologies to meet 

the thermal energy needs of residential and commercial buildings, including through 

solar heating and cooling. Specific activities related to renewable energy include 

funding federal researchers and national labs to analyze technology advancement of 

solar domestic water heating, space heating, and space cooling, and determine 

future needs for creating marketable net zero energy designs—designs which allow 

buildings to produce as much energy as they use. 

5,195,000

Hydrogen Fuel R&Db This initiative focuses on R&D to develop hydrogen production, delivery, and storage 

technologies, including those from hydrogen produced using renewable energy 

sources such as biomass, solar, wind, etc. 

10,102,840

Hydrogen and Fuel Cell 

Technologies 

Crosscutting Activitiesb

This initiative focuses on crosscutting functions for hydrogen and fuel cell 

technologies such as manufacturing, technology validation, safety codes and 

standards, and education. It also analyzes technologies to identify gaps and help 

direct future research and development. 

0

National Renewable 

Energy Laboratory’s 

Laboratory Directed 

Research and 

Development 

Projects through this initiative serve as the basis for proposing new projects and/or 

programs to DOE by developing and demonstrating a new capability or establishing 

proof-of-principle at the forefront of science and technology. Projects, which must 

adhere to the laboratory-directed research and development policy, are selected 

based on technical merit and strategic alignment and are screened to assure they 

are not duplicative of program efforts. 

6,019,591
Appendix II: Solar-Related Initiatives at Six 

Federal Agencies, Descriptions and Fiscal 

Years 2010 and 2011 Obligations 

Page 37 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Initiative name and 

implementing office Description

FY 2010 and 

FY 2011 total (actual 

and estimated) 

obligations

Solar Energy 

Technologies Program 

– Concentrated Solar 

Power

This initiative focuses on concentrating solar power technologies, which use mirrors 

to reflect and concentrate sunlight onto receivers that collect the solar energy and 

convert it to heat. Goals include increasing the use of these technologies in the 

United States, making them competitive in the intermediate power market—which 

operates between the continuously operating baseload market and the high demand 

only peak market—by 2015, and developing advanced technologies that will reduce 

systems and storage costs to make them competitive in the baseload power market 

by 2020. Efforts include contracts with industry, advanced research at its national 

laboratories, and collaboration with other government agencies to remove barriers to 

deploying the technology.

78,722,511

Solar Energy 

Technologies Program 

– Photovoltaic R&D 

This initiative advances photovoltaic technology with a goal of achieving grid parity—

the point at which alternative means of generating electricity are as cheap as 

traditional sources—by 2015. To that end, DOE is investing in approaches ranging 

from basic cell technologies to total system development that demonstrate progress 

toward minimizing the life cycle cost of solar energy. In conducting this work, DOE is 

partnering with its national laboratories, start-up companies, universities, and 

integrated industry teams.

260,829,432

Solar Energy 

Technologies Program 

– Market 

Transformation 

This initiative identifies and addresses market barriers to make it possible for states, 

cities, and utilities to adopt solar energy programs. It develops specific activities and 

external partnerships to address those barriers—for example, opening the grid for 

electricity produced by solar power plants.

39,608,824

Solar Energy 

Technologies Program 

– Systems Integration

Under this initiative, DOE works with the solar industry, utilities, and national 

laboratories to address the barriers to large-scale deployment of solar technologies. 

It focuses on understanding and removing the regulatory, technical, and economic 

barriers to integrating solar electricity into the electric grid.

76,764,397

Loan Programs Office

Title XVII Section 1703 

Loan Guarantee 

Program

Section 1703 of Title XVII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 authorized DOE to 

provide loans to support innovative clean energy technologies that are typically 

unable to obtain conventional private financing due to high technology risks. In 

addition, the technologies must avoid, reduce, or sequester air pollutants or 

emissions of greenhouse gases. Eligible technologies under this initiative included 

biomass, solar, wind, hydropower, and alternative fuel vehicles, among others. 

Under section 1703, borrowers were to pay DOE for the credit subsidy costs. 

However, DOE noted that, once the section 1705 Loan Guarantee Program was 

established under the Recovery Act specifically to support renewable energy and 

certain other projects, renewable energy projects have been supported under the 

section 1705 Loan Guarantee Program rather than the section 1703 Loan Guarantee 

Program. 

0

Title XVII Section 1705 

Loan Guarantee 

Programc

The Recovery Act added section 1705 to the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Section 

1705 authorizes a temporary program to provide loan guarantees for certain 

renewable energy systems, electric power transmission systems and innovative 

biofuel projects that began construction no later than September 30, 2011. To 

implement this authority, DOE established the Financial Institution Partnership 

Program, a risk-sharing partnership between DOE and qualified finance 

organizations. Through this program, DOE pays the credit subsidy costs of loan 

guarantees using funds appropriated for this purpose and guarantees up to 80 

percent of a loan provided for a renewable energy generation project by qualified 

financial institutions. In addition, DOE deployed the section 1705 authority to fund 

eligible innovative solar projects through the Federal Financing Bank.

1,681,764,960
Appendix II: Solar-Related Initiatives at Six 

Federal Agencies, Descriptions and Fiscal 

Years 2010 and 2011 Obligations 

Page 38 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Initiative name and 

implementing office Description

FY 2010 and 

FY 2011 total (actual 

and estimated) 

obligations

Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy

Energy Storage This initiative focuses on storing electricity generated by renewable energy sources 

during periods of low demand and discharging it during periods of high demand. It 

also focuses on connecting renewable sources to the grid, allowing transmission 

lines to be more effectively utilized, and supporting demonstration projects. The 

Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy’s efforts under this initiative also include 

communications, education, and outreach.

4,000,000a

Clean Energy 

Transmission and 

Reliability

This initiative focuses on developing tools and techniques to address challenges that 

renewable energy sources—particularly wind and solar power—pose to electricity 

grid operators, who need to incorporate these variable generation sources without 

compromising reliability. The Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy’s efforts under 

this initiative also include communications, education, and outreach.

Unable to provide

Smart Grid Research 

and Development

This initiative focuses on developing smart grid technologies, particularly those that 

help match supply and demand in real time. Such technologies enable the integration 

of renewable resources by reducing power disturbances, helping stabilize the variability 

of renewable energy sources, and facilitating their safe and cost-effective operation by 

utilities and consumers. The Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy’s efforts under 

this initiative also include communications, education, and outreach.

Unable to provide

Office of Science

Office of Basic Energy 

Sciences - Chemical 

Sciences, Geosciences, 

and Biosciences Core 

Research 

The Office of Basic Energy Sciences supports fundamental research to understand, 

predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and 

molecular levels in order to provide the foundations for new energy technologies and 

to support DOE missions in energy, environment, and national security. The 

Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Division supports experimental, 

theoretical, and computational research to provide fundamental understanding of 

chemical transformations and energy flow in systems relevant to DOE missions. This 

knowledge serves as a basis for the development of new processes for the 

generation, storage, and use of energy and for mitigation of the environmental 

impacts of energy use.

71,913,000

Office of Basic Energy 

Sciences - Materials 

Sciences and 

Engineering Division

The Office of Basic Energy Sciences supports fundamental research to understand, 

predict, and ultimately control matter and energy at the electronic, atomic, and 

molecular levels in order to provide the foundations for new energy technologies and 

to support DOE missions in energy, environment, and national security. The 

Materials Sciences and Engineering Division supports fundamental experimental and 

theoretical research to provide the knowledge base for the discovery and design of 

new materials with novel structures, functions, and properties. This knowledge 

serves as a basis for the development of new materials for the generation, storage, 

and use of energy and for mitigation of the environmental impacts of energy use.

22,645,000

Energy Frontier 

Research Centers

Under this initiative, the Office of Science funds centers that conduct basic and 

advanced discovery research to accelerate advanced energy technologies, including 

renewable energy technologies. The centers are overseen by program staff in the 

Materials Sciences and Engineering subprogram and the Chemical Sciences, 

Geosciences, and Biosciences subprogram.

38,200,000
Appendix II: Solar-Related Initiatives at Six 

Federal Agencies, Descriptions and Fiscal 

Years 2010 and 2011 Obligations 

Page 39 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Initiative name and 

implementing office Description

FY 2010 and 

FY 2011 total (actual 

and estimated) 

obligations

Energy Innovation Hubs This initiative is part of a broad-based research strategy to help the United States 

meet energy and climate challenges. Under this initiative, DOE has launched three 

Energy Innovation Hubs modeled after its Bioenergy Research Centers. The hubs 

will help advance highly promising areas of energy science and engineering from the 

early stage of research to the point where the technology can be handed off to the 

private sector. The Fuels from Sunlight Hub in particular focuses on renewable 

energy, seeking to develop an effective solar energy to chemical fuel conversion 

system. 

42,000,000

Total $2,342,765,827

Source: GAO analysis of agency-provided data.

a

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s authorizing legislation, the America Creating 

Opportunities to Meaningfully Promote Excellence in Technology, Education, and Science 

Reauthorization Act of 2007, (Pub. L. No. 110-69 (2007)) was reauthorized on January 4, 2011; and 

funding for the program was authorized through fiscal year 2013. 

bThe Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 provide 

authorization for these activities through fiscal year 2015 or 2020 depending upon the activity. 

c

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 added section 1705 to the Energy Policy Act 

of 2005. This initiative had a sunset date of September 30, 2011. 

Table 6: Environmental Protection Agency Solar-Related Initiatives

Initiative name and 

implementing office Description

FY 2010 and 

FY 2011 total (actual 

and estimated) 

obligations

Office of Research and Development

P3: People, Prosperity 

& the Planet Student 

Design Competition for 

Sustainability 

This initiative is a competitive grants program in which teams of college or university 

students propose the R&D of sustainable designs related to water, energy, 

agriculture, the built environment or materials and chemicals. Selected teams are 

awarded $15,000 grants to develop and demonstrate their ideas at the annual 

National Sustainable Design Expo in Washington, D.C., where they compete for a 

$90,000 grant to take their design to the next level or to deployment. Proposals 

related to the collection of solar energy and the use of solar energy for drinking water 

purification have been among those funded.

$200,000

Total $200,000

Source: GAO analysis of agency-provided data.
Appendix II: Solar-Related Initiatives at Six 

Federal Agencies, Descriptions and Fiscal 

Years 2010 and 2011 Obligations 

Page 40 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Table 7: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Solar-Related Initiatives

Initiative name and 

implementing office Description

FY 2010 and 

FY 2011 total (actual 

and estimated) 

obligations

Office of the Chief Technologist

High Efficiency Space 

Power Systems 

As part of the Exploration Technology Development Program’s Enabling 

Technology Development and Demonstration projects, NASA will develop 

technologies to provide low-cost, abundant power for deep-space missions, 

including solar photovoltaic systems. The initiative will also demonstrate dual-use 

technologies for clean and renewable energy for terrestrial applications.

$308,000

Space Technology 

Research Grants 

Program

This is the coupling of activities within two Office of the Chief Technologist

programs, the Space Technology Research Grants Program and the NASA 

Innovative Advance Concepts. The Space Technology Research Grants Program’s 

objective is to accelerate the development of push technologies through innovative 

efforts with high-risk/high payoff through the execution. The NASA Innovative 

Advance Concepts program’s objective is to provide an initial study of visionary 

technology concepts that are aerospace architecture, system or mission, exciting 

by exploring a potential breakthrough, far-term implementing design more than 10

years out and have scientific and engineering credibility. 

265,275

Solar Sail Demonstration The Solar Sail Demonstration will advance the state of the art of the use of solar 

radiation pressure for in-space propulsion (solar sailing). The demonstration of this 

technology will enable many high-energy space missions that are not feasible using 

conventional propulsion technologies.

55,993

Office of the NASA Associate Administrator

Small Business 

Innovations 

Research/Small 

Business Technology 

Transfer Research 

In these programs, NASA seeks small, high-technology companies to participate in 

government-sponsored research and development efforts in technology areas critical 

to NASA’s missions. One of the areas of focus is energy conversion, including the 

development of advanced solar photovoltaic technologies to improve efficiency and 

reliability of solar power for space exploration missions. Another area of focus is 

energy generation and the development of renewable sources of energy, including 

space-based solar power generation and other renewable energy technologies that 

enable operation over wide temperature ranges and harsh environmental conditions.

31,889,077

Science Mission Directorate

High Temperature 

Photovoltaics 

This initiative provides support to the Organometallic Vapor Phase Epitaxy Facility 

to develop solar cells for operation at elevated temperatures.

450,000

Solar Probe Plus

Technology Development

This initiative provides performance testing of triple junction solar cells in elevated 

temperature and radiation environments like that seen near the sun.

350,000a

Space Technology Program

Centennial Challenges The Centennial Challenges Program seeks innovative solutions to technical 

problems that can drive progress in aerospace technology of value to NASA’s 

missions in space operations, science, exploration, and aeronautics. The initiative 

encourages the participation of independent teams, individual inventors, student 

groups, and private companies in aerospace research and development. 

Competition topics include solar and other renewable energy technologies.

1,500,000

Total $34,818,345

Source: GAO analysis of agency-provided data.

a

All or part of the agency-provided obligations are estimated. 
Appendix II: Solar-Related Initiatives at Six 

Federal Agencies, Descriptions and Fiscal 

Years 2010 and 2011 Obligations 

Page 41 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Table 8: National Science Foundation Solar-Related Initiatives

Initiative name and 

implementing office Description

FY2010 and 

FY2011 total (actual 

and estimated) 

obligations

Directorate for Engineering

Catalysis and 

Biocatalysis 

The program funds a variety of academic research grants, including those in a 

research area known as “Catalysts and Studies for Alternative Energy Systems, such 

as Electro- and Photocatalysis.” To meet national needs, the program prioritizes 

proposals for conversion of biomass to fuels and chemicals, development of 

alternative energy sources, and transition to green products and processes.

$1,269,911a

Emerging Frontiers in 

Research and Innovation 

The initiative funds grants for interdisciplinary engineering research with the 

potential to create a significant impact or meet national needs. Under the program in 

fiscal year 2010, NSF coordinated with DOE to call for proposals that help address 

the need for solar and wind energy storage.

8,006,000

Energy, Power, and 

Adaptive Systems

The program provides grants for academic researchers to design and study 

intelligent and adaptive engineering networks with an emphasis on electric power 

electronics, networks and grids. This focus includes generation, distribution, 

transmission and integration of renewable energy systems and alternative energy 

technologies, including solar cells, ocean waves, wind, and hydropower. The 

program also supports laboratory and curriculum development to integrate research 

and education.

4,985,617

Energy for Sustainability 

Program 

The program funds fundamental academic research and education activities through 

grants to enable innovative processes for the sustainable production of electricity 

and transportation fuels. The program emphasizes two primary fuel sources—

biofuels/bioenergy and photovoltaic solar energy—and also supports research in 

wind and wave energy, sustainable energy technology assessment, and fuel cells.

7,160,607

Engineering Research 

Centers

Since 1985, the NSF Engineering Research Center program has funded 

interdisciplinary academic-led centers that create and sustain an integrated research 

environment to advance fundamental engineering knowledge and engineered 

systems. In fiscal year 2010, the program issued a solicitation that included a call for 

energy-related proposals. As a result of that call, two new renewable energy-related 

engineering research centers—one in solar photovoltaic systems and one in 

electrical energy transmission–will be started with co-funding from DOE. In addition 

in fiscal year 2010, of the 15 engineering research centers active at that time, there 

were two in the renewable energy area—one that conducted biofuel research and 

one that conducted “smart grid” electrical energy distribution research.

1,502,036

Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences

CHE-DMR-DMS Solar 

Energy Initiative 

(SOLAR) 

The initiative provides grants to support interdisciplinary efforts by research 

groups—each of which includes a chemist, a materials researcher, and a 

mathematician or statistician—to address the scientific challenges of highly efficient 

harvesting, conversion, and storage of solar energy. 

22,165,125

Chemical Catalysis The program provides grants for experimental and theoretical academic research on 

chemical agents known as catalysts and pre-catalysts. Specifically, the program 

supports research on topics such as solar energy conversion, biomass conversion, 

and other energy-related processes.

3,672,260

Total $48,761,556

Source: GAO analysis of agency-provided data.

a

All or part of the agency-provided obligations are estimated. 
Appendix II: Solar-Related Initiatives at Six 

Federal Agencies, Descriptions and Fiscal 

Years 2010 and 2011 Obligations 

Page 42 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Table 9: U.S. Department of Agriculture Solar-Related Initiatives

Initiative name and implementing office Description

FY2010 and 

FY2011 total (actual 

and estimated) 

obligations

Agricultural Research Service

Bioenergy National Program The mission of this Agricultural Research Service research 

program is to develop technologies for the sustainable 

commercial production of biofuels by the agricultural sector in 

ways that enhance natural resources without disrupting 

existing food, feed, and fiber markets. Agricultural Research 

Service efforts under this initiative include research on new 

varieties and hybrids of bioenergy feedstocks, practices and 

systems that maximize the yield of bioenergy feedstocks, and 

commercially preferred biorefining technologies.

$270,000

National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Sustainable Agriculture Research and 

Education Program

This regionally administered competitive grant program 

supports research and education projects related to 

sustainable agriculture. It also includes a professional 

development program to provide education and training on 

sustainable agriculture to agricultural professionals. It does 

not specifically call for renewable energy proposals but has 

funded projects that include renewable energy elements, such 

as alternative biomass production, on-farm biomass 

conversion methods, and small-scale methane digesters.

107,247

Tribal Colleges Research Grants Program This program is a competitive grant program supporting 

fundamental and/or applied agricultural research projects that 

address high-priority food and agricultural science concerns of 

tribal, national, or multistate significance. Its mission is to 

encourage the engagement and participation of Native 

American students in food and agricultural sciences research 

through experiential learning. Program priorities are based on 

National Institute of Food Agriculture’s national critical needs 

areas, which include development of sustainable energy, 

among others.

200,000

Total $577,247

Source: GAO analysis of agency-provided data.
Appendix III: GAO’s Questionnaire for Federal 

Agencies with Initiatives Supporting Solar 

Energy Technologies

Page 43 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Appendix III: GAO’s Questionnaire for 

Federal Agencies with Initiatives Supporting 

Solar Energy Technologies 
Appendix III: GAO’s Questionnaire for Federal 

Agencies with Initiatives Supporting Solar 

Energy Technologies

Page 44 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 
Appendix III: GAO’s Questionnaire for Federal 

Agencies with Initiatives Supporting Solar 

Energy Technologies

Page 45 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 
Appendix III: GAO’s Questionnaire for Federal 

Agencies with Initiatives Supporting Solar 

Energy Technologies

Page 46 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 
Appendix III: GAO’s Questionnaire for Federal 

Agencies with Initiatives Supporting Solar 

Energy Technologies

Page 47 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 
Appendix III: GAO’s Questionnaire for Federal 

Agencies with Initiatives Supporting Solar 

Energy Technologies

Page 48 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 
Appendix III: GAO’s Questionnaire for Federal 

Agencies with Initiatives Supporting Solar 

Energy Technologies

Page 49 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 
Appendix III: GAO’s Questionnaire for Federal 

Agencies with Initiatives Supporting Solar 

Energy Technologies

Page 50 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 
Appendix III: GAO’s Questionnaire for Federal 

Agencies with Initiatives Supporting Solar 

Energy Technologies

Page 51 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 
Appendix III: GAO’s Questionnaire for Federal 

Agencies with Initiatives Supporting Solar 

Energy Technologies

Page 52 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 
Appendix IV: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments

Page 53 GAO-12-843 Solar Energy 

Frank Rusco, (202) 512-3841 or ruscof@gao.gov

In addition to the individual named above, key contributors to this report 

included Karla Springer (Assistant Director), Tanya Doriss, Cindy Gilbert, 

Jessica Lemke, Cynthia Norris, Jerome Sandau, Holly Sasso, Maria 

Stattel, and Barbara Timmerman.

Appendix IV: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments 

GAO Contact

Staff 

Acknowledgments

(361329)
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