On Sept. 7, The DOE announced $8.5 million in awards to support next-generation solar energy. The awards were to four of the five projects that made it to the third stage of the DOE’s Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems (SEGIS) program, which is developing photovoltaic (PV) systems “with intelligent interfaces to seamlessly integrate into the distribution and transmission grid.”

Princeton Power was one winner and received $2.7 million to support the installation of its next-generation inverters at its Princeton, N.J., headquarters.

As more homeowners, industries, and power producers install solar power, the work of SEGIS becomes more important. It ensures that the United States’ electric grids are optimized for renewables. These stage-three projects are entering real-world phases that test the effects of integrating more solar into the grid on both large- and small-scale sizes.

Princeton Power will use the funds to help support the installation of two of its GTIB 100 kW Grid-Tied Inverter System modules at its headquarters in Princeton.

Princeton spokesperson Marta Loc told CEA that the project is under construction and will likely come online this October.

“It is the first one being installed in New Jersey and likely in the northeast,” said Loc. The inverter is modular, so numerous inverters can be tied together to integrate larger systems. The inverters will tie the solar array to the grid and to the battery backup system, which uses International Battery’s lithium-ion batteries.

The funds from SEGIS are outmatched by awardees’ contributions. The four projects will cost a total of $20 million, according to DOE. In a statement, DOE Secretary Steven Cho said, “These types of projects will help ensure that our efforts to advance renewable energy and support the modernization of our electrical grid are coordinated and integrated,” providing citizens with “clean energy at lower costs."

Other awardees included: Florida Solar Energy Center of the University of Central Florida, which received $660,329 to implement inverters capable of serving multiple PV systems, with smart-grid power controls; Petra Solar South received $2.7 million to support development of its micro-inverters and grid interactivity capabilities; and PVPowered of Oregon won $2.4 million to develop next-generation controls and communications technologies for distributed PV systems.