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Did You Know?
Gallium is a chemical element used in certain solar cell technologies and power electronics, which enable solar panels and wind turbines to supply electricity to the grid. In April, the Department of Energy (DOE) selected five projects aimed at restarting gallium recovery in the United States, including one project focused on recovering gallium from recycled scrap materials. This work will help strengthen domestic supply chains and recover valuable materials for U.S. energy technologies.
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IESO recently gathered experts from industry, government, and the national labs for the Solar in Space Workshop, a free technical forum dedicated to accelerating U.S. leadership in space photovoltaic (PV) innovation. The workshop brought together specialists in silicon and PV to evaluate mission-specific performance needs, including radiation tolerance, ultra‑lightweight packaging, durability in extreme thermal environments, and reliable operation. Discussions informed attendees about future technical targets and collaboration strategies, helping shape a cohesive national approach to the next generation of space solar arrays for defense, communications, and deep space‑applications.
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IESO announced the winners of the American-Made Heliostat Prize, a $3 million competition designed to accelerate innovation in high-‑performance, low-cost parts for sun-tracking mirrors. Each winning team will receive $300,000 to develop technologies that improve heliostat support structures, motors, drives, controls, sensors, foundations, hardware and manufacturability, helping to reduce costs for concentrating solar thermal power systems and strengthening commercial readiness. This initiative supports DOE’s ongoing efforts, alongside the Heliostat Consortium (HelioCon), to strengthen domestic heliostat research and deployment, including field testing, workforce development, and component reliability.
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Research & Development Spotlight |
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DOE-funded Solar Data Tools were named 2026 Stanford Open-Source Software Prize winners for its impact as open-source research software. Solar Data Tools is a software package that helps photovoltaic (PV) system owners and operators analyze solar power and irradiance data, even when only basic system output data are available. The tool helps users clean, filter, plot, and analyze PV system performance data more quickly, supporting better insight into solar system performance and reliability. This work is funded by IESO and received support from National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) through the PVInsight project.
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 Events
Applied Cybersecurity for Integrated Energy Technologies and Infrastructure Workshop
July 29 & 30 | Richland, WA
DOE’s Securing Solar for the Grid (S2G) initiative invites industry and cybersecurity stakeholders to an in-person workshop at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. This two-day event will gather national laboratories, industry, and S2G Industry Advisory Board members to collaborate on practical cybersecurity solutions for protecting critical energy infrastructure. Join us to discuss emerging challenges and strategies for strengthening the resilience and security of integrated energy technologies. Register by July 17.
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UL Solutions announced a new cybersecurity certification program for distributed energy resources and inverter-based devices, including microgrids, batteries, hydrogen systems, and electric vehicle infrastructure. Developed with support from IESO and NLR, this program provides manufacturers, utilities, regulators, and grid operators with a common framework for evaluating cyber protections for devices connected to the grid.
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The DOE-funded Universal Interoperability for Grid-Forming Inverters (UNIFI) Consortium has announced a 1-megawatt test bed and demo project in Kaua’i, successfully showed how grid-forming resources can effectively support grid strength and stability.
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NLR released its Annual Supply Chain for Photovoltaics in the United States: 2024 in Review report. The report details the 2024 U.S. manufacturing, costs, installation, trends, recycling, and domestic content for both photovoltaic and battery energy storage systems.
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DOE’s Office of Electricity announced up to $3.5 million to help remote, isolated, and Tribal communities improve microgrid systems. Microgrids use local energy resources, including solar, storage, and other technologies, to generate, store, and manage electricity during power disruptions. The funding will support projects that improve energy affordability, reliability, and security, including systems that can generate, store and manage electricity locally.
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NLR published a Space Power fact sheet that highlights research to improve the durability, performance, and affordability of PV materials for satellite, spacecraft, and power beaming applications. The fact sheet covers NLR’s work on III-V solar cells, perovskites, silicon, and PV receiver cells that can collect optically beamed power. |
DOE announced up to $69 million for technologies and processes that advance domestic production and refining of critical minerals and materials. The funding opportunity will support projects that address technical barriers to a stronger critical materials supply chain. |
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