Application for Solar Policy and Program Technical Assistance in 2013 - Round 4

The Solar Technical Assistance Team (STAT) is a project of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) SunShot Initiative that is implemented in partnership with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The program consists of:

1. An online educational component — The STAT program provides an overview of solar technologies, resources, and the role that state and local governments play in supporting the development of those resources to achieve their economic, environmental, and/or energy security goals. For reference, review the 2012 STAT Webinar Series.

2. A quick response component — In partnership with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), NREL will provide quick response technical assistance to state and local governments on matters that require solar market expertise to either answer a time-sensitive question or to provide expert testimony on policy best practices. The STAT Program is designed to answer questions within eight hours. To request assistance through this program, please email your request form to stat@nrel.gov.

3. An in-depth, assistance program — This longer term (1-10 weeks of effort) technical assistance is designed to support the development of solar markets by reducing barriers to wide-scale deployment of solar PV and/or reducing "balance of systems" costs of solar PV. The application provided here is for this in-depth assistance program, which will be offered quarterly throughout the federal 2013 fiscal year, pending funding availability.

2013 Topics for Assistance

This year, DOE is offering technical assistance to cities and states targeting policy and programmatic improvements that will open and develop markets for distributed generation (DG), specifically solar rooftop photovoltaics (PV).

Types of Assistance Available

This is not a financial award. Successful applicants will be partnered with DOE and NREL expert staff to determine the most effective use of assistance in forwarding market opening policies and programs. NREL/DOE anticipate providing 1-10 weeks of work on these requests.

The types of assistance available include:

• Review and comparison of current policies to best practices with suggestions for policy changes to better serve the solar distributed generation market
• Unbiased analysis of economic and market impacts of changes to policies
• Review and comparison of current regulations to best practices with suggestions for policy changes to better serve the solar DG market
• Unbiased analysis of economic and market impacts of changes to regulations.

Selection Criteria

To meet the basic eligibility criteria, applicants must qualify as:

• State elected official or staff
• State agency staff
• Local elected official or staff
• Local agency staff

In addition, applicants must perform work that is directly related to PV markets/costs.

Please note that the applicant must be a representative of a state or local government. Non-profit organizations and private sector entities are not eligible.

Successful applicants will:

• Provide staff time to assist in the development and actively participate in the technical assistance delivery
• Identify specific areas of necessary assistance
• Articulate existing state barriers
• Articulate specifically how the requested assistance would remove or reduce the barrier (e.g. streamlined interconnection process would reduce developer wait times by x days)
• Articulate how DOE assistance would help facilitate movement toward a robust solar market
• Provide illustrated institutional interest in developing a rooftop solar market
• Be well positioned (e.g. with an open docket proceeding or active legislative session) on these topics to implement changes that will open PV market. Better positioning may be achieved through multiple agencies coordinating within a state and this will be recognized in the review.

Due to timing restrictions, some applicants may be asked to reapply in later rounds of applications.

Timeline

• Applications for Round 4 are due on May 19, 2013 by midnight MST
• Applicants will be notified of finalist selection outcome by June 6, 2013
• Applicants will be notified of technical assistance award by June 21, 2013

Applications for future STAT rounds will be announced pending availability of FY14 funding.

If you have any questions, please email them to stat@nrel.gov.

To be considered for technical assistance, applicants must complete all questions thoroughly and succinctly. All fields are required.