SUNSHOT TECHNOLOGY TO MARKET (INCUBATOR ROUND 11, SOLARMAT ROUND 4) | DE FOA 0001400

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0001400

The SUNSHOT Technology to Market funding opportunity (Incubator Round 11, SolarMat Round 4) is a U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) solicitation designed to push promising solar innovations out of the lab and into real commercial use. It sits under SETO's Tech-to-Market effort, which focuses on helping high-impact solar technologies and solutions overcome the kinds of obstacles that typically slow adoption: technical gaps, market barriers, and institutional or process-related challenges. The overall intent is practical and near-term: support disruptive innovations that can take root in the United States and show a credible path to market success, rather than funding ideas that are only at a basic research stage.

A key feature of this round is that it combines what had previously been two separate annual pathways based on maturity level: the Incubator program and the SolarMat program. By merging them into a single Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), DOE aimed to streamline application and selection while still supporting a range of technology readiness levels. The combined structure is meant to accelerate commercialization by making it easier for applicants to align their projects with the most appropriate stage while still competing under one umbrella focused on market traction and deployment impact.

The program is explicitly geared toward solutions that remove barriers addressable through technology and business innovation. That includes hardware advances and improvements in manufacturing, software tools that enable better design, operations, or grid integration, and innovations that cut costs across the solar value chain. It also includes non-cost improvements, meaning solutions that expand capability, reliability, performance, or integration even if the primary value is not just lowering dollar-per-watt. Across all of these categories, the common theme is enabling solar to become more ubiquitous and easier to deploy at scale, with fewer risks for developers, utilities, and system owners.

Another central goal is reducing the price of solar energy and de-risking solar integration with the electricity grid. In practice, that can mean innovations that make solar generation more predictable, controllable, and compatible with grid operations, or solutions that reduce soft costs, streamline installation and interconnection, improve monitoring and maintenance, or strengthen system performance under real-world conditions. The emphasis on "de-risking" signals that DOE is looking for projects that make adoption easier for the broader market by addressing uncertainty, reliability, bankability, and operational concerns that can limit financing and deployment.

Eligibility is focused on parties positioned to commercialize: individuals, small businesses, and for-profit organizations (including those other than small businesses). Awards are made as cooperative agreements, which generally means DOE expects substantial involvement during the project, such as technical coordination, milestone oversight, and collaboration to ensure the work stays aligned with program goals. The administering office listed for this opportunity is the Golden Field Office, and the activity category is Energy under CFDA 81.087.

From the funding details provided, the maximum award amount (ceiling) is $5,000,000, and DOE anticipated making about 25 awards under this FOA. The opportunity number is DE-FOA-0001400. The posting date is shown as September 15, 2015, with an original closing date of February 3, 2016, which reflects the timeline for that specific round of funding.

Applications for this FOA are handled through the EERE Exchange portal (https://eere-exchange.energy.gov), which is the DOE system used for submission and tracking. Applicants must register and create an account in EERE Exchange before submitting, and DOE provides an Exchange User Guide through the same platform. The FOA itself, along with official instructions, submission requirements, and points of contact for both technical questions and submission issues, are available within the full announcement posted on EERE Exchange.

• The Golden Field Office in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "SUNSHOT TECHNOLOGY TO MARKET (INCUBATOR ROUND 11, SOLARMAT ROUND 4)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.087.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2015-09-15.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2016-02-03. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $5,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 25 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Individuals, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses.

Apply for DE FOA 0001400

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: