Previous Solicitations

First Grant Funding Solicitation

The California Solar Initiative is pleased to announce the release of its first Grant Funding Solicitation for the Research, Development, Demonstration and Deployment (RD&D) Program.

Solicitation Summary

Target Funding: This solicitation will fund up to $15 million and targets integration of photovoltaics (PV) into the utility grid and focuses on the following activities:

1. Planning and modeling for high-penetration PV
2. Testing and development of hardware and software for high-penetration PV
3. Addressing the near term integration of energy efficiency, demand response and storage along with PV.

The entire Grant Proposal Solicitation Package is available here.

Funding Available

• Total Funding Available Through This Solicitation:  Up to $15 million
• Maximum Award Amount:  $3 million
• Minimum Award Amount:  $200,000
• Award Length:  Up to two years

Key Dates

The grant solicitation was released on July 8, 2009 and proposals (electronic and hard copy) are due by 4:00 PM (PDT) August 24, 2009. There will be a pre-bid conference on July 23, 2009 at 10 AM.  Awards are expected to be made by December 2009.

Read more: First Grant Funding Solicitation

Questions & Answers on First Solicitation

Questions about this grant solicitation were accepted through July 23, 2009.  Responses to the questions can be found here:   questions_and_responses_for_the_csi_rdd_final.pdf

Pre-bid webinar and public documents

July 23, 2009 Pre-bid Q&A Webinar Documents for CSI RD&D First Grant Solicitation:

• Pre-bid webinar participant list: csi_rdd_july2309_participant_list.pdf
• Pre-bid webinar slideshow: pre-bid_webinar_07232009.pdf
• Pre-bid webinar recording: Pre-bid-webinar
  Note: Files size is 38.8MB - it may take a while to download
• Questions & Answers about First Solicitation: questions and responses for the csi rdd final.pdf
• The First Grant Solicitation is available here.
• The Sample Grant Agreement is available here.
• Questions about this grant solicitation were accepted through July 23, 2009. Responses to the questions can be found here: questions_and_responses_for_the_csi_rdd_final.pdf

February 19, 2010 Pre-bid Q&A Webinar Documents for CSI RD&D Second Grant Solicitation:

• Pre-bid webinar participant list: csi_rdd_11-18-09_pre-bid-attendee_list.pdf
• Pre-bid webinar slideshow: pre-bid_webinar_solicitation-2.pdf
  
• Pre-bid webinar recording: http://www.calsolarresearch.ca.gov/pre-bid-webinar-recording-solicitation-2.html
• Questions and Answers about Second Solicitation: qa_sol2_120709.pdf
• The Second Grant Solicitation is available here: csi-rdd_second_solicitation.doc
  
• The Sample Grant Agreement is available here: sample_grant_agreement_for_posting.doc
  

Background documents and adopted plans for the CSI RD&D:

• CSI RD&D Adopted Plan
• Decision Adopting CSI RD&D

Request for Comments on the First DRAFT Solicitation for the California Solar Initiative Research, Demonstration, and Deployment Program

Background and Purpose

The California Solar Initiative (CSI) is a statewide incentive program that aims to build a self-sustaining solar electricity market.  The CSI has a goal of creating 1940 MW of new, solar-produced electricity in California by 2017 (and 3,000 MW on a statewide-basis).  The CSI was authorized in 2006 by Senate Bill (SB) 1 (Murray) and subsequently enacted through California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) Rulemaking (R.) 06-03-004. Pursuant to SB 1, the CPUC allocated $50 million for a Solar Research, Demonstration, and Deployment (RD&D) Program.  Within the Solar RD&D Program, grant funding is further allocated into three target areas:

1. Production technologies
2. Grid integration
3. Business development and deployment

Read more: Request for Comments on first draft Solicitation