US Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today the investment of up to $11.8 million – $5 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – for projects designed to advance the next stage of development of solar energy grid integration systems (SEGIS).

The selections announced today include:

Petra Solar of South Plainfield, NJ: Petra Solar will work with the University of Central Florida (Orlando, FL) and Fifteen Electric Utilities. This project complements the mission of the Solar Program to achieve the widespread adoption of solar energies. It supports improving reliability and resiliency so that high levels of PV integration can be adapted.

DOE cost-share: up to $2.9 million

Florida Solar Energy Center/UCF: UCF and its Florida Solar Energy Center will work with Satcon Technology Corporation (Boston, MA), SENTECH, Inc. (Bethesda, MD), SunEdison (Beltsville, MD), Cooper Power Systems EAS (Minneapolis, MN), Northern Plains Power Technologies (Brookings, SD) and Lakeland Electric Utilities (Lakeland, FL). This project focuses on solving technical challenges that must be overcome to include higher PV penetration levels in larger electrical systems.

DOE cost-share: up to $1.3 million

For the complete story please visit the US Department of Energy.