Austin, TX – At the University of Texas-Austin today, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will announce $30 million in funding to 13 ARPA-E projects to develop transformational hybrid solar energy technologies that deliver cost-effective power when the sun is not shining. These projects will help advance solar energy beyond current photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies to drive lower-cost, reliable solar energy deployment.

ARPA-E Deputy Director Cheryl Martin today announced $27 million in funding from the Energy Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) for 14 projects aimed at developing next-generation power conversion devices that could dramatically transform how power is controlled and converted throughout the grid. The projects selected today under ARPA-E’s SWITCHES program, short for “Strategies for Wide-Bandgap, Inexpensive Transistors for Controlling High-Efficiency Systems,” aim to find innovative ways to lower the cost and improve the efficiency of power electronics.