Deploying solar photovoltaic panels is expected to be the focus of California energy agencies' research and development money. Agencies plan to downplay projects aimed at improving the effectiveness of photovoltaic technology itself, leaving funding for such work to solar manufacturers and the federal government. These priorities were laid out November 13 in a joint California Public Utilities Commission and California Energy Commission workshop. State policy aims at adding 3,000 MW of solar-driven electricity in the next decade. In that span of time, the CPUC is set to spend $50 million to support solar research and development under the new California Solar Initiative program. The CEC's Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program will provide additional money. "PIER should play a role to get products over the last hurdles into the marketplace," said Lisa Frantzis, Navigant Consulting director of renewable and distributed energy. The CPUC plans to emphasize projects "that help get the products installed at the right price," said Jeanne Clinton, commission clean energy adviser. The CPUC - which is dubbing its program "RDD&D," for research, development, demonstration, and deployment - envisions supporting projects to develop new solar business models, delivery channels, and financing programs. The CEC plans to fund projects under its PIER program that achieve priority milestones backed by a panel of solar industry executives and energy policy makers, said Elaine Sison-Lebrilla, agency energy generation research office manager. To determine those priorities, CEC and Navigant researchers interviewed the experts, who represent 17 different organizations. They include the CPUC, the U.S. Department of Energy, utilities, and solar manufacturers. Among the top priorities identified are to develop "synergies between building energy efficiency and photovoltaics," to identify "roles for utilities in solar," and to improve solar economics through "advanced metering, price responsive tariffs . . . and storage." Frantzis said the panel also voiced an interest in helping photovoltaic manufacturers to attract capital to scale up their operations. They further suggested that the PIER program be used to fund benchmarking of installation procedures based on the best examples of solar systems in Japan and Germany, world leaders in widespread use of solar energy. - William J. Kelly