Meeting Purpose and Scope

The objective of SAI is to achieve market competitiveness for photovoltaic (PV) solar electricity in the U.S. by 2015 through government partnerships with industry, universities, laboratories, States, and/or other public entities. SAI is a Presidential Initiative which has an overall mission of initiating widespread commercialization of clean solar energy technologies to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels while also improving the environment.

The objective of the SAI Technical Exchange Meeting is to solicit input from government, industry, and academia regarding options and strategies for the Department of Energy (DOE) to consider in designing the structure and procurement strategy for the Solar America Initiative (SAI).

The focus of the Meeting is the discussion of critical issues that will have a significant impact on the structure of the initiative and the resulting solicitation. The key mechanism used to accomplish this objective will be a series of breakout sessions to be held during this two-day event. There will be four groups holding simultaneous breakout sessions on each day. Each group will be assigned a topic to discuss with the intent of developing potential options for the resolution of issues within that topic. The first day of sessions will focus on technology objective and procurement strategies, and the second day of sessions will focus on program execution. Although subject to change, specific group topics will likely be:

Day 1 - Technology Breakout Sessions

Group A: Technology Improvement Opportunities (Technical Objectives for Procurement)

Group B: Procurement Strategy and Structure (Phasing, Teaming, Funding)

Day 2 - Program Execution Breakout Sessions

Group C: Stage-Gate Process, Testing, & Evaluation
Group D: Proposal Content Requirements, Merit Review Criteria, and Negotiation Processes

**These groups are subject to change. Every effort will be made to accommodate your requested breakout group preference.

Meeting Participation Expectations

This Meeting is intended to provide a critical channel for communication with the industry and academic communities external to DOE, within a framework that maintains the opportunity for full and open competition among the solar industry.

Accordingly, Meeting participants are expected to play a contributing role in the breakout groups where organizational structures, evaluation criteria, and acquisition strategy considerations are discussed. Government participation will primarily take the form of facilitation and data capture. The Meeting will provide an important opportunity for the external community to influence DOE deliberations, and participants are expected to fully embrace this opportunity through free exchange of concepts, concerns, and suggestions.

In order to maintain focus and permit substantive dialog, participation from invited organizations will be limited to TWO (2) representatives . Organizations are asked to select representatives based on their ability to contribute to dialogue in the breakout session areas listed in the previous section of this message.

It is our expectation that participants will come having provided feedback to the Department's Notice of Program Interest (NOPI), which can be found at https://e-center.doe.gov/iips/faopor.nsf/8df825feb86675de852564650046faea/8cb1060444f7907a852571260063ecd1?OpenDocument , with instructions on how to respond to the focus areas contained therein. The NOPI focus areas also provide more detail about the topics of the breakout groups listed above. Participants should plan on fully reviewing this material prior to arrival. Participants are also welcome to visit the DOE Solar Energy Technologies Program website, at http://www.eere.energy.gov/solar/ .

Further questions on Meeting background reading materials, scope, or mechanics, should be held until the engagement of formal discussions at the Meeting. Questions on registration or logistics should be directed to meetings@sentech.org Subject: Solar TEM.

Thank you for your contributions to the challenge of defining an effective Solar America Initiative. We look forward to seeing you in Chicago.