PHOTON International The Photovoltaic Magazine

Most 2003 PV R&D line items increase over 2002 levels

On Feb. 14, the biggest PV R&D budget in eight years, a respectable $76.7 million, was finally passed by Congress for FY 2003 after months of delay (see PI 3/2003, p. 26); that's 4.1 percent higher than the $73.7 million requested by President George W. Bush back in Feb. 2002 (see PI 3/2002, p. 30).

	© data: DOE; graphic: PHOTON International
Good news: The 2003 PV R&D budget is up from both the request and its 2002 predecessor

But for some inexplicable reason the budget keeps growing. According to the line-item budget supplied to PHOTON International by the US Department of Energy (DOE), it is now $77 million. Apparently, the wording in the Senate version, which had called for that amount, was used for the final total. But, unofficially, the DOE is putting it at $71.5, after factoring out all the non-DOE items.

One of those items sets aside $1.5 million for something called the Palo Alto PV Demonstration Project in California.»It's a mystery to us,« says Richard King, head of the DOE's Office of Solar Energy Technologies. It turns out to be a pet project put in by Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, the Democratic representative from Palo Alto, to install 150 kW of PV on a police station and community center. The budgetary line item it falls under is unclear.

While there are no differences between the 2003 requested and passed budgets for the line items under Fundamental Research and Advanced Materials & Devices, in the Technology Development area, PV Building Integrated R&D received an extra $700,000. But the real surprise is that the oddly named Million Solar Roofs Initiative (MSRI), intended as an outreach funding program to states, is back with $2.6 million. Republican Bush had zeroed out this Clinton-era program in his request, and with both houses of Congress now under Republican control, it was expected to be dropped before the final vote.

The size of the 2003 budget increase becomes clear when compared with its 2002 predecessor. The 2002 budget came in at just $66.1 million, or 16 percent lower than the new budget. In fact, every line item in 2003 has increased, except for Systems Engineering & Reliability, which dropped 15 percent from $12.9 to $11 million. The biggest increase (66 percent) goes to Basic Research / University Programs, which jumped from $8.7 to $14.4 million. Interestingly, Thin Film Partnerships also jumped by 7 percent from $16.5 to $17.7 million, and this following BP Solar withdrawal from thin-film production by closing two factories in November (see PI 1/2003, p.22).

With the president's PV budget request for 2004 at $76.7 million, the path ahead for PV looks smoother. The only main area with a lower budget in 2004 is Technology Development, which is down $300,000 to $16.5 million.