Regional Test Centers

Regional Test Centers

Lead Organization Sandia National Labs (PI: Bruce King)

Subs National Renewable Energy Lab, Florida Solar Energy Center, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Program DOE National Lab Core Capability

Status In Progress Abstract Established in 2011, The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Regional Test Center (RTC) Program for Solar Technologies is a network of four outdoor testing facilities located in different climate regions across the United States. The sites include Albuquerque, New Mexico; Golden, Colorado; Cocoa, Florida and Henderson, Nevada. These sites serve as a representation of the range of outdoor conditions where short to long-term field research is conducted to understand the functionality of photovoltaic (PV) systems under real world environmental operating conditions. Short term research focuses on validating technology improvements designed to increase solar energy harvest while long-term research is conducted to assess PV system reliability and validate models for predicting power generation. Researchers at Sandia and NREL design and install PV systems to meet these goals in direct partnership with PV module manufacturers or equipment providers.