Who funds solar energy research?

We count 119 funded solar energy projects, active between 2020 and 2031, from 5 funders. The most came from EU · MSCA (34 projects), EU · ERC (25 projects) and EU · Climate, Energy and Mobility (23 projects). The median award is $1.9M, across the 116 of 119 projects that list an amount.

Funded projects

119

Funders

5

Median award

$1.9M

Open calls now

2

Top funders of solar energy research

Projects whose title or summary mentions solar energy. Median award: of the projects that list an amount, in US dollars; “—” when fewer than 3 do.

Open solar energy funding calls

2 open calls mention solar energy today.

• Production technologies for solar photovoltaics beyond the state-of-the-art (EUPI-PV Partnership)
  European Commission · Horizon EuropeUp to €12,000,000Deadline: March 31, 2027 ·
• Industrial processes and equipment for innovative, reliable and scalable tandem technologies (EUPI-PV Partnership)
  European Commission · Horizon EuropeUp to €9,500,000Deadline: December 1, 2027 ·

Funded solar energy projects

A sample, latest start first, at most three per program.

• Collaborative Research: ULTRA-Data: The metabolic regimes of lake ecosystems
  NSF · BIO · $1,052,202 · ends 2030
• CAREER: The Large-scale Buffering of Shallow Cloud Perturbations
  NSF · GEO · $1,053,327 · ends 2030
• Monovalent Cation Exchange Membranes with Extreme Selectivities and Permeance Enabled by Quaternized and Crosslinked Ultrathin Films
  NSF · ENG · $354,061 · ends 2029
• Capitol market, a 501 (c)3 non-profit, located in charleston, west virginia will construct a solar powered micro-grid to power our…
  DOE · $713,000 · ends 2029
• Elements: Libra: The Modular Software for Nonadiabatic and Quantum Dynamics
  NSF · CISE · $600,000 · ends 2029
• Exploiting spins for new insights into photocatalytic mechanisms for hydrogen generation
  UKRI · EPSRC · £723,296 · ends 2029
• Wildfire preparedness is limited by the lack of timely, detailed measurements of how much water is contained in vegetation
  USDA · $598,822 · ends 2028
• For the barona solar power project (the “project”), the barona group of capitan grande band of mission indians of the barona reservation…
  DOE · $5,000,000 · ends 2028
• The city of chicago’s library solar power project is building a network of community resilience hubs within neighborhood libraries by…
  DOE · $1,000,000 · ends 2028
• Survivability assessment, cost redUction pathways and eNvironmental evaluation of offshoRe Installed floating Solar energy farms
  EU · Climate, Energy and Mobility · €8,084,918 · ends 2027

How we count

Funded projects come from public award records (NIH RePORTER, NSF, EU CORDIS, UKRI Gateway to Research, Wellcome, the Gates Foundation, DOE, NASA and USDA NIFA) whose title or summary matches “solar energy or solar power or solar fuel or solar fuels”. NIH lists each budget year separately; one project counts once. Amounts are as the funder lists them; medians use only projects that list one, in US dollars. Open calls and forecasts are from our listings of October 28, 2026. A project can mention a topic without being mainly about it, so treat the counts as a guide to who funds the area.