ERC for Quantum Energy and Sustainable Solar Technologies

Electricity is the lifeblood of modern society, powering everything from cities to pacemakers. With demand increasing, the electricity generating system faces challenges. These include harmful environmental impacts, threats to national security, resource supply problems, difficulties in powering autonomous applications, and over a quarter of the world’s population without access to electricity. These all indicate the need for a new electricity generation system. QESST addresses these challenges by supporting a system of photovoltaic science and innovation—a system that breaks away from the waste and inefficiencies of unsustainable fossil fuels and generates power using our favorite sustainable and unlimited resource: the Sun. QESST focuses on advancing photovoltaic science, technology and education in order to address one of society’s greatest challenges: sustainably transforming electricity generation to meet the growing demand for energy. The Center is co-funded by NSF and the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The NSF-DOE collaboration allows leveraging of government funding to advance PV technology from fundamental research to commercialization in partnership with industry via the ERC innovation ecosystem and connections with DOE programs and opportunities.