The Florida Alliance for Accelerating Solar and Storage Technology Readiness (FAASSTeR) was formed to carry out a 3-year project to study and assist in developing pathways for successful expansion of grid-integrated solar, energy storage, and other distributed energy resources in Florida in a way that maximizes value and reduces risk.

The team includes Tallahassee technology and R&D firm, Nhu Energy, Inc, working closely with the Florida Municipal Electric Association (FMEA) and the Florida Office of Energy, a stakeholder Advisory Board providing input and guidance, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory providing research and analysis, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy providing research and policy analysis, and Florida’s municipal electric utilities. The project leader / principal investigator, responsible for overall direction and management of the project is Rick Meeker with Nhu Energy.

FAASSTeR is one of several state and regional focused projects around the U.S. funded by the U.S. Dept. of Energy under the State Energy Strategies (SES) Program to help reduce solar PV soft costs.

The project scope includes performing Florida-specific studies and analysis and providing support to utilities, with the aim of enabling and increasing the overall value derived from growth in the deployment of solar, energy storage, and other distributed energy resources (DER) integrated into the Florida electric power system.  In, the latter stages of the project, there is the opportunity for utility participants to receive assistance incorporating the results into strategic planning and pilot projects and programs.