Washington, DC - If you are planning to apply for the next round of the Small Business Voucher (SBV) Pilot program, you have a few more days to complete an application. The deadline has been extended through November 13 at 11:59pm ET.

The SBV Pilot program gives small businesses access to technical assistance from national labs. This assistance helps companies overcome critical technology and commercialization challenges to help bring the next generation of clean energy technologies, including solar, to market. The SunShot Initiative funds vouchers for solar projects under the SBV pilot, which are valued between $50,000 and $300,000.

So far, the SBV Pilot program has awarded four solar vouchers during the first two rounds that will improve inverters, heliostats, and photovoltaic panels. Vouchers can cover a wide array of assistance from labs to address difficulties with prototyping, materials characterization, high-performance computations, modeling and simulations, and validation of technology performance, among others.

Companies interested in receiving vouchers need to complete an online application and submit a number of supporting materials. To be eligible, small businesses should be for-profit, have less than 500 employees, and operate within the U.S. Learn more about the application process and eligibility requirements.