Florida Solar Energy Center

The Florida Solar Energy Center (FSEC) is a special research place at the University of Central Florida. It is on a 20-acre area, about the size of a small park, on Florida's Space Coast at UCF's Cocoa campus. This center is important because it studies ways to make and save energy from the sun.

FSEC is the biggest place in the United States that gets money from the state to work on clean energy and saving energy. People there test new ideas, teach others, and make sure solar energy systems work well. James M. Fenton, Ph.D., helps guide all the research and learning at the center.

Operations

The Florida Solar Energy Center has a team of 150 people. This team includes 95 experts in engineering, energy research, building science, and education. The rest of the team is made up of support staff and student helpers. The center does its research through real-world observations, computer modeling, and experiments in special labs. These research projects are made together with companies, nonprofit groups, private sponsors, and national labs.

Research and grants

In October 2009, the United States Department of Energy gave the Solar Energy Center $2.8 million. This money helped the center start a new training network for teachers about solar energy.