Private vs. Public SERI should be private. If it were to be public, it would be like setting up another government agency to operate as a puppet. Definitely should not be staffed by government people. Its assets could be owned by the government, but the operation should be independent of government control or intervention. Private operation and management of SERI would be much more effective than public. Flexibility in response to national, regional, industrial and individual needs can be achieved with far greater ease under a contractual management arrangement, such as those widely used by ERDA in the nuclear field. I believe that SERI should be operated by a private contractor and staffed with the contractor's employees, including the Director. It is our belief that SERI is more likely to be successful and have a beneficial relationship to industry if it is a "private" Institute, funded and operated under contract, with its authorities, responsibilities and limitations being those negotiated with the federal government or other sponsors. We take this attitude because we believe there should be a high degree of industrial involvement in the management and operation of the National Solar Energy Research Institute. A private non-profit institute is strongly favored. The main reason for this is that staff selection and salary scales are less restricted by political considerations in a private institute. The relationship between SERI and industry does not depend on whether it is public or private. A more important determinant is the size and charter of SERI. Should not form another government lab. Must be different and more flexible than existing government organizations. (An institutional problem is) how to get free of typical government inertia. Program management functions must be removed from NASA laboratories and centralized in SERI. SERI should be a profit corporation selected under open competition which is connected to a University. SERI should be an independent corporation with a board composed of 6 industry members, 3 public representatives, 2 university representatives. The board should appoint a technical review committee with its own staff. One of the problems of boards of directors in industry is that they cannot inform themselves well enough to independently and objectively review actions of management. A "board responsible staff" would fulfill this need in SERI. SERI and ERDA SERI should be wholly funded by ERDA and be employed only on programs deemed by SERI management and ERDA administrators (the latter through the budgeting process) to be in the nation's benefit for solar energy utilization. The Division of Solar Energy, in the Office of the Assistant Administrator for Solar, Geothermal and Advanced Energy Systems, has responsibility for the overall planning, budgeting and administering of solar projects; for policy making and general supervision. The SERI should report to the Division of Solar Energy. SERI should be a separate division reporting to the Assistant Administrator for Solar, Geothermal and Advanced Energy Systems. The Assistant Administrator should exercise overall budget responsibility for the solar program of SERI, weighing its needs in relation to the funds available and the needs of the other energy programs managed by the Assistant Administrator. The Institute's director should report to Assistant Administrator for Solar, Geothermal and Advanced Systems. (SERI should) report to Solar Division. It should be detached from "line" ERDA program management functions but should be in the information pipeline. SERI and Industry It should not work for industry; rather the results of its record should be useful to industry and the public at large. We suggest that the Institute be operated by industry, perhaps through the vehicle of a special non-profit corporation specifically set up, directed, staffed and managed by a set of industrial participants. Although we would not preclude university participation in this arrangement, it is our conviction that the lead role should be assigned to industry. arrangements should be made so that individuals from private industry could participate in the management and staffing of the individual centers. This will insure that SERI gets some top notch talent, and also enhance the cooperation between ERDA and industry in the various solar technologies. SERI should rely heavily on industrial, governmental and academic (in descending order) groups (committees, boards, etc.) for planning and performance evaluation. Do Support would-be solar industry-all else is secondary. no work industry should do for itself. Must work with industry. In the final analysis success or failure of SERI depends upon commercialization of products. Therefore, ties have to be with industry and with "public representatives." Watch out for "public representatives" who do not truly represent the "silent majority." The emphasis is on eventual commercialization, any University representation on board should be limited to a small minority. Potential Problems (SERI work done for other than ERDA) could be looked on as unfair competition by all sorts of other research organizations, including those in private industry, the not for profit research institutes, and the academic institutions. $50 million per year seems too high for R&D most solar money should go to building and testing hardware. If SERI takes upon itself to doing research in-house which could lead clearly to a proprietary technology, rather than contracting to industry; then SERI would be in an advocacy position and would ultimately lead to a regulated or government owned solar industry. care Since SERI will primarily be funded by public money, must be taken that those funds are not used to develop a commercial product that will ultimately charge the public a development fee (license fees, etc.) The most critical problem facing SERI is time. To be effective SERI must from a cold start be producing valuable results in two years. It will be chasing a rapidly moving target-the whole non-SERI solar energy program. It is doubtful that SERI will have any greater success than any other government R&D laboratory in transferring technology to industry unless major changes are made in patent policies on proprietary items. It would be much more cost effective to sponsor competitive projects for promising solar technologies directly with industry from a Washington ERDA office. APPENDIX IV BACKGROUND MATERIAL AND QUESTIONS ON THE SERI GIVEN TO SOLAR ENERGY INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVES Under a cover letter soliciting their participation in the MITRE study three sets of questions were sent to prospective industry sample members. These sets of questions are contained in this Appendix. They are: Addendum 1 The notice soliciting opinions on the formation of the SERI published by ERDA in the Federal Register on 3 June 1975. The list of questions sent by ERDA to the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences as a basis for their study. A set of questions composed by MITRE and directed at the industry representatives whose opinions Invitation form used for the Industry Conference On Solar Energy Research Institute. Addendum 1 NOTICE ENERGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION DIVISION OF SOLAR, GEOTHERMAL AND ADVANCED ENERGY SYSTEMS OPINIONS ON THE ROLE, MISSIONS, ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE SOLAR ENERGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE The Solar Energy Research, Development and Demonstration Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-473), Section 10, established a Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) to perform research, development and related functions in furtherance of the purpose and objectives of the Act. Opinions are solicited from any individual, private organizations, local or state agency, Federal laboratory, or consortium of organizations as to the role, missions, organizational structure and other attributes of a Solar Energy Research Institute. This is a request for opinions only; proposals to establish the institute should not be submitted at this time. The role of the SERI could be broad enough to encompass direct participation in all forms of scientific research, engineering, and operational test and evaluation; or its role could be limited to supporting the activities of ERDA Division of Solar, Geothermal and Advanced Energy Systems primarily through information collection, analysis and dissemination. The missions or functions of the SERI could include one or more identification of new concepts and techniques; of the following: basic and applied research and development of materials, components, methods of fabrication and construction, and systems; engineering and economic studies, tests, and evaluations; information collection, |