04-22423. Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

AGENCY:

Energy Information Administration (EIA), Department of Energy (DOE).

ACTION:

Agency information collection activities: submission for OMB Review; Comment Request.

SUMMARY:

The EIA has submitted the “Annual Solar Thermal Collector Manufacturers Survey,” and the “Annual Photovoltaic Module/Cell Manufacturers Survey” to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for revision and a three-year extension under section 3507(h)(1) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.

DATES:

Comments must be filed by November 5, 2004. If you anticipate that you will be submitting comments but find it difficult to do so within that period, you should contact the OMB Desk Officer for DOE listed below as soon as possible.

ADDRESSESES:

Send comments to OMB Desk Officer for DOE, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget. To ensure receipt of the comments by the due date, submission by FAX [phone]) is recommended. The mailing address is 726 Jackson Place, NW., Washington, DC 20503. (A copy of your comments should also be provided to EIA's Statistics and Methods Group at the address below.)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Requests for additional information should be directed to Grace Sutherland. To ensure receipt of the comments by the due date, submission by FAX [phone]) or e-mail ([e-mail]) is recommended. The mailing address is Statistics and Methods Group (EI-70), Forrestal Building, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC 20585-0670. Ms. Sutherland may be contacted by telephone at [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

This section contains the following information about the energy information collection submitted to OMB for review: (1) The collection numbers and title; (2) the sponsor (i.e., the Department of Energy component); (3) the current OMB docket number (if applicable); (4) the type of request (i.e., new, revision, extension, or reinstatement); (5) response obligation (i.e., mandatory, voluntary, or required to obtain or retain benefits); (6) a description of the need for and proposed use of the information; (7) a categorical description of the likely respondents; and (8) an estimate of the total annual reporting burden (i.e., the estimated number of likely respondents times the proposed frequency of response per year times the average hours per response).

1. Forms EIA-63A, “Annual Solar Thermal Collector Manufacturers Survey,” and EIA-63B, “Annual Photovoltaic Module/Cell Manufacturers Survey.”

2. Energy Information Administration.

3. OMB Number 1905-0196.

4. Revision.

5. Mandatory.

6. EIA's Forms EIA-63A and EIA-63B collect data on the manufacture, shipment, and importation of solar thermal collectors and photovoltaic modules/cells. The data are used by the private sector, the renewable energy industry, the DOE, and other government agencies. Respondents are U. S. companies that manufactured, shipped, and/or imported solar thermal collectors and/or photovoltaic modules and cells.

7. Business or other for-profit.

8. 358 hours of burden.

Please refer to the supporting statement as well as the proposed forms and instructions for more information about the purpose, who must report, when to report, where to submit, the elements to be reported, detailed instructions, provisions for confidentiality, and uses (including possible nonstatistical uses) of the information. For instructions on obtaining materials, see the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.

Statutory Authority: Section 3507(h)(1) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. No. 104-13)(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq).

Issued in Washington, DC, September 28, 2004.

Jay H. Casselberry,

Agency Clearance Officer, Statistics and Methods Group, Energy Information Administration.