by Brianna Crandall — September 20, 2010—The U.S. Department of Energy has announced three sets of awards worth $72 million in total to further renewable energy research and commercialization.
DOE awarded $57 million, including nearly $11 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to support clean energy technology commercialization projects for 33 small businesses across the country. These projects, funded as part of the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Small Business Phase III Xlerator program, will help small businesses develop manufacturing processes to scale up production of their new, proven technologies, creating new markets and new jobs. The awards include funding for renewable energy resources, industrial and building energy efficiency, a modernized electricity grid, and the next generation of nuclear power.
DOE selected six transformational energy research and development projects to receive a total of $9.6 million through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The selections, made by DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), include a dehumidifier based on a nano-structured solid polymer that is permeable to moisture but impermeable to air; next-generation permanent magnets to increase the efficiency and power density of electric machines; a high-performance airborne wind turbine; and a dynamic liquid prism that can be adjusted to allow concentrating photovoltaic systems to track the sun without the use of mechanical systems.
DOE also selected five projects to build and strengthen “innovation ecosystems“ that will accelerate the movement of cutting-edge energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies from university laboratories into the market. This is the first time the department is funding this type of university-based commercialization effort.
The ecosystems will foster collaborative environments, bringing together key players from the public and private sector to identify and develop new clean energy technologies and help them succeed in the marketplace. The projects will receive a total of $5.3 million in federal funding over three years, which will be leveraged with grantee investments to support $9 million in total projects.
