DOE: $37M for Clean Energy Research at Small Businesses
eSolar Launches First Commercial U.S. Solar Tower
U.S. Wind Industry Fights Headwinds in Q2
First U.S. Hydrokinetic Project Begins Commercial Operations
Biomass Catches Fire in Ohio, Florida, Georgia, New Hampshire
US Motor Vehicle Travel Increased in June
DOE: $101M for Weatherization, $51M for Clean Energy: Alaska, New Jersey, Guam
DOE Offers $37 Million for Clean Energy Research at Small Businesses
DOE offered $37 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds on August 20 for clean energy research and development projects at small U.S. businesses. DOE's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs target U.S. companies with fewer than 500 employees, with the goal of investigating ideas for clean energy technologies that appear to have commercial potential.
About $8.5 million is expected to be available for new projects, which are designated as "Phase I" awards. Successful applicants may receive up to $150,000 for a Phase I grant, which gives awardees six months to demonstrate the feasibility of their ideas. Most of the remaining funds will go towards "Phase II" grants of up to $1 million to support the principal R&D of clean energy concepts developed under Phase I awards. The competition for the Phase II grants will open at a later date.
For now, DOE is accepting applications for Phase I grants to support projects in the following topic areas: solar technologies; water power technologies; smart controllers for smart grid applications; sensors, controls, and wireless networks; building air conditioning and refrigeration, including thermal load shifting and cool roofs; advanced gas turbines and materials, including small, low-cost systems for distributed power applications; industrial technologies; advanced manufacturing processes; technologies to address water usage in electric power generation and industrial processes; and power plant cooling.
Small businesses with strong research capabilities in science or engineering are encouraged to apply for a Phase I grant by the September 4 deadline. See the DOE press release, the SBIR/STTR Web site, the full grant opportunity, and the topic descriptions (PDF 148 KB).
First Commercial U.S. Solar Power Tower Launched by eSolar
The first commercial solar power tower in the US was unveiled near Lancaster, California, on August 5 by eSolar.
Located about 50 miles north of Los Angeles in California's Antelope Valley, the Sierra SunTower solar plant uses advanced computer software to precisely align thousands of flat mirrors, or "heliostats," to concentrate the sun's heat on a receiver mounted at the top of a tower. Water pumped through the tower is boiled to steam, which drives a turbine to produce up to 5 MW of electricity.
The eSolar design employs modules that cover 10 acres with 12,000 mirrors surrounding a single tower to generate up to 2.5 MW of power. The Sierra SunTower achieves its 5 MW output by combining two of eSolar's modules. Southern California Edison is buying the energy from the new facility.
The eSolar approach involves several innovations, including the use of small, mass-produced mirrors for the heliostats. The company also chose to build the facility on private land designated for heavy industrial use, which simplified permitting.
The company plans to duplicate this model at other solar plants throughout the US and the world - it already has an agreement with NRG Energy, Inc. to develop three plants in California and New Mexico that will generate up to 465 MW of power. The two companies announced the overall agreement in February, then followed up in June with specific plans for a 92 MW plant in southern New Mexico and for another 92-MW plant in Lancaster, California, near the current eSolar power plant. The India-based ACME Group has also licensed eSolar's technology. See the eSolar press release and fact sheet (PDF 1.1 MB) on the Sierra SunTower plant, plus its press releases on the NRG Energy agreement and its planned facilities in California and New Mexico.
At least one other company is planning to develop solar power tower plants on private land, as BrightSource Energy announced in March that it's signed a contract with a private land developer in Nevada. BrightSource plans to develop a 600 MW solar tower project on six square miles near transmission lines northeast of Las Vegas.
And two companies plan to employ parabolic trough-shaped mirrors to concentrate the sun's heat and produce power for Arizona Public Service and Southern California Edison. Starwood Energy Group Global, LLC plans to build a 290 MW parabolic trough plant about 75 miles west of Phoenix, Arizona, for APS, while Solar Millennium plans to build two 242 MW facilities in California for Southern California Edison. The Solar Millenium facilities will be located in Blythe, about 200 miles east of Los Angeles, and Ridgecrest, about 120 miles north of Los Angeles, and are slated for completion in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
