DOE Announces $8.5 Million for Solar Grid Integration
On September 7, DOE announced that its Sandia National Lab would invest $8.5 million in four projects that have reached Stage III of the Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems (SEGIS) program.
SEGIS contractors will match these investments by more than one-to-one for a total of over $20 million for the projects. The awards follow the first two SEGIS stages, and awardees were selected for having the highest likelihood of commercialization.
A range of strategies are represented in the four projects. The Florida Solar Energy Center at the University of Central Florida will focus on a larger shared inverter serving multiple residential or commercial PV systems. The Florida demonstration will feature a suite of new functionalities such as smart grid power controls, continued operation in the event of voltage and frequency disturbances, and improved safety of PV systems.
Petra Solar of South Plainfield, New Jersey, will partner with utilities in Florida, Delaware, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. to boost system reliability and safety with low cost modular inverters. Also in New Jersey, Princeton Power will lead a project to complete a design for a 100 kW demand response inverter based on its unique circuit designs and the use of new state-of-the-art components.
And in Oregon, PV Powered will spearhead an effort that includes partners in South Dakota, Washington, and Oregon to further next-generation controls and advanced communications technologies that enable distributed PV systems to communicate with power utilities. See the DOE press release and the SEGIS Web site.
Two U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Consortia Selected
DOE announced on September 2 that it selected two consortia to participate in joint clean energy research between the US and China. President Obama and President Hu Jintao formally announced the establishment of the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center (CERC) during the President's trip to China last November.
DOE allocated $25 million over the next five years, which will be matched by the grantees and China for a total of $100 million.
The University of Michigan consortium will work to advance clean vehicles, and West Virginia University consortium will develop technologies for carbon capture and sequestration.
The University of Michigan consortium includes Ohio State University, MIT, DOE's Sandia and Oak Ridge National Labs, the Joint BioEnergy Institute, which is led by DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Chrysler, Cummins, Fraunhofer, MAGNET, A123 Systems, American Electric Power, FirstEnergy, and the Transportation Research Center.
Another $12.5 million to a third winning consortium focused on building energy efficiency will be made this fall. See the
DOE press release.
