DOE Announces $57M for Small Cleantech Businesses

The U.S. Department of Energy announced $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 DOE’s Small Business Phase III Xlerator program, will help small businesses develop manufacturing processes to scale up production of their new technologies.

The awards include funding for renewable energy resources, advanced vehicle technologies, industrial and building energy efficiency, a modernized electricity grid, cleaner fossil fuels, and the next generation of nuclear power.

The 33 projects are based in 16 states, with 100% of the projects led by small businesses in partnership with universities, national labs, and large businesses. These Phase III Xlerator awards are a first for the Department of Energy and build on the Department’s existing efforts under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs. 

Previously, the SBIR and STTR programs through the Department of Energy have only been funded through Phase II.  Companies that had previously received DOE SBIR or STTR funding were eligible to apply for the Phase III grants. The awards range from $500,000 to $3 million.

The following projects have been selected for awards:

Biomass Technologies: Harvesting/Dewatering Technology for Algal Biofuels

• Renewable Algal Energy, LLC (Kingsport, Tenn.) – Algal Biodiesel via Innovative Harvesting and Aquaculture Systems – $3,000,000

Buildings: Solid State Lighting Products made from Organic Light-Emitting Diodes

• Universal Display Corporation (Ewing, N.J.) – Energy Saving Phosphorescent OLED Luminaires – $2,000,000

Fuel Cell Technologies:  Advanced Materials and Bio-Fueled Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

• Dynalene, Inc.  (Whitehall, Pa.) – Large Scale Testing, Demonstration and Commercialization of the Nanoparticle-based Fuel Cell Coolant – $1,000,000
• Giner Electrochemical Systems, Inc.  (Newton, Mass.) – Dimensionally Stable High Performance Membrane – $1,500,000
• InnovaTek Inc. (Richland, Wash.) – Power Generation from an Integrated Biomass Reformer and Solid Oxide Fuel Cell – $2,200,000
• TDA Research Inc. (Wheat Ridge, Colo.) – Bio-fueled Solid Oxide Fuel Cells – $1,900,000

Geothermal Technologies: High-Temperature-High-Volume Lifting

• Composite Technology Development, Inc. (Lafayette, Colo.) – Commercialization of High Temperature Electrical Insulation – $1,900,000

Industrial Technologies: Mitigation of Heat Losses, Fouling, and Scaling in Key Manufacturing Unit Operations; Integrated Reaction-Separation Using Non-Thermal Processes

• Altex Technologies Corporation (Sunnyvale, Calif.) – Low Cost Microchannel Heat Exchanger – $820,000
• Exelus, Inc. (Livingston, N.J.) – Launching A New Route To Styrene Monomer – $500,000
• KSE, Inc. (Amherst, Mass.) – Reduction of Distillation Usage in the Manufacture of Ethanol by Reactive Water – $1,000,000
• Los Gatos Research (Mountain View, Calif.) – Advanced Laser-Based Sensors for Industrial Process Control – $990,000

Solar Technologies:  Lowering the Cost of Photovoltaics
Applied Nanotech (Austin, Texas) – High Capacity Manufacturing of Non-Contact, Printable Metallic Inks for Silicon Solar Cells – $1,600,000

• Microlink (Niles, Ill.) – Backside Contact Multijunction Solar Cells for High Concentration Applications – $1,600,000
• Ultrasonic Technologies (Tampa, Fla.) – Resonance Ultrasonic Vibration (RUV) Technology as an Industrial Tool for Silicon Solar Manufacturing – $1,400,000

Vehicle Technologies

• Electron Energy Corporation (Landisville, Pa.) – High Performance Permanent Magnets for Advanced Motors – $3,000,000
• Materials Innovation Technologies, LLC (Fletcher, N.C.) – Advanced Materials for Lightweight Vehicles – $3,000,000
• Strategic Polymer Sciences, Inc. (State College, Pa.) – Compact High Temperature DC Bus Capacitors for Electric Vehicles – $1,000,000

Advanced Wind Technologies Systems

• Compact Membrane Systems, Inc. (Newport, Del.) – Water Removal from Lubricating Fluid via Compact Membranes – $2,800,000
• Native American Technologies (Golden, Colo.) – Onsite Manufactured, Self-erecting Wind Turbine Tower – $3,000,000
• Princeton Power Systems, Inc. (Princeton, N.J.) – Distributed Generation Transformer for MW-Scale Wind Turbines – $1,800,000
• Webcore Technologies, LLC (Miamisburg, Ohio) – Reducing Cost and Weight of Wind Turbine Blades Using An Engineered Core Material – $1,800,000

Fossil Energy Research and Development

• Faraday Technology, Inc. (Clayton, Ohio) – Electrodeposited Manganese-Cobalt Alloy Coating for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Interconnects – $992,000
• Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. (Menlo Park, Calif.) – Field Demonstration of CO2 capture from Coal-Derived Syngas – $1,500,000
• Mikro Systems, (Charlottesville, Va.) – Commercialization of Advanced Turbine Blades for IGCC Power Plants – $1,500,000

Nuclear Energy – Advanced Instrumentation and Control, Radiation Resistant Sensors, and Wireless On-Line Monitoring Systems for Nuclear Power Plant Applications

• Analysis and Measurement Services (AMS), Inc. (Knoxville, Tenn.) – On-line Monitoring Implementation in Boiling Water Reactors – $2,500,000
• Analysis and Measurement Services (AMS), Inc. (Knoxville, Tenn.) – In-Containment Application of Wireless Technology for On-line Condition Monitoring in Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs) – $2,800,000
• Luna Innovations, Inc., (Blacksburg, Va.) – Low-Drift Ultra-High Temperature Fiber Optic Thermal Sensors – $2,900,000

Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability

• Arkansas Power Electronics International, Inc.  (Fayetteville, Ark) – Commercialization of Silicon Carbide Power Modules for High Performance Energy Applications – $500,000
• Clever Fellows Innovation Consortium, Inc, (Troy, N.Y.) – Reliable, Practical Kilowatt-Class Cryogenics for Superconducting Devices – $620,000
• FieldMetrics, Inc. (Seminole, Fla.) – A Low-Cost Modular Optical Voltage Sensor for Power Transmission Applications – $500,000
• Infinia Corporation  (Kennewick, Wash.) – Innovative High-Efficiency Maintenance-Free Cryocooler to Support High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) Commercialization – $1,500,000
• Infotility, Inc. (Boulder, Colo.) – Commercializing the GridAgents Suite: Photovoltaics Integration Plus (PVI+) Software – $500,000
• Underground Systems, Inc. (Armonk, N.Y.) – Low Cost Real Time Monitoring System for Overhead Transmission – $480,000

Detailed project information is available at the link below.