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In celebration of Earth day, the DOE announced today that it will invest over $200 million to the development of solar and water power technologies.

“Expanding the U.S. clean-energy manufacturing base is an important part of the Administration’s goals to diversify electricity supply options, increase national security, and accelerate green jobs development,” says Secretary Steven Chu. “These investments will help strengthen American competitiveness in renewable energy and transform the U.S. into a lasting manufacturing presence in the 21st century clean-energy economy.”

• Photovoltaic Manufacturing Initiative – up to $125 million over five years. Funding will be available for applicants in two topic areas:  University-Focused Development and Industry-Focused Development. This funding opportunity requires that each applicant organization submit a concept paper in addition to standard application materials. Concept papers are due June 3, 2010, with full applications due in early August.

• Photovoltaic Supply Chain Development – up to $40 million over three years. The DOE is seeking projects focused on component and manufacturing technologies that show a strong potential to impact a substantial segment of the photovoltaic industry within two to five years.  Examples include engineering lower cost coating materials, electrical components to improve performance, processes that reduce manufacturing waste, or equipment that dramatically improves manufacturing or installation speed. The Department plans to select both large and small companies that can quickly develop new photovoltaic supply chain solutions. The Department anticipates that approximately $10-$15 million annually will be available to fund these PV supply chain projects. Applications are due July 2, 2010.

• National Administrator of the Solar Instructor Training Network – up to $4.5 million over five years. This funding opportunity will select a National Administrator that will act as a central coordinating body for the Training Network. The National Administrator will manage the collaboration of the Training Network members, disseminating their products and conducting other outreach efforts such as providing recommendations for the adoption of best practices. Applications are due June 15, 2010.  
  

For more information on these Funding Opportunity Announcements, please visit the Solar Energy Technologies Program’s Financial Opportunities.

The water power funding opportunity includes the following:

• Marine and Hydrokinetic Technologies – up to $39 million over four years. This funding opportunity seeks to leverage private-sector investment in MHK technologies by providing cost-shared funding to industry and industry-led partnerships in order to advance the technological and operational readiness of MHK systems and components. The goal is to effectively transition leading MHK system and component designs toward commercialization. Applications are due June 7, 2010.

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We are all Bill Murray because DOE and NSF still seem to be suffering from the fierce urgency of tomorrow:

DOE report 4/16/2010. Source: recovery.gov

NSF report 4/16/2010. Source: recovery.gov

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The fierce urgency of now tomorrow at the DOE:

FYI, the average for all federal agencies is 30%.

Still glue in the gears at the NSF, too:

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The EPA and the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Lab are evaluating the feasibility of developing renewable energy production on Superfund, brownfields and former landfill or mining sites.

Superfund sites are the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites identified by EPA for cleanup due to the risk they pose to human health or the environment.  Brownfields are properties at which expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence of contaminants. The EPA is investing more than $650,000 for the project that pairs EPA’s expertise on contaminated sites with the renewable energy expertise of NREL.

The project will analyze the potential development of wind, solar or small hydro development at 12 sites.   The analysis will include determining the best renewable energy technology for the site, the optimal location for placement of the renewable energy technology on the site, potential energy generating capacity, the return on the investment, and the economic feasibility of the renewable energy projects.

The 12 sites are located in California, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

For fact sheets on each location, and more information on the RE-Powering America’s Land initiative, visit www.epa.gov/renewableenergyland.

Some of the sites under consideration for renewable energy projects have completed cleanup activities, while others may be in various stages of assessment or cleanup.  Renewable energy projects on these sites will be designed to accommodate the site conditions.

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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is looking to help the battery industry with a simple goal — to mass produce better batteries domestically while addressing safety, affordability, life and performance.

As a result of the DOE’s support, more work and funding for battery research is coming to the National Renewable Energy Lab via both indirect and direct avenues thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Via press release from NREL, $1.5 billion in federal funding for manufacturing advanced batteries and related drive components will go towards faster development of batteries for cars with electric powertrains, including hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid electric, all-electric and fuel-cell vehicles. $2 million will go to the Battery Thermal and Life Test Facility. According to NREL researchers, battery thermal management is crucial in optimizing the performance and reducing the life-cycle costs for these types of batteries. Once manufacturers start producing new and more efficient prototypes, they’ll turn to NREL for thermal testing and validation.

NREL researchers seek to improve the thermal performance of batteries by studying how heat affects the performance and life of batteries. NREL experts analyze fluid flow (liquid or air) through different types of battery packs to determine how the flow affects the pack’s performance and life-cycle costs. Researchers measure and analyze the heat generation, efficiency, and specific heat of battery modules under specified charge/discharge cycles using the state-of-the-art calorimeters in NREL’s energy storage laboratory. Incorporating thermal imaging (still and time-lapse video) helps researchers determine temperature distributions and identify potential hot spots in battery modules and packs.

The battery research team will also spend time generating data to be used for validating battery thermal and electrochemical models. Modeling and simulating advanced energy storage systems in vehicles will help designers and researchers accelerate finding solutions for innovative battery designs and best ways to enhance overall vehicle performance.

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