DOE announces $100M in funding for energy projects

Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced $100 million in Recovery Act funding will be made available to accelerate innovation in green technology.

Chu made the announcement Tuesday at the inaugural ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit in Washington, D.C. This is the third funding opportunity announced by ARPA-E, the Advanced Projects Research Agency for energy that was established within the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under the 2007 America Competes Act.

This round focuses on three technology areas, including:

— New technologies to enable the widespread deployment of cost-effective grid-scale energy storage.

— Materials for fundamental advances in soft magnetics, high-voltage switches, and reliable, high-density charge storage.

— Energy-efficient cooling technologies and air conditioners for buildings to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

ARPA-E’s first round, announced in early 2009, was highly competitive and resulted in funding 37 projects aimed at transformational innovations in energy storage, biofuels, carbon capture, renewable power, building efficiency, vehicles, and other areas.

David Kenney, president and executive director at Oregon BEST, was in Washington, D.C., attending the summit and noted that the first round of ARPA-E funding was split between businesses (65 percent) and universities (35 percent).

The department released Tuesday an online video highlighting the projects.

The second funding availability, announced by ARPA-E in December, has yielded nearly 500 concept papers focused on three areas of technology representing new approaches for biofuels, carbon capture, and batteries for electric vehicles.

Read the full announcement and learn more about ARPA-E via their Web site.