The Obama administration this week announced millions of dollars in new grants for dozens of projects related to advanced solar technology and other new clean energy technologies.
On Thursday, the Department of Energy said that it had awarded $156 million to fund 60 different cutting edge technology projects in five categories: low cost biofuels, substitutes for rare earths (the expensive minerals used in electric vehicle motors and wind turbines), advanced thermal storage systems including systems for storing solar energy, “smart grid” technology that integrates renewable energy alongside coal and nuclear power, and low cost utility-scale solar systems.
This particular grant program is administered by the department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E.) The agency is modeled after DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, credited with developing the Internet and the computer chip.
Both agencies provide funding for high-risk, cutting edge research that would be difficult or impossible to finance through private investment.
ARPA-E was launched under the Bush administration but Congress did not provide funding until President Obama took office.
Separately, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced five new grants for next-generation biofuel research and production totaling more than $136 million.
Other recent major clean energy announcements include a $105 million loan guarantee from DOE for an advanced ethanol refinery in Iowa, $350 million for a geothermal plant in Nevada, and almost $170 million for a wind farm in New Hampshire.
The new Department of Agriculture biofuel grants are specifically targeted toward improving the long term economic outlook for struggling rural communities according to a press statement by Vilsack, who said, “We have an incredible opportunity to create thousands of new jobs and drive economic development in rural communities across America by continuing to build the framework for a competitively-priced, American-made biofuels industry.”
The grants include $40 million for The University of Washington to develop an aviation biofuel and biogasoline production program designed to create new jobs “across the supply chain,” including agriculture, transportation and refining.
Washington State University received $40 million to develop biofuel research centers to be housed in shuttered timber mills, bringing jobs back into withering communities. The programs will focus on aviation biofuel as well as biogasoline.
A $25 million grant went to Iowa State University to study the potential for improving marginal lands by planting them with native grasses that can be used in biofuel production, along with legumes to enhance soil quality and reduce the need for commercial fertilizers.
Louisiana’s sugar and chemical industries are expected to get a boost from a $17.2 million grant for a research project led by Louisiana State University that will piggyback biofuel production on the state’s extensive refinery infrastructure, and the University of Tennessee will lead a $15 million program to develop a sustainable system for producing crops for diesel fuel as well as heating and power generation.
Vilsack’s announcement follows up on an initiative launched by President Obama last month during his bus tour through the Midwest.
That program calls for the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Energy, and the Navy to invest up to $510 million in developing and producing drop-in biofuel replacements for marine and aviation fuels.
Both the Navy and the Air Force have been testing an aviation biofuel blend produced from a weedy plant called camelina, and an algae biofuel has also been tested on a Navy helicopter.
The big question for these fuels is whether they can be produced in sufficient quantities to become reliable alternatives.
U.S. military investments in clean energy have skyrocketed in the past few years, and a new Pew report projects $10 billion in annual investments by 2030.
Aside from complying with a Bush-era law mandating increased use of clean energy by all federal agencies, military officials have stressed the role of renewable, locally generated energy in securing U.S. bases against energy price spikes and shortages, improving military effectiveness in war zones, and preventing troop deaths and injuries related to guarding fuel convoys.
Protecting environmental health and safety in communities that host U.S. bases is another emerging priority for the military.
Not all of these federally-funded projects are exploratory academic experiments. One futuristic (but unrelated) stimulus-backed solar energy battery storage project went live last week in New Mexico.
