DOE investing $18 million in six new solar projects across the U.S.
The Department of Energy (DOE) announced this week $18 million in funding for six new solar-focused projects that will take across various regions of the United States in the near future.
The funding is part of the Energy Department’s Grid Modernization Initiative Initiative, and was announced by Secretary Ernest Moniz.
Storage solutions, grid resiliency are targeted
The projects will focus on storage solutions and overall grid resiliency, with a goals of creating a situation in which “solar-generated electricity can be dispatched at any time – day or night – to meet consumer electricity need.”
Six companies in six states
The announced $18 million investment will fund six new projects in six different states:
- Austin Energy (Texas) will receive $4.3 million. Project: development of a distributed energy resource management platform.
- Carnegie Mellon University (Pennsylvania) will receive $1 million. Project: development of home automation controllers and smart thermostats.
- Commonwealth Edison Company (Chicago) will receive $4 million. Project: development of smart inverter technology.
- The Electric Power Research Institute (Knoxville, Tenn.) will receive $3.1 million. Project: work on energy storage and load management technology.
- Fraunhofer USA Center for Sustainable Energy Systems (Boston) will receive $3.5 million. Project: development of storage and facility load management solutions.
- The Hawaiian Electric Company (Honolulu) will receive $2.4 million. Project: work on distributed renewable energy technologies.
Source → Energy.gov“The Energy Department is leading the way in the development and deployment of affordable, reliable grid integration technologies, including energy storage, intelligent inverters, load management and innovative PV solutions, that can boost the resiliency of our nation’s electric grid while allowing us to deploy greater amounts of solar and other renewables.”
— David Danielson, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, in a statement.