The funds will be used to lead four projects from the DOE’s Technology Commercialisation Fund (TCF) that advance promising renewable energy-related technologies and help strengthen the partnerships between national labs and private sector companies. The total value for the four projects including industry and NREL cost share is $2.78 million.
NREL will work with strategic industry partners for each project in order to help validate the direction of the research across a variety of technologies from advanced hydrocarbon fuels to wind energy.
“We are excited to be working with these partners on cutting-edge energy technologies with commercial potential” said Kristin Gray of NREL's Technology Transfer Office. “Through DOE's Technology Commercialization Fund, NREL will lend its leading expertise to help get these products to market - continuing our mission to make an impact in the renewable energy sector.”
Lynn Orr, DOE's Under Secretary for Science and Energy, added that deploying new clean energy technologies is an essential part of the nation’s effort to lead in the 21st century economy and fight against climate change. The funds announced by the DOE will help to accelerate the commercialisation of cutting-edge energy technologies developed in US national labs, making them more widely available to American consumers and businesses.
The TCF is administered by DOE's Office of Technology Transitions (OTT), which works to expand the commercial impact of DOE's portfolio of research, development, demonstration and deployment activities. In February, OTT announced the first department-wide solicitation to the DOE national laboratories for TCF funding proposals and received 104 applications for projects in two areas. The first of these consists of projects for which additional technology maturation is needed to attract a private partner, while the second consists of cooperative development projects between a lab and industry partner(s), designed to bolster the commercial application of a lab-developed technology.
All projects selected for the TCF will receive an equal amount of non-federal funds to match the federal investment. Nearly $16 million in funding will support 54 projects at 12 national labs involving 52 private-sector partners.
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