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In support of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced awards totaling $52 million for a broad range of small businesses in 39 states. The Office of Electricity (OE) is funding nearly $1.2 million in project awards. The DOE projects will work to solve a wide range of challenges—from cybersecurity for electric vehicle charging infrastructure to new ways to detect radiation threats and new ways to manufacture lithium metal for batteries.
“Since Day One, the Biden-Harris Administration has supported small businesses, prompting record growth in the U.S. economy,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “With research and development grants awarded for small businesses in nearly every state, DOE continues to invest in an industrial strategy that leaves no community behind as we transition to a clean energy economy.”
DOE Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) awards strive to transform DOE-supported science and technology breakthroughs.
Funded through the DOE’s SBIR and STTR programs, today’s selections are primarily for Phase I research and development, with a limited number of Fast-Track (combined Phase I & II awards). Small businesses that demonstrated technical feasibility for innovations during their Phase I grants will compete for funding for prototype or processes development during Phase II. The median Phase I award is $200,000 for a period of six to twelve months.
A total of 229 projects will be funded by the following DOE Offices: Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response; Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation; Electricity; Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; Fossil Energy and Carbon Management; and Nuclear Energy. Of the new projects announced, 20 projects totaling $8M are funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
The DOE SBIR/STTR program ensures that the U.S. not only remains at the cutting edge in energy science and engineering but also enables those innovations to achieve commercial impact. As Justice40 covered programs, SBIR/STTR will ensure that these impacts reach disadvantaged communities. From 2009-2018, previous grantees raised $8.6 billion in private-sector follow-on funding and reported over a thousand inventions and patent applications, evidence of their commitment to commercialization.
OE’s Diversified Pool of Awardees
All awards were selected following a highly competitive meritorious process, nevertheless, 5 of the 6 awardees met at least one of the following SBIR diversity categories: Women-Owned Small Businesses; Socially & Economically Disadvantaged Small Businesses; Historically Underutilized Business Zones; and Small Businesses in Under-Represented States. And 4 of the 6 were awarded with their first SBIR grant.
OE’s Awardees by Topic Themes
The six awards were distributed throughout OE’s two topic areas:
Extending Distribution Transformer Lifetime and Increasing Reliability Through Innovation. Applications were sought at the transformer component level for ways to extend the lifetime and increase reliability of currently deployed distribution transformers. Desired innovations were cost-competitive, readily available, and can be retrofitted into currently deployed transformers. Other important aspects to compare included but were not limited to the additionality of enhanced functions and features, installation costs, operating lifetime, maintenance, size and weight (for transportation), and installed footprint. Applications had to demonstrate quantitively how the proposed distribution transformer innovation in question could extend transformer lifetime and reliability over currently available technology.
Projects selected for award in this topic area include:
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Advanced Cooling Technologies (Lancaster, PA) – Extending Distribution Transformer Lifetime and Reliability with Passive Thermal Management
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Resonet Energy Corp. (Portland, OR) – Advanced Transformer Level Failure Prevention And Load Balancing Through Embedded AI and IoT
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Sensanna Incorporated (Arnold, MD) – Low-cost grid-edge transformer condition monitoring systems will enable utilities to extend the useful life of aging distribution transformers.
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Sensible Photonics (Allison Park, PA) – Distribution Transformer Asset Health Prediction and Lifetime Extension via Integrated Real-Time Sensing and Advanced Analytics
Advanced In-situ Battery/Energy Storage Systems. Applications were sought to develop and demonstrate the integration of sensing and control capabilities of the PCS controller, BMS, and EMS into a single platform, marrying the functionality of battery safety with the converter that interfaces to the utility grid. This open-source BMS platform with a universal sensor interface could include in-situ high-accuracy cell impedance, gas, environmental, and physical sensors that provide better detection of the early signs of battery module degradation and failure while increasing performance, reliability, and safety. The final design should show a significant increase in functionality over existing BESS architectures, cost reduction, and decrease in footprint compared to a traditional grid-tied designs.
Projects selected for award in this topic area include:
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IntellActive Power Solutions (San Antonio, TX) – Standardized BMS for Next Generation BESS
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Sensible Photonics (Allison Park, PA) – Reliable Distributed Optical Fiber Sensing System for Early Warning of Failure in Energy Storage Systems
MORE ABOUT SBIR/STTR
SBIRs and STTRs are Congressionally directed programs requiring federal agencies with large research and development (R&D) budgets to set aside a portion of its funding for small businesses. Companies that receive awards in these R&D programs keep the rights to any technology developed and are encouraged to commercialize the technology.
A list of the FY2024 awardees of all the DOE-funded projects can be found here.
Additional information about the SBIR and STTR programs can be found at the SBIR/STTR website.
To learn more about OE’s efforts to ensure a resilient, reliable, and flexible electricity system, visit the OE website.
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