Mass High Tech - October 26, 2009

Seven New England companies split $36M in DOE research grants
Mass High Tech

New England was a big winner in the U.S. Department of Energy’s first release of stimulus-funded energy research grants, as some seven companies received a slice of the $151 million ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy) grant awards.

In all, six Massachusetts companies and one Connecticut firm developing technologies from advanced batteries to carbon sequestration will receive a total of $35.5 million to fund their research efforts in alternative energy.
Some 3,600 concept papers were received by the DOE for the program and 37 awardees were chosen for this round of grants.

Companies selected include:

1366 Technologies Inc., Lexington: $4 million to fund its direct wafer solar photovoltaic cell production technology, which is aimed to cut the production costs of solar photovoltaics.

Agrividia Inc., Medford: $4.6 million to develop advancements in cellulosic fuel crops that cut the cost of distilling cellulosic ethanol and other chemicals.

FastCAP Systems Inc., Cambridge: $5.3 million to an MIT spinout develop nanotechnology-enhanced batteries with superior power density and longer lifespans.

FloDesign Wind Turbine Corp., Wilbraham: $8.3 million to develop a high-efficiency wind turbine design.

MIT, Cambridge: $6.9 million to the laboratory of Don Sadoway, who is developing all-liquid metal batteries for inexpensive grid power storage.

Sun Catalytix Corp., Cambridge: $4.1 million to develop a water-splitting technology for the ultimate production of solar fuels.

United Technology Research Center, East Hartford, Conn.: $2.3 million to develop new enzymes for carbon dioxide capture and sequestration.

The ARPA-E program was founded in 2007 to support “high risk, high reward” energy research to reduce the effects of climate change and diversify energy supply. The program went unfunded until the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, where it was allocated $400 million in funding.