11.29.2007 DOE to Invest More than $5  Million for Concentrating Solar Power
Additional $7.2 Million Available  to Help National Labs Commercialize Proven Technologies

WASHINGTON,  DC - U.S. Department of Energy  (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Alexander  Karsner today announced DOE will invest $5.2 million in funding to support the  development of low-cost Concentrating Solar Power (CSP). As part of the  Department's technology transfer efforts, DOE will also make available a  Technology Commercialization Development Fund (TCDF) of up to $7.2 million to  three of DOE's National Laboratories to support commercialization of clean  energy technologies. Together, these projects will help advance President  Bush's energy initiatives by accelerating the adoption of renewable energy and  moving new clean energy technologies into the marketplace. Assistant Secretary  Karsner made the announcements at the American Council on Renewable Energy's  National Policy Conference.

"Under the President's leadership, DOE is not only supporting research and development of clean energy technologies,  but is  accelerating their commercialization to a rate and scale  necessary to meet  growing energy demand and combat climate change,"  Assistant Secretary Karsner  said. "Our National Laboratories lead the  world in energy innovation and DOE  is now giving them the support to  commercialize their innovations."

The twelve CSP projects selected for   negotiation of awards totaling up to $5.2 million (Fiscal Year 2007;  and  FY'08, subject to Congressional appropriations) are integral to  President  Bush's Solar America Initiative (SAI), which seeks to make  solar energy cost  competitive with conventional forms of electricity  by 2015. With cost-sharing,  the total public-private investment will  total nearly $6.6 million. These  projects aim to develop technology  that dramatically reduces the cost of CSP  power and emphasizes the  development of storage technologies. Specifically,  CSP project goals  include reducing the cost of solar power to be regularly  available at  less 10 cents/kWh by 2015.

CSP systems use the heat generated by   concentrating and absorbing the sun's energy to produce thermal  energy. This  type of solar energy can be used immediately for  generating power through a  steam turbine or heat engine or it can be  saved as thermal energy for later  use. Storage of solar energy in this  manner removes the intermittency of  sunlight, making it "dispatchable"  and thus enabling CSP systems to provide  energy to homes and  businesses day or night. Projects categories include: (1)  thermal  storage; (2) trough component manufacturing; and (3) advanced CSP   systems and/or components.

As part of the Department's efforts to move   post-research technologies toward commercial viability, DOE will also  make  available up to $7.2 million (FY'07) to three of its laboratories  as part of  the TCDF. TCDF will provide pre-venture capital funding for  prototype  development, demonstration projects, market research, and  other deployment  activities. The National Renewable Energy Lab will  receive up $4 million; Oak  Ridge National Laboratory will receive up  to $2.5 million; and Sandia National  Laboratories will receive up to  $700,000. The labs will use this funding to  support the full-scale  commercialization of clean energy and efficiency  technologies. TCDF  projects and contractual agreements will be administered by  each lab  with input and oversight from DOE.