ENERGY TRENDS industry news

SolarReserve receives licensing briefs for project in California SolarReserve, Santa Mon- Angstron Materials Inc., Dayton, ica, Calif. received a final deci- Ohio, invented a graphene-based sion from the California Energy supercapacitor having ultrahigh Commission (CEC) to con- energy density, a feature that struct and operate the Rice permits storage of a significant Solar Energy Project, a 150- amount of energy. Angstron’s MW project. graphene-based supercapacitor has demonstrated an energy The facility will supply approxi- density that exceeds that of mately 450 GW hours annually commercially available of zero-emission electricity to supercapacitors, and is Californians using its innovative comparable with nickel metal- energy-storage capabilities. hydride batteries. Using an advanced molten- www.angstronmaterials.com. salt system technology under Molten salt power plant process flow diagram. A report entitled “Advanced exclusive worldwide license to SolarReserve from Pratt Whitney & Rocketdyne, a division Materials and Devices for of Corp., Canoga Park, Calif., the Rice Solar Energy Project can col- Stationary Electrical Energy lect and store enough thermal energy each morning to operate at full power all afternoon Storage Applications” released by and for up to 8 hours after sunset. www.solarreserve.com. The Minerals, Metals, & Materials Society (TMS), Warrendale, Pa., in support of the AES awarded U.S. Department of Energy’s DOE loan guarantee for energy storage facility (DOE) Office of Electricity AES Energy Storage, a subsidiary of AES Corp., based near Washington, D.C., received Delivery and Energy Reliability a $17.1 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for AES West- and the Advanced Research over’s 20 MW energy storage facility in Johnson City, N.Y. The AES project eliminates the Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA- E), offers an initial assessment of need to burn fossil fuels, and instead uses battery technology and new software that will materials science advances and provide the same regulation at a lower price. Traditionally, grid frequency regulation, which breakthroughs that could improve is needed to balance power generation and consumption on the grid, is maintained by performance and lower costs of burning additional fossil fuels at power plants. This advanced frequency regulation capa- electrical energy storage (EES) bility will allow renewable electricity generation to play a larger role in New York’s trans- devices for the future electrical mission network. The AES project will include advanced lithium-ion battery cells from grid. http://energy.tms.org. A123 Systems Inc. The contained battery and related electrical systems are assembled, www.aes.com. The U.S. Department of Energy tested, and validated in an A123 manufacturing facility in Hopkinton, Mass. (DOE) released its Critical Materials Strategy, which DOE announces up to $74 million examines the role of rare earth metals and other materials in the for fuel cell research and development clean-energy economy, based on The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is accepting applications for a total of up to $74 extensive research by the DOE in million to support the research and development of clean, reliable fuel cells for stationary 2010. The report focuses on and transportation applications. The solicitations include up to $65 million over three years materials used in four to fund continued research and development on fuel cell components, such as catalysts technologies: wind turbines, and membrane electrode assemblies, with the goal of reducing costs, improving durabil- electric vehicles, solar cells, and energy-efficient lighting. The ity, and increasing the efficiency of fuel cell systems. These awards will help support U.S. strategy analyzes 14 elements, leadership in the emerging global fuel cell market, while limiting greenhouse gas emissions identifying five rare earth metals and reducing the country’s reliance on fossil fuels. (dysprosium, neodymium, terbium, DOE will be funding research and development initiatives related to fuel cell system bal- europium, and yttrium), as well as ance-of-plant components, fuel processors, and fuel cell stack components such as catalysts indium as most critical based on and membranes, as well as innovative concepts for both low and high temperature systems. importance to clean-energy technologies and supply risk. Applications for the $65 million research and development program are due by March www.energy.gov. 3, 2011. More information and application requirements and instructions can be found at https://www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/?doc=DE-FOA-0000360&agency=DOE. For more information on the Fuel Cell Technologies Program, please visit www.eere.energy. gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/.

ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES • FEBRUARY 2011 13