(Updates with comments from Energy Secretary and additional details)
By Cassandra Sweet and Siobhan Hughes
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
MOUNTAINVIEW, Calif. -(Dow Jones)- The U.S. Energy Department on Monday announced $151 million in grants for next-generation energy research projects that the agency's top official said could be vital to cutting U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions to combat climate change while also helping the U.S. compete in global low-carbon energy markets.
"We essentially need a second industrial revolution to fulfill our energy and envirvonment goals," said Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, who was speaking at the headquarters of Internet search giant Google Inc. (GOOG). "We don't have the technologies that can bring our carbon emissions down by 80% by mid-century."
President Barack Obama has proposed new rules that would require the U.S. to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2020, while proposals pending in the U.S. Congress include similar emission-reduction goals.
Several of the 37 projects that received funding are focused on improving technologies for generating renewable energy, storing electricity and increasing energy efficiency.
The biggest grant - almost $9.2 million - was awarded to Foro Energy Inc. for the development of new geothermal drilling technology that aims to open access to geothermal power in deep, hard basement rock. The next-biggest, at $9 million, went to DuPont (DD) for the production of a biofuel derived from seaweed.
Chu said the U.S. needs to acclerate investment in new, low-carbon energy technologies to cut greenhouse-gas emissions while continuing to grow economically, and to develop a competitive edge in world markets. It's important for the government to fund early-stage, potentially game-changing technologies that private industry isn't funding, to ensure the best ideas have a chance to be developed, Chu said. He added that the U.S. should be careful not to fall behind other countries that are boosting investment in low-carbon energy technologies, like China, which "is now spending over $100 billion a year on developing clean energy," Chu said.
Chu said a comprehensive energy and climate change policy, like legislation proposed by Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and John Kerry, D-Mass., will be essential to "set the ground rules to propmote energy efficiency, renewable energy and stimulate the start of the nuclear industry again," among other technologies. The Energy Department chief plans to argue the case for climate legislation and a cap on U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions Wednesday before a Senate panel.
The grants announced Monday are the first awarded under a new program called the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy that is modeled on the Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency.
In battery technology, the DOE awarded $6.9 million for the development of an all-liquid battery that could enable continuous power from renewable-energy sources, such as wind and solar power. The technology, created by Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Don Sadoway, is viewed by the Energy Department as holding the potential to break through the cost barrier required for mass adoption of large-scale battery storage in the electric grid.
To see a list of grant recipients, click here: http://www.energy.gov/news2009/documents2009/ARPA-E_Project_Selections.pdf
-By Cassandra Sweet and Siobhan Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-439-6468; cassandra.sweet@dowjones.com