US DOE — Flurry of Solar & Wind Power Announcements – CleanTechnica

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As Joe Biden’s time leading the United States approaches an end, various government agencies have been sprinting to get things done before they are at risk of being dropped and forgotten. Rather than try to cover each of these separately, let’s quickly roll through some of the announcements, and you can click through on any stories that really catch your eye.

DOE announces 37 communities who will convene to help each other in local energy efforts: “leaders from 38 entities will join one of three Clean Energy to Communities (C2C) peer-learning cohorts.” The participants represent 23 different states and Tribal entities. They will meet regularly for 6 months. “Starting in January 2025, cohorts of up to 15 participants will convene monthly through June to exchange strategies and best practices, learn from DOE’s national laboratory experts, and workshop policy and program proposals relating to distributed wind, renewable energy and energy efficiency in Appalachia, and microgrids.”

$15 million for domestic manufacturing and small & medium-sized businesses: The Investing in America agenda continues for a little while longer, and the latest is $14.8 million for the Industrial Training and Assessment Centers (ITAC) Implementation Grants program. “This funding would support 57 small- and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) across the country to implement a wide variety of energy and efficiency projects, including installing onsite solar and heat pumps, improving lighting and heating, and electrifying industrial equipment and fleets. With funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and administered by DOE’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC), the ITAC Implementation Grants program provides grants of up to $300,000 per project to manufacturers to implement recommendations made by DOE and other qualified energy assessments.”

$43 million (more) for domestic clean energy manufacturing: How about even more domestic clean energy manufacturing? “Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the winners in two tracks of the Manufacture of Advanced Key Energy Infrastructure Technologies (MAKE IT) Prize and the opening of the next iteration of the prize. DOE awarded $9,000,000 to two winners of the Facilities Track’s Phase 2: Shovel Ready, $1,250,000 to five winners of the Strategies Track’s Phase 3: Activate, and $1,000,000 to ten winners of the Strategies Track’s Phase 2: Create.

“The MAKE IT Prize was developed by the Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) in partnership with the Offices of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) and Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) to catalyze the domestic manufacturing of critical clean energy technology components. Including this announcement, the MAKE IT Prize has awarded more than $33 million to date to enable clean energy manufacturing.”

You can read all about the winners here.

$18.4 million to lower grid infrastructure costs: The funding is for “programs to support research and development of groundbreaking electricity grid technologies.” Here are some more specifics: “The programs will reduce the cost of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) circuit breakers, improve risk assessment and communication for grid operators, and ensure communities are ready to respond to unanticipated energy storage system failures. […] The three funding opportunities are:

• $8 million for the Renewable Integration Management with Innovative High-Voltage Direct Current Power Circuit Breakers (REIMAGINE BREAKERS)
• $6.25 million for the Human-Centric Analytics for Resilient & Modernized Power sYstems (HARMONY)
• $4.125 million for the Blue Sky Training Program”

$365 million for solar & battery storage in Puerto Rico: Helping to pull Puerto Rico out of a precarious situation with its grid, and especially in the case of hurricane damage to the Caribbean territory, the DOE is providing a good chunk of funding for solar and battery storage. “The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced four Puerto-Rico-based teams selected to install solar and battery storage systems under its new Programa de Comunidades Resilientes, funded by DOE’s Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund (PR-ERF). This investment of up to $365 million aims to improve community-level energy resilience for vulnerable populations across Puerto Rico, funding solar and battery storage installations for community healthcare facilities as well as common areas within public housing and privately owned subsidized multi-family properties. This investment will also boost local workforce development opportunities in Puerto Rico.”

“The Biden-Harris Administration is ensuring that Puerto Rico’s most vulnerable residents are not forgotten during the transition to a more reliable and resilient grid,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “ Solar and battery storage is critical to this strategy, and thanks to the innovative Programa de Comunidades Resilientes, families will have expanded access to critical services and reliable electricity when and where they need it most.”

$20 million for wind turbine recycling improvements: Naturally, old wind turbines are going to be recycled. There’s a ton of useful material in a wind turbine. “The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) announced the Wind Turbine Technology Recycling Funding Opportunity, which will invest up to $20 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This effort will help the United States develop technology solutions to improve the recyclability of wind energy technologies, especially for tough-to-recycle materials such as fiber-reinforced composites that can be found in wind turbine blades and nacelles, and rare earth element magnets that are found in wind turbine generators. This effort will help increase the sustainability of wind energy materials and bolster the domestic supply chain.”