16 Sep Doyle announces $7.3M for clean energy development; Virent to get $1M
Madison, Wis. – Gov. Jim Doyle has announced $7.3 million in grants and loans for the development and commercialization of new clean energy technologies.
The funding comes from the Wisconsin Energy Independence Fund, and the awards will leverage $44.2 million in investments, and create new jobs creating new jobs in agriculture, forestry, research, and manufacturing.
Doyle made the announcement at Greenstone Technologies in Madison, which will use $250,000 to develop a working prototype of a solar window. He cited manufacturing wind turbines and solar panels, retrofitting fuel pumps, and exploring the latest clean technologies as examples where the state’s future economy lies.
In all, eight Madison-area projects totaling $2,498,000 are set to receive receiving funding, with more grants to be announced in the coming days.
Eligible applicants for the grants and loans include businesses and researchers.
Doyle’s overall energy plans include generating 25 percent of the state’s electricity and 25 percent of the fuels for its cars and trucks from renewable sources by the year 2025, and capturing 10 percent of the market for renewable energy and bioproducts.
A summary of Madison-area funded projects is as follows:
• Steinbine Development, LLC, Deerfield, a $55,000 grant. Steinbine is working on an innovative impulse turbine to recover unused hydropower resources, and will use the grant to evaluate the turbine’s efficiency and life cycle.
• Virent Energies, Madison, a $500,000 grant and a $500,000 loan. Virent continues to develop a technique for generating biofuels and bioproducts from carbohydrates in biomass, and will use the funding to build and operate a pilot production plant capable of producing up to 10,000 gallons of bio-gasoline per year.
• SolRayo, LLC, Madison, a $250,000 grant. SolRayo, which focuses on new nanotechnology-based materials for energy-storage applications, plans to commercialize a new material that will reduce the cost and increase the electrical energy storage of ultra-capacitors. These ultra-capacitors have the potential to make wind and solar energy more practicable for utility use.
• C5-6 Technologies, Middleton, a $350,000 grant. The company was spun out from Lucigen Corp. to develop and commercialize enzymes for biofuel production and will use its grant to develop a group of new enzymes designed to significantly increase ethanol yield in current corn ethanol plants.
• Silatronix, Inc., Madison, a $243,000 grant. Silatronix is a start-up company that is developing a new electrolyte component for use in lithium ion batteries and ultra capacitors, and will use the grant to advance its technology platform.
• Great Lakes Ag Energy, Fitchburg, a $250,000 grant. Great Lakes, a green energy developer and consultant to the biofuels industry, will use its grant to perfect the conversion of agricultural residues, byproducts, and wood biomass into cellulose that can be converted into biofuel.
• Bio-Energy and Environment, LLC, Madison, a $100,000 grant. The business provides design and development services for biogas energy and environmental solutions, and will use its grant to help fund research into algae growth and production variables, and for the development of a prototype cultivation plant.