The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) received more than $3.2 million from the Technology Commercialization Fund within the US Department of Energy to fund a dozen technology maturation projects.
 
The announcement from the Department of Energy (DOE) this week noted another 65 projects at 11 other national laboratories will receive about $21 million in funds. The Technology Commercialization Fund is part of the Office of Technology Transitions and created to promote promising energy technologies toward commercial deployment.
 
NREL’s awards from the Technology Commercialization Fund amount to $3,227,585. Matching funds from the private sector will contribute $3,229,096 toward the commercialization of emerging energy technologies.
 
The NREL projects that received funding are:
• High efficiency, lightweight, flexible multijunction perovskite modules ($745,500)
• Solar Automated Permit Software for Distributed PV and Battery Storage ($695,000)
• Catalyst Leaching Resistance for the Oxidative Production of Biobased Chemicals ($335,000)
• Performance advantaged acrylonitrile ($300,000)
• Enabling Autonomous Wind Plants through Consensus Control ($250,000)
• “DUSST”: NREL’s Low Maintenance Soiling Station ($150,000)
• Fusion Joining of Thermoplastic Composites Using Energy Efficient Processes ($150,000)
• High Temperature Downhole Sensing and Control Electronics ($150,000)
• Enabling interoperability for PV inverter controllers ($149,995)
• Significant Cost Reduction Potential for Wave Energy Conversion Devices with Variable Geometry Modules ($102,089)
• Wind Turbine Drivetrain Reliability Assessment and Remaining Useful Life Prediction ($100,000)
• Atomic Layer Deposition Scale Up of Extended Thin Film Electrocatalyst Structures ($100,000)
 
NREL received slightly more than $6.4 million from the Technology Commercialization Fund to fund 20 projects in fiscal year 2018.