The funding will support the department’s Small Business Innovation Research program and the Small Business Technology Transfer program, in which federal agencies reserve a portion of their large research and development budgets for competitions among small businesses.
Both programs are divided into three phases. In the initial phase, participating businesses explore the feasibility of their clean energy concepts and can receive up to $100,000 in grants for about nine months. Only awardees of the first phase may compete for the next phase.
The second phase is the main research and development effort, in which businesses demonstrate the feasibility of their technology. Up to $750,000 in awards will be given to the winning participants over a two-year period.
During the third phase, the Energy Department helps small businesses pursue commercial applications of their clean energy technologies. The department also gives follow-on awards to projects that successfully meet the objectives of the department’s two programs.
This is the first time that the Energy Department will award grants under the programs’ third phase. Small companies that previously received second phase grants are still eligible for third phase funding. Successful applicants may receive up to $3 million over three years to research, develop and deploy new clean energy technologies.
The department is now accepting applications for 11 technology areas, including biomass, fuel cell, geothermal, solar and wind.
For the biomass category, the department is looking for innovative harvesting or dewatering technologies for algal biofuels production. Meanwhile, advanced materials for fuel cell technologies and bio-fuelled solid oxide fuel cells are needed for the fuel cell category.
The department is also seeking for high-temperature tools for the geothermal sector, while applications for static module photovoltaic concentrators are sought for the solar sector.
“Small businesses are engines of job creation and innovation, and we need their ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit to drive a clean energy economy,» said Steven Chu, energy secretary.