Newswise — U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry today announced that the Department of Energy will award 219 grants totaling $34 million to 183 small businesses in 41 states.  Funded through DOE’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, today’s selections are for Phase I research and development.  

The Phase I grants allow small businesses to research technical feasibility of innovations that advance the mission of the Department of Energy.  Phase I grants are 6-12 months in duration with a median award amount of $150,000.  Successful Phase I grantees will be eligible to compete for Phase II awards in fiscal year 2019 that will allow them to develop novel prototypes or processes to validate their Phase I research findings. Phase II grants have a median award amount of $1,000,000 and a duration up to 2 years.        

Highlighted below are selected grants for each of the research and development programs that provided funding for these projects:

  • Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation
    • Portable compact API system using a semiconductor alpha detector
  • Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability
    • Low-loss, high-flux saturation magnetic cores for power converters
  • Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
    • High voltage lithium ion battery with improved life and safety
  • Office of Environmental Management
    • Modular radiological survey imaging system
  • Office of Fossil Energy
    • High capacity, stable, low volatility water-lean solvents for CO2 capture
  • Office of Fusion Energy Science
    • High radiation resistant, low cost superconducting strands for fusion magnet applications
  • Office High Energy Physics
    • Superconducting quarter-wave resonator for quantum information systems
  • Office of Nuclear Energy
    • Spacer grids for accident-tolerant fuel assemblies

The SBIR and STTR programs were created by Congress to advance the mission of federal agencies by utilizing innovative small businesses.  Additional information on the DOE SBIR and STTR programs is available at the SBIR/STTR Programs Office:  http://science.energy.gov/sbir/.

More information about the projects announced today is available at the following link:https://science.energy.gov/sbir/awards/.