DOE Offers Support for Innovative Manufacturing Plant That Will Produce High-Quality Solar Silicon at Low Cost, Generate Over 2,000 Jobs in Ohio

Today, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the offer of a conditional commitment for a $275 million loan guarantee to Calisolar Inc. to commercialize the company's innovative solar silicon manufacturing process.

Calisolar's process should produce silicon for use in solar cells at less than half the cost of traditional polysilicon purification processes, which will reduce the overall cost of solar modules and panels. At full production, the manufacturing plant is expected to produce 16,000 metric tons [MT] of solar silicon annually, equivalent to more than two gigawatts of solar power generation per year.

The project will be built in three phases of 5,333 MT capacity each, and is expected to be located in a former General Motors stamping plant in Ontario, Richland County, Ohio. Calisolar estimates that the facility will generate, at its peak, nearly 1,100 permanent jobs, and up to 1,000 construction jobs.

"This innovative manufacturing process offers significant competitive advantages that will help the U.S. to out-innovate and out-compete our global competitors," said Secretary Chu [pictured]. "This project is part of our commitment to supporting important innovations that create jobs, strengthen our manufacturing base and position the nation as a global solar leader."

The project will manufacture solar silicon from lower-cost metallurgical-grade silicon feedstock that is then upgraded using Calisolar's proprietary silicon purification process. The company's unique process uses significantly less energy to produce solar silicon that performs as well as polysilicon products made from more expensive and energy-intensive traditional processes, with capital equipment and construction costs approximately one-sixth that of traditional polysilicon plants.

Calisolar is helping achieve the goals of the SunShot Initiative by lowering the cost of their solar cells through the use of less pure silicon, the raw material for solar cells. Their vertically integrated process -- from raw materials processing, all the way through solar cell production --uses lower-cost [50% less expensive], lower-quality materials while maintaining high-efficiency devices.

This work was supported by DOE through funding for the University of California at Berkeley, and through $3 million from the PV Incubator Program -- which leveraged $6.6 million in private-industry cost share and was run through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

DOE's Loan Programs Office administers three separate programs: the Title XVII Section 1703 and Section 1705 loan guarantee programs, and the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing [ATVM] loan program. The loan guarantee programs support the deployment of commercial technologies, along with innovative technologies that avoid, reduce, or sequester greenhouse gas emissions. ATVM supports the development of advanced vehicle technologies.

Under all three programs, DOE has issued loans, loan guarantees or offered conditional commitments for loan guarantees totaling over $33 billion to support 34 clean energy projects across the United States.

DOE has also issued conditional commitments or loan guarantees to support numerous other projects -- including four of the world's largest solar generation facilities, two geothermal projects, the world's largest wind farm, and the nation's first new nuclear power plant in three decades.

For more information, please visit the Loan Programs Office website: http://lpo.energy.gov/.

GoodBiz113's Take
DOE's just-announced investment in Calisolar Inc. has great potential to boost America's competitiveness in solar energy. Further, it will help generate much-needed manufacturing and construction jobs in Ohio.

Chalk it up as yet another win-win endeavor by the Obama Administration to simultaneously spur economic development and fuel advances in developing solar-energy technologies.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy [EERE]
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Department of Energy Announces Up to $36 Million to Support Development of Drop-In Biofuels and Bioproducts

As part of the Obama Administration's efforts to cut foreign oil imports, U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu today announced up to $36 million to fund six small-scale projects -- in California, Michigan, North Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin -- to advance the technology improvements and process integration needed to produce drop-in advanced biofuels and other valuable bio-based chemicals.

The projects aim to improve the economics and efficiency of biological and chemical processes that convert non-food biomass feedstocks into replacements for petroleum-based feedstocks, products, and fuels. These selections further the Obama Administration's strategy for accelerating research and development that will lead the way toward affordable, clean alternatives to fossil fuels and diversify our nation's energy portfolio.

"Projects such as these are helping us to diversify our energy portfolio and decrease our dependence on foreign oil," said Secretary Chu [pictured]. "Together with our partners, the Department is working hard to expand the clean-energy economy, creating jobs in America and providing sustainable replacements for the fuels and products now provided primarily by petroleum."

The funding announced today will help diversify DOE's Biomass Program portfolio to include a breadth of fuels and chemicals beyond cellulosic ethanol and ensure that the Department's research and development on biofuels remains integrated and strategic.

The following projects were selected:

* General Atomics Fusion Energy Research [up to $2.0 million -- San Diego, Cal.]: The proposed project aims to reduce energy, capital, and operational cost for algal fermentation processes. This will increase production of algal oils, which can be further refined into advanced biofuels.

* Genomatica Inc. [up to $5.0 million -- San Diego, Cal.]: This project will deliver an engineered organism and optimized fermentation process to enable the conversion of cellulosic sugars to the valuable industrial chemical, 1,4-butanediol [BDO]. Such technology will enhance the commercial profitability of integrated biorefineries by enabling co-production of high-volume fuels and the higher-margin commodity chemical, BDO.

* Michigan Biotechnology Institute -- AKA MBI International [up to $4.3 million -- Lansing, Mich.]: The project will focus on improvements to a pretreatment process, which provides a stable, conversion-ready intermediate of consistent quality at a cost and in a format compatible with long-term storage and ease of transfer between multiple modes of transportation.

* HCL CleanTech Inc. [up to $9.0 million -- Oxford, N.C.]: This project will develop and demonstrate process improvements for pretreatment, conversion to sugars, and subsequent conversion of those sugars to fuels. The complete integrated process will use concentrated hydrochloric acid hydrolysis to convert pre-extracted biomass feedstocks, including wood waste, into fermentable sugars, and then further convert the sugars into diesel products.

* Texas Engineering Experiment Station [up to $2.3 million -- College Station, Tex.]: The focus of this project will be on developing a novel pretreatment for cellulosic biomass feedstocks using a combination of chemical and mechanical processing. Once the cellulosic feedstock has been pretreated it can be converted into biofuels, including hydrocarbons.

* Virent Energy Systems Inc. [up to $13.4 million -- Madison, Wis.]: The overarching objective of this project is to develop a fully integrated process that can efficiently and cost effectively convert a cellulosic biomass feedstock, such as corn stover, to a mix of hydrocarbons ideally suited for blending into jet fuel.

Final funding amounts are subject to negotiation.

About DOE's Biomass Program
DOE's Biomass Program works with industry, academia, and national laboratory partners on a balanced portfolio of research in biomass feedstocks and conversion technologies.

For more information on DOE's Biomass Program, visit the Biomass Program website: http://1.usa.gov/BiomassEERE.

GoodBiz113's Take
DOE's just-announced Biomass Program investments will boost American competitiveness in the biofuels industry and lower the cost of clean, renewable energy. Further, they'll generate much-needed jobs.

Chalk it up as yet another win-win endeavor by the Obama Administration -- one that holds far-reaching potential for decades to come.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy [EERE]
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Seize These Great Last-Minute Opportunities for the 2011 Department of Energy Small Business Conference & Expo -- Before They Expire

The 12th Annual U.S. Department of Energy [DOE] Small Business Conference & Expo is less than a month away. Whether you've been a small-business owner for a decade or a day, DOE invites you to join them at the Kansas City Convention Center from May 10-12, 2011, for a conference packed with keynotes, workshops, business matchmaking, and a very busy Expo.

The conference is right around the corner, and there are great opportunities which are about to expire. Take a moment now to:

* Register for the conference. Regular registration rates will expire on May 8, 2011. Registering now will save you $50 on the registration cost.

* Purchase an Expo Visitor Pass. If you cannot attend the entire conference, an Expo Visitor Pass will allow you to target the exhibitors and sponsors with whom you want to speak.

* Reserve an exhibitor booth. Only a few exhibitor booths remain. Get yours today if you are planning to exhibit -- before they're all sold out.

* Share your voice. Submit a 30-second video clip on how small business has affected your community.

* Sign up for business matchmaking sessions as a buyer or supplier. Visit the site to check out the buyers who have signed up, and the featured buyer categories.

For more information on the 12th Annual U.S. Department of Energy Small Business Conference & Expo in Kansas City, Mo., visit http://smallbusinessconference.energy.gov; or, call 877-837-8623.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Economic Impact & Diversity
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Energy Secretary Chu Announces $112 Million in SunShot Initiative Projects to Advance Solar Photovoltaic Manufacturing Partnerships in U.S.

As part of the SunShot Initiative, U.S. Department of Energy [DOE] Secretary Steven Chu [pictured] yesterday announced the selection of up to $112.5 million in funding over five years, to support the development of advanced solar photovoltaic [PV]-related manufacturing processes throughout the United States.

DOE’s SunShot advanced manufacturing partnerships will help the solar power industry overcome technical barriers and reduce costs for PV installations, help the U.S. regain the lead in the global market for solar technologies, and provide support for clean-energy jobs for years to come.

This program is modeled, in part, on SEMATECH [Semiconductor Manufacturing TECHnology]. Faced with falling U.S. market share for the domestic semiconductor industry from 57 percent in 1982, to 38 percent in 1988, SEMATECH began working with domestic equipment suppliers to improve their capabilities.

As a result of SEMATECH’s work to solve common manufacturing problems by leveraging resources and sharing risks, within 10 years the domestic semiconductor industry had grown by 16 percent. Through this award, SEMATECH will now apply similar ingenuity to helping the U.S. recapture the lead in solar manufacturing.

"Expanding the U.S. solar energy industry is an important part of the Administration's goals to diversify our electricity supply, and rebuild America’s manufacturing base to create jobs now and in the future," said Secretary Chu. "The SunShot Initiative will not only keep the United States at the forefront in solar energy research and development, but will help us win the worldwide race to build a solar manufacturing industry that produces solar systems that are cost-competitive with fossil fuels."

Yesterday’s investments are part of DOE’s SunShot Initiative, which aims to reduce the total costs of photovoltaic solar energy systems by about 75 percent, so that they are cost-competitive at large scale with other forms of energy without subsidies by the end of the decade. Achieving this goal -- equivalent to approximately $1 a watt, or roughly 6 cents per kilowatt-hour for utility systems -- would allow solar energy systems to be broadly deployed across the country.

By engaging multiple companies across the PV supply chain, the SunShot advanced manufacturing partnerships program intends to have broad impact on the U.S. solar industry:

* Selected projects will create organizations designed to bring PV companies together in a coordinated environment to address common technology needs.

* The facilities established through these projects will provide services, tools and facilities to PV companies and suppliers -- to assist them in developing and demonstrating new technologies, and in making the transition to commercial production.

* The program will also link universities and national labs with PV cell, materials, and equipment suppliers to help speed the rate of innovation through coordinated and focused PV manufacturing development.

The selected industry-focused organizations will strongly leverage industry, state, and local funds, and are expected to achieve financial self-sufficiency after five years.

DOE Funding Fuels Coast-to-Coast Collaborations
Funding was made available for applicants in university and industry. Both topics consider collaborative research models to accelerate manufacturing-related technologies and provide maximum leverage to federal funding.

Following are the selected projects:

* Bay Area PV Consortium [Stanford, Cal.] -- $25 million for University-Focused Development
Bay Area PV Consortium [BAPVC] will fund industry-relevant research and development to impact high-volume PV manufacturing, using a competitive selection process open to all universities.

This project, managed by Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, will develop and test the innovative new materials, device structures, and fabrication processes necessary to achieve cost effective PV modules in high-volume production. The research will advance technologies that reduce manufacturing costs and improve device performance characteristics to help achieve SunShot’s price targets.

An industry board composed of representatives from PV companies will determine the specific topics for research and development to assure close alignment with industry and manufacturing needs.

* SVTC Technologies [San Jose, Cal.] -- $25 million for Industry-Focused Development
SVTC will create a fee-for-service PV manufacturing development facility [MDF] that will enable startups, materials suppliers, and other PV innovators to eliminate a major portion of their upfront capital and operating costs during product development and pilot production. This will potentially accelerate development and time to market by 12 to 15 months.

The MDF will focus on commercialization of silicon PV manufacturing processes and technologies, and aim to reduce the costs and development time for participating PV industry leaders to deliver innovative, emerging technologies from the laboratory to commercial manufacturing lines.

The MDF will support SunShot targets by strengthening and accelerating growth along the PV manufacturing industry’s entire supply chain by reducing the cost, time, and risk associated with commercialization.

* U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium [Albany, N.Y. and Palm Bay, Fla.] – $62.5 million for Industry-Focused Development
Managed by SEMATECH, the U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium [PVMC] will coordinate an industry-driven research-and-development initiative to accelerate the development, manufacturing and commercialization of next-generation copper indium gallium selenide [CIGS] thin-film PV manufacturing technologies, driving down the cost and risk of bringing them to the marketplace.

PVMC -- with its major partner, the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the State University of New York at Albany -- will establish manufacturing development facilities that PV companies and researchers can use for product prototyping, demonstration, and pilot-scale manufacturing to evaluate and validate CIGS thin-film and PV manufacturing technologies.

PVMC will also work with the University of Central Florida to develop cost-effective, in-line measurement and inspection tools to enable increased PV manufacturing yield.

In addition, PVMC will operate complementary programs to foster new PV technologies and firms, and to develop the U.S. PV workforce. The proposed project will use heavy industry leveraging funds for every $1 of DOE funding.

The SunShot program builds on the legacy of President John F. Kennedy's 1960s "moon shot" goal, which laid out a plan to regain the country's lead in the space race and land a man on the moon. The program will aggressively drive innovations in the ways that solar systems are conceived, designed, manufactured and installed.

For more information and to follow the SunShot Initiative's progress, visit the SunShot Initiative website: http://1.usa.gov/SunShotDOE.

GoodBiz113's Take
DOE's just-announced solar manufacturing partnerships will boost American competitiveness in the global solar energy industry and lower the cost of clean, renewable energy. Further, they'll promote entrepreneurship and generate much-needed jobs.

Chalk it up as yet another win-win-win-win endeavor by the Obama Administration -- one that holds far-reaching potential for decades to come.

SOURCES: NASA, U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy [EERE], Wikipedia
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