Archer Daniels Midland just announced that is has received a $24.8 million grant from the Department of Energy to build a $36 million biofuels plant in Decatur, Illinois. The plant will focus on advancing biofuel technology.Construction should start next year and be completed by 2012. The remaining funding not covered by the grant will be drawn from private sources.
In a press release, Todd Werpy, ADM’s vice president of Biofuels and Biochemical Research, commented … Read the rest
The Obama administration announced today which smart grid projects will receive $3.4 billion in federal funding. A Dept of Energy official has said that about 25% of the projects that applied for funding received a boost from the government with awards ranging from $400K up to $200 million for single projects. The smart grid stimulus is expected to help get 18 million more advanced metering systems installed throughout the US.
Here are the utilities receiving … Read the rest
UQM Technologies just announced that it has been awarded $45.1 million as a grant from the Department of Energy. The grant, awarded via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is for the development and deployment of electric vehicles and includes a 50% cost-share by the company, so the total project is valued at $90.2 million. … Read the rest
Itron just announced that it plans to rev up production capacity to meet expected demand for its smart meters with a new automation system. Yesterday, the company held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to show off its new OpenWay system at its production line in Westminster, New York. Itron is expecting an increased demand of its smart meters as a result of the stimulus, and the OpenWay system is designed to ensure that Itron can meet that … Read the rest
Ascent Solar just announced that it has been selected for the Solar America Initiative pre-incubator program by the US Department of Energy. This is significant news for Ascent because the project award includes a year-long subcontract valued at approximately $315,000. The Solar America Initiative per-incubator program is brought to you by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
From a company press release, here’s more on the project:
"The proposed effort involves using a zinc-magnesium-oxide … Read the rest
General Electric, Florida Power and Light, Cisco Systems and Silver Springs Networks just announced that the four companies will team up to build a smart grid to serve the city of Miami. The new program, which will be called Energy Smart Miami, involves installing smart meters in more than 1 million Miami homes and businesses, as well as constructing an automated smart grid to support the smart meters. The program should create approximately 1,000 new … Read the rest
General Electric (GE) reported earnings Friday morning and I’ve now had a chance to go through the entire earnings report provided by Seeking Alpha and pick out all portions related to their smart grid wind turbine businesses. Overall, their Energy unit was the strongest performer with revenues up 7% and profits up 19% Unfortunately, that wasn’t due to wind turbine orders which were down 8% for the quarter. Although, when you consider that the 1st … Read the rest