The race to develop and commercialize promising alternative and clean energy technologies is heating up as Gov. Ed Rendell’s Energy Independence Initiative progresses. Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Pennsylvania just announced help to get more Pennsylvania companies in the race.
BFTP’s Alternative and Clean Energy (ACE) Applied Research Fund selected and approved $55,000 each to four companies out of 100 technology-based small business throughout the state that applied: Dynalene, Inc. (Whitehall), OmniWind Energy Systems (Dublin), TM Industrial Supply (Erie), Clean Power Resources, Inc. (North Huntingdon).
Projects focusing on solar photovoltaic energy, wind power, low-impact hydro-power, geothermal energy, bio-derived methane gas, fuel cells, bio-mass energy and coal mine methane were given priority.
“With this funding, we will take our first steps towards commercial production of our newly developed fuel cell technology,” says Satish Mohapatra, president and CEO of Dynalene, Inc. “We are developing technology to consistently produce key ingredients of our fuel cell coolant.”
Grants will support technical and laboratory work, additional market and competitive technology research, examination and analysis of commercialization path options and implementation of beta tests. The grant will also support the development of channel market strategies and full-scale commercialization of new products and processes.
“In the energy driven economy of today, we at Clean Power Resources are eagerly optimistic about the research opportunities this grant will infuse into our work and to our ultimate goal of successfully using waste heat to create a renewable energy source for certain applications,” says Lauren Simkovic, president, Clean Power Resources Inc.
Source: Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Pennsylvania
Writer: Joe Petrucci