$131 million for fuel cell inventors

Greenbang is now officially scared by the US Department of Energy’s neverending stream grants for whichever renewable energy trend passes under their wonks’ noses.

Are DoE grants like microbes? You leave one in a room an then when you comeback in an hour they’ve multiplied to eye-watering numbers?

Greenbang hasn’t counted them up recently, but there’s certainly one imperial shedload.

Read about them here, here, here, here, here, here…

And now, here:

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for up to $130 million over three years, subject to Congressional appropriations, to advance the development and use of fuel cells for automotive, stationary, and portable power applications. DOE’s announcement is part of the President’s Hydrogen Fuel Initiative that accelerates the pace of research and development (R&D) for hydrogen-powered fuel cells. In addition to the FOA opportunity, today DOE expanded its own fleet of alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles with the addition of a Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell electric vehicle. […]

In addition to seeking proposals for R&D projects in the areas of transportation, stationary, and portable power, DOE is also seeking proposals to demonstrate fuel cells in distributed energy systems and to support market transformation that provide real-world operation data. The Department anticipates making up to 50 awards through this competitive funding opportunity, which is open to industry, universities, and national laboratories. With a minimum 20 percent private sector cost share for the R&D projects and a minimum 50 percent applicant cost share for the demonstration projects, the total DOE and private sector investment in advanced hydrogen fuel cell technologies under this funding opportunity may exceed $170 million.