Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 05/22/2017 - 08/21/2020
Program: REFUEL
Award: $3,060,000

SAFCell

SAFCell will develop a novel electrochemical system that converts ammonia to hydrogen. The key innovation is the use of a solid acid electrolyte, a type of electrolyte that is stable in the presence of ammonia while under the operating conditions needed for reactions. Solid acid fuel cell stacks operate at intermediate temperatures (around 250°C) and demonstrate high tolerances to typical anode catalyst poisons such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide without a significant decrease in performance. The system also aims to realize the conversion of ammonia along with the purification and…

Status: ALUMNI
State: MA
Project Term: 01/19/2016 - 04/30/2017
Program: IDEAS
Award: $494,637

Saint-Gobain Ceramics & Plastics

Saint-Gobain Ceramics & Plastics is conducting early-stage research to extend operating temperatures of industrial ceramics in steam-containing atmospheres up to 1,500 °C. Materials that are able to adequately withstand these punishing conditions are needed to create durable solar fuel reactors. The most attractive material based on high-temperature strength and thermal shock resistance is sintered (the process of compacting solid material without melting it) silicon carbide (SiC). However, the highly reactive H2O/H2/CO/CO2 atmosphere within a solar reactor causes most industrial ceramics…

Status: CANCELLED
State: MA
Project Term: 08/02/2018 - 12/31/2019
Program: INTEGRATE
Award: $1,929,883

Saint-Gobain Ceramics & Plastics

Saint-Gobain will combine a pressurized all-ceramic solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack with a custom-designed screw compressor and expander to yield a highly efficient SOFC and Brayton cycle hybrid system. In this configuration, the SOFC stack generates most of the system’s electric power. The expander converts a portion of the stack’s waste exergy to additional electric power. Saint-Gobain and its partners will integrate three enabling technologies: Saint-Gobain's robust all-ceramic SOFC stack, Brayton Energy LLC’s rotary screw engine (compressor and expander), and Precision Combustion…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NM
Project Term: 08/15/2015 - 11/24/2018
Program: ALPHA
Award: $4,435,676

Sandia National Laboratories

Sandia National Laboratories will partner with the Laboratory for Laser Energetics at the University of Rochester to investigate the behavior of the magnetized plasma under fusion conditions, using a fusion concept known as Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion (MagLIF). MagLIF uses lasers to pre-heat a magnetically insulated plasma in a metal liner and then compresses the liner to achieve fusion. The research team will conduct experiments at Sandia’s large Z facility as well as Rochester’s OMEGA facilities, and will collect key measurements of magnetized plasma fuel including temperature, density…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NM
Project Term: 01/20/2020 - 01/31/2023
Program: ATLANTIS
Award: $3,945,196

Sandia National Laboratories

Sandia National Laboratories will design a vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) system, ARCUS, with the goal of eliminating mass and associated cost not directly involved in capturing energy from the wind. A VAWT is ideal for floating offshore sites. Its advantages over horizontal-axis wind turbines (HAWTs) include no need of yaw systems, improved aerodynamic efficiency and a lower level placement of the turbine’s drivetrain that greatly reduces floating platform mass and associated system costs. The ARCUS design also replaces the turbine’s VAWT tower with lighter, tensioned guy wires. The…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NM
Project Term: 09/13/2019 - 09/19/2023
Program: BREAKERS
Award: $3,750,000

Sandia National Laboratories

Sandia National Laboratories will develop a solid-state circuit breaker for medium to high voltage applications based on a gallium nitride (GaN) optically triggered, photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS). During normal operation, the current will flow through high-performance commercial silicon carbide (SiC) devices to achieve high efficiency. When a fault occurs, the fast-response GaN PCSS will be used to break the current. The concept builds on Sandia’s knowledge of optically triggered GaN devices, as well as the team’s experience in circuit design for MV applications. The GaN PCSS…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NM
Project Term: 04/01/2012 - 01/16/2015
Program: GENI
Award: $2,998,886

Sandia National Laboratories

Sandia National Laboratories is working with several commercial and university partners to develop software for market management systems (MMSs) that enable greater use of renewable energy sources throughout the grid. MMSs are used to securely and optimally determine which energy resources should be used to service energy demand across the country. Contributions of electricity to the grid from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar are intermittent, introducing complications for MMSs, which have trouble accommodating the multiple sources of price and supply uncertainties associated…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NM
Project Term: 12/21/2016 - 12/20/2017
Program: IDEAS
Award: $500,000

Sandia National Laboratories

Sandia National Laboratories will develop a prototype DC-DC converter in a modular, scalable, mass-producible format that is capable of 10kW or greater and could fit onto a single circuit board. Inefficiency and construction costs associated with AC distribution/transmission and DC-AC conversion are motivating many to consider direct connection of PV to DC distribution (and even DC transmission) circuits. The prototype proposed in this project would enable PV panels to be connected to a medium-to-high voltage DC distribution circuit using a power converter about the size of an average…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NM
Project Term: 05/01/2017 - 10/31/2018
Program: IDEAS
Award: $500,000

Sandia National Laboratories

Sandia National Laboratories will develop a new type of switch, a 100kV optically controlled switch (often called photoconductive semiconductor switch or PCSS), based on the WBG semiconductors GaN and AlGaN. The capabilities of the PCSS will be demonstrated in high-voltage circuits for medium and high voltage direct current (MVDC/HVDC) power conversion for grid applications. Photoconductivity is the measure of a material's response to the energy inherent in light radiation. The electrical conductivity of a photoconductive material increases when it absorbs light. The team will first…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NM
Project Term: 07/11/2019 - 07/10/2023
Program: OPEN 2018
Award: $6,456,500

Sandia National Laboratories

Sandia National Laboratories will develop a new device to prevent EMP damage to the power grid. The EMP arrestor will be comprised of diodes fabricated from the semiconductor gallium nitride (GaN), capable of responding on the ns timescale required to protect the grid against EMP threats. The diodes will be capable of blocking 20 kilovolts (kV), enabling a single device to protect distribution-level equipment on the grid. The team will focus on the epitaxial crystal growth of GaN layers and device design needed to achieve the 20 kV performance target. Extensive failure analysis and…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NM
Project Term: 05/06/2019 - 11/06/2023
Program: OPEN 2018
Award: $1,852,941

Sandia National Laboratories

Sandia National Laboratories will develop advanced core materials for grid-level electrical transformers, improving their efficiency and resiliency. Current transformers feature copper windings surrounding a magnetic core. The project team’s new core material seeks to increase electrical efficiency by at least 10% while enabling a 50% reduction in transformer size. The core will be robust, withstanding EMPs and GMDs that threaten today’s grid. Sandia will also develop additives that can be added to the oil in existing transformers as a retrofit as well as included in new transformers. One…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NM
Project Term: 09/08/2017 - 05/14/2021
Program: PNDIODES
Award: $2,324,700

Sandia National Laboratories

Vertical transistors based on bulk gallium nitride (GaN) have emerged as promising candidates for future high efficiency, high power applications. However, they have been plagued by poor electrical performance attributed to the existing selective doping processes. Sandia National Laboratories will develop patterned epitaxial regrowth of GaN as a selective area doping processes to fabricate diodes with electronic performance equivalent to as-grown state-of-the-art GaN diodes. The team’s research will provide a better understanding of which particular defects resulting from impurities and etch…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NM
Project Term: 07/05/2017 - 01/30/2022
Program: ROOTS
Award: $2,709,827

Sandia National Laboratories

Sandia National Laboratories will develop novel, field-deployable sensor technologies for monitoring soil, root, and plant systems. First, the team will develop microneedles similar and shape and function to hypodermic needles used in transdermal drug delivery and wearable sensors. The minimally invasive needles will be used to report on sugar concentrations and water stress in leaves, stems, and large roots in real-time. Continuously monitoring the sugar concentrations at multiple locations will be transformative in understanding whole plant carbon dynamics and the function of the vascular…

Status: ACTIVE
State: NM
Project Term: 08/14/2023 - 02/20/2026
Program: EVs4ALL
Award: $3,700,000

Sandia National Laboratories

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) will develop a holistic safety framework, combining material level to cell level testing and mechanistic modeling to evaluate the safety of next-generation battery systems. The framework will facilitate a bottom-up understanding of battery safety, enabling battery developers to de-risk promising chemistries from a safety perspective, reduce design iterations, and develop battery systems with a rigorous safety basis. For example, safety assessments early in battery development will analyze the underlying thermo-electrochemical reaction pathways and delineate…

Status: Selected
State: TBD
Project Term: TBD
Program: ULTRAFAST
Award: TBD

Sandia National Laboratories

Sandia National Laboratories will develop a solid-state surge arrester device that would protect the grid from very fast electromagnetic pulses that threaten the grid’s reliability and performance. Sandia’s arresters take advantage of the properties of granular metals—a composition of metal nanoparticles within an insulating matrix—to divert sudden and short-lived high-voltage and high-current surges of energy safely away from the grid. The proposed arrester responds on a nano-second timescale, which is faster than existing lightning surge arresters currently on the grid.

Status: Selected
State: TBD
Project Term: TBD
Program: GOPHURRS
Award: TBD

Sandia National Laboratories

Sandia National Laboratories is developing a real-time, drill-mounted, cross-bore detector using ground penetrating radar to reduce the risk of damaging existing utilities while installing new underground power lines. Unlike other drill-mounted ground penetrating radar sensors that measure broad frequency bands and produce large quantities of data that make real-time communication with surface systems difficult, the proposed sensor uses a narrow band frequency domain. The result is a system capable of detecting cross-bore events with high resolution within one foot, using directional drill…

Status: ACTIVE
State: TX
Project Term: 10/01/2020 - 03/31/2024
Program: BETHE
Award: $1,650,000

Sapientai

Sapientai, LLC will form a team under the Data-enabled Fusion Technology (DeFT) project to provide state-of-the-art data-enabled modeling and simulation capabilities to accelerate the development and evaluation of lower-cost fusion concepts. The team will leverage machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to better understand and use the results of existing experimental data and models to accelerate the development of lower-cost fusion concepts toward higher fusion performance. The DeFT team includes not only experts in ML/AI but also fusion and plasma physics,…

Status: ACTIVE
State: SC
Project Term: 03/01/2021 - 02/29/2024
Program: GAMOW
Award: $1,150,000

Savannah River National Laboratory

Fusion power cannot be realized without vacuum pumps. The vacuum technology needed to operate a commercial fusion power plant does not currently exist, however. Although existing vacuum technology could be adapted to meet the challenges posed by fusion energy, a radically new pump oil treatment and recycling system may be necessary to handle tritium removal and radiation damage. Savannah River National Laboratory will demonstrate a hydrocarbon pump oil-recycling loop process that can selectively remove heavier hydrogen isotopes from pump oil (target of 99.5 % removal, with an uptake of 0.01%…

Status: ACTIVE
State: SC
Project Term: 03/08/2021 - 03/07/2024
Program: GAMOW
Award: $1,500,000

Savannah River National Laboratory

Direct lithium tritide (LiT) electrolysis uses advanced solid lithium-conducting electrolytes to reduce the complexity and footprint of tritium extraction from breeding-blanket materials, such as lead-lithium, in fusion-energy systems. Savannah River National Laboratory’s new process eliminates the need for expensive equipment like centrifugal systems and molten salts used in other proposed technologies. The process improvements enable the reaction to be performed in existing process vessels such as the blanket buffer tank and reduces the entire tritium-extraction system footprint. This…

Status: ALUMNI
State: WI
Project Term: 06/12/2018 - 12/31/2022
Program: SENSOR
Award: $2,148,782

Scanalytics

Scanalytics will develop pressure-sensitive flooring underlayers capable of sensing large areas of commercial buildings with a high-resolution and fast response time. This technology will enable the precise counting of people in commercial environments like stores, offices, and convention centers. The floor sensors will consist of a material which changes electrical resistance when compressed. Conductive elements above and below the material will measure the resistance at a grid of points within the floor mat, and electronics will control the switching between sensors, cache the results for…

Status: CANCELLED
State: NC
Project Term: 02/01/2016 - 06/30/2017
Program: GENSETS
Award: $1,297,388

Sencera Energy

Sencera Energy and Ohio University will develop a novel kinematic Stirling-Brayton hybrid engine using flexure based volume displacement in lieu of a conventional piston-cylinder Stirling engine. A Stirling engine uses a working gas housed in a sealed environment, in this case the working gas is helium. When heated by the natural gas-fueled burner, the gas expands causing a piston to move and interact with an alternator to produce electricity. As the gas cools and contracts, the process resets before repeating again. Advanced Stirling engines endeavor to carefully manage heat inside the…

Status: ALUMNI
State: WA
Project Term: 04/27/2020 - 12/31/2022
Program: Exploratory Topics
Award: $499,694

Sequoia Scientific

Sequoia Scientific will develop a monitoring system to assess the concentrations and properties of sediment stirred up during deep-sea mining activities. The technology uses novel laser-light scattering and high‑resolution video imagery and processing to measure the concentration, size, and settling speed of the sediment in situ. The technology will help determine the environmental impact of deep-sea mining activities.

Status: ALUMNI
State: WA
Project Term: 03/28/2013 - 03/27/2016
Program: OPEN 2012
Award: $2,904,393

Sharp Laboratories of America

Sharp Laboratories of America and their partners at the University of Texas and Oregon State University are developing a sodium-based battery that could dramatically increase battery cycle life at a low cost while maintaining a high energy capacity. Current storage approaches use either massive pumped reservoirs of water or underground compressed air storage, which carry serious infrastructure requirements and are not feasible beyond specific site limitations. Therefore, there is a critical need for a scalable, adaptable battery technology to enable widespread deployment of renewable power.…

Status: ALUMNI
State: TX
Project Term: 09/01/2010 - 06/30/2015
Program: BEETIT
Award: $3,789,025

Sheetak

Sheetak is developing a thermoelectric-based solid state cooling system that is more efficient, more reliable, and more affordable than today’s best systems. Many air conditioners are based on vapor compression, in which a liquid refrigerant circulates within the air conditioner, absorbs heat, and then pumps it out into the external environment. Sheetak’s system, by contrast, relies on an electrical current passing through the junction of two different conducting materials to change temperature. Sheetak’s design uses proprietary thermoelectric materials to achieve significant energy…

Status: ALUMNI
State: TX
Project Term: 11/15/2011 - 03/31/2015
Program: HEATS
Award: $4,623,433

Sheetak

Sheetak is developing a new HVAC system to store the energy required for heating and cooling in EVs. This system will replace the traditional refrigerant-based vapor compressors and inefficient heaters used in today's EVs with efficient, light, and rechargeable hot-and-cold thermal batteries. The high energy density thermal battery—which does not use any hazardous substances—can be recharged by an integrated solid-state thermoelectric energy converter while the vehicle is parked and its electrical battery is being charged. Sheetak's converters can also run on the electric battery if needed…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NJ
Project Term: 04/05/2019 - 12/04/2022
Program: OPEN 2018
Award: $3,000,000

Siemens

Siemens will develop an operator support system and grid planning functionality that enable a power system to operate with 100% inverter-based renewable generation from wind and solar. ReNew100 features automatic Controller Parameter Optimization and model calibration technologies that help ensure power system reliability as the generation mix changes. Successful test results will be a milestone toward the goal of a stable and reliable power system obtaining a majority of total electrical energy sourced from variable wind and solar.

Status: ACTIVE
State: NJ
Project Term: 03/14/2022 - 06/14/2024
Program: Exploratory Topics
Award: $627,747

Siemens

Siemens aims to develop a multi-physics, multi-material topology optimization approach to rapidly generate improved HX designs that can operate at high temperature and high pressure. Siemens will address the comprehensive multi-physics structural, fluid dynamics, and thermal aspects of HXs; parameterize the design with a multi-phase interpolation scheme that handles four material phases; and account for additive manufacturing (AM) constraints to ensure that the final HX design can be manufactured via the chosen AM technique. Siemens will apply machine learning techniques to accelerate the…

Status: ACTIVE
State: NJ
Project Term: 09/30/2022 - 09/29/2025
Program: OPEN 2021
Award: $3,250,000

Siemens

Siemens and its partners will develop innovative protection schemes consisting of fundamentally new control and protection (C&P) functions for inverter-dominated renewable systems. These new functions do not represent simple evolution of prior engineering practices when analyzing and optimizing system-level protection schemes. Rather, new Protection Inverter Co-Design (PICo-Design) tools will be developed that automatically analyze and optimize C&P functions to achieve higher protection reliability. These protection schemes will be validated and demonstrated in a small-scale hardware…

Status: CANCELLED
State: MA
Project Term: 09/17/2014 - 11/20/2015
Program: REBELS
Award: $2,650,000

SiEnergy Systems

SiEnergy Systems is developing a hybrid electrochemical system that uses a multi-functional electrode to allow the cell to perform as both a fuel cell and a battery, a capability that does not exist today. A fuel cell can convert chemical energy stored in domestically abundant natural gas to electrical energy at high efficiency, but adoption of these technologies has been slow due to high cost and limited functionality. SiEnergy’s design would expand the functional capability of a fuel cell to two modes: fuel cell mode and battery mode. In fuel cell mode, non-precious metal catalysts are…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 07/06/2015 - 07/05/2016
Program: IDEAS
Award: $499,939

Signetron

Signetron is developing a technology that will enable fast, cost effective, and accurate energy audits without the need for expensive, skilled labor to collect data manually. Signetron’s innovation integrates low-cost visible and infrared optical cameras into a handheld scanner with depth sensing. This enables the operator to capture indoor 3D maps of building geometry and energy-relevant features as they traverse a building. Captured data is uploaded to the cloud where it is analyzed by Signetron software to generate an energy model and provide actionable energy audit information. If…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 10/01/2012 - 03/31/2016
Program: BEEST
Award: $3,225,000

Sila Nanotechnologies

Sila Nanotechnologies is developing a high-throughput technology for scalable synthesis of high-capacity nanostructured materials for Li-Ion EV batteries. The successful implementation of this technology will allow improvements in energy storage capacity of today’s best batteries at half the cost. In contrast to other high-capacity material synthesis technologies, Sila's materials show minimal volume changes during the battery operation, which is a key challenge of next-generation battery anode materials. In addition, Sila’s technology may allow for the dramatic enhancements of the…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 12/01/2016 - 05/31/2018
Program: IONICS
Award: $1,000,000

Sila Nanotechnologies

Sila Nanotechnologies will develop solid-state ceramic lithium batteries with high energy density. Traditional methods using ceramic electrolytes significantly reduces a battery’s volumetric energy density because the materials are relatively bulky. Commercially produced separator membranes are also expensive and thick because of challenges in fabrication and handling of thinner, defect-free solid-state electrolyte membranes. In addition, such membranes are often air sensitive, have low ionic conductivity, and are susceptible to the growth of branchlike metal fibers called dendrites.…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 03/01/2019 - 08/31/2023
Program: OPEN 2018
Award: $3,600,000

Sila Nanotechnologies

Sila Nanotechnologies will develop a class of drop-in cathode replacement materials to double the energy stored in traditional LIBs, the most popular battery chemistry used in a wide range of applications, including electric vehicles. The Sila team will replace conventional Ni and Co-based cathodes with a nanostructured composite made from abundant materials that greatly increases the battery’s energy density. Sila Nanotechnologies will pair their new cathode material with a proprietary silicon-based anode, enabling the battery to outperform current lithium-ion cells while using existing cell…

Status: CANCELLED
State: PA
Project Term: 05/15/2013 - 08/10/2015
Program: OPEN 2012
Award: $2,015,727

Silicon Power

Silicon Power is developing a semiconducting device that switches high-power and high-voltage electricity using optical signals as triggers for the switches, instead of conventional signals carried through wires. A switch helps control electricity, converting it from one voltage or current to another. High-power systems generally require multiple switches to convert energy into electricity that can be transmitted through the grid. These multi-level switch configurations use many switches which may be costly and inefficient. Additionally, most switching mechanisms use silicon, which cannot…

Status: ALUMNI
State: AZ
Project Term: 10/01/2010 - 09/30/2013
Program: BEEST
Award: $4,305,005

Sion Power

Sion Power is developing a lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery, a potentially cost-effective alternative to the Li-Ion battery that could store 400% more energy per pound. All batteries have 3 key parts—a positive and negative electrode and an electrolyte—that exchange ions to store and release electricity. Using different materials for these components changes a battery's chemistry and its ability to power a vehicle. Traditional Li-S batteries experience adverse reactions between the electrolyte and lithium-based negative electrode that ultimately limit the battery to less than 50 charge cycles.…

Status: ALUMNI
State: MA
Project Term: 09/06/2021 - 03/05/2023
Program: Exploratory Topics
Award: $320,000

SiTration

The demand for lithium, a critical component of lithium-ion batteries, is expected to soar over the coming decades. As favorable sources are depleted, a new source must be tapped: recycling end-of-life lithium-ion batteries. SiTration is developing a new type of filtration membrane that is well suited to selectively extract lithium in the existing battery recycling process flow. Today’s commercial membranes are either incompatible with the harsh chemical environments of battery recycling or not selective enough to extract lithium from a complex solution. SiTration’s nanofiltration technology…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 03/10/2014 - 03/09/2020
Program: SWITCHES
Award: $2,724,992

SixPoint Materials

SixPoint Materials will create low-cost, high-quality vertical gallium nitride (GaN) substrates for use in high-power electronic devices. In its two-phase project, SixPoint Materials will first focus on developing a high-quality GaN substrate and then on expanding the substrate’s size. Substrates are thin wafers of semiconducting material used to power devices like transistors and integrated circuits. SixPoint Materials will use a two-phase production approach that employs both hydride vapor phase epitaxy technology and ammonothermal growth techniques to create its high-quality, low-cost GaN…

Status: ACTIVE
State: CA
Project Term: 03/31/2022 - 03/30/2025
Program: OPEN 2021
Award: $1,782,000

SixPoint Materials

SixPoint Materials and Texas Tech University will develop a photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) that will enable low-cost, fast-acting, high-efficiency, high-voltage HVDC circuit breakers. SixPoint will develop the key material, bulk crystals of semi-insulating gallium nitride (GaN), and Texas Tech will design the device structure and fabricate a 100 kV PCSS. Combining the GaN PCSS with a conventional mechanical switch will create a hybrid HVDC circuit breaker suitable for a multi-terminal HVDC grid. One 100 kV GaN PCSS could potentially replace 56 semiconductor switches made of…

Status: ACTIVE
State: TN
Project Term: 12/12/2022 - 12/11/2025
Program: HESTIA
Award: $2,000,000

SkyNano Technologies

SkyNano will create composite panels for the building industry via a multi-scale materials approach combining recycled carbon fibers diverted from landfills, directly utilized CO2 via electro-reduction into solid carbon nanotubes, and biomaterials such as bamboo fibers. The panels will exhibit excellent mechanical and functional properties while maintaining a carbon-negative footprint on a cradle-to-gate and cradle-to-grave basis, exceeding the performance of today’s state-of-the-art panels. The team proposes to develop and test the panel in a 1ft2 format, which is envisioned to be applicable…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CT
Project Term: 06/09/2017 - 09/30/2018
Program: REFUEL
Award: $1,200,000

Skyre

Skyre will develop a system to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from industrial or chemical processes, electrochemically convert it into methanol, and further transform the methanol into dimethyl ether (DME). DME can be stored and transported using existing infrastructure and can be converted into electricity to provide power for transportation and distributed energy generation. To convert CO2 to methanol, new catalysts that improve efficiency and lower costs will be developed that are highly selective and durable, building on the team's prior work with transition-metal-supported…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 04/23/2012 - 09/30/2014
Program: GENI
Award: $3,977,619

Smart Wire Grid

Smart Wire Grid is developing a solution for controlling power flow within the electric grid to better manage unused and overall transmission capacity. The 300,000 miles of high-voltage transmission line in the U.S. today are congested and inefficient, with only around 50% of all transmission capacity utilized at any given time. Increased consumer demand should be met in part with a more efficient and economical power flow. Smart Wire Grid's devices clamp onto existing transmission lines and control the flow of power within—much like how internet routers help allocate bandwidth throughout…

Status: ACTIVE
State: NC
Project Term: 04/30/2021 - 01/29/2024
Program: SMARTFARM
Award: $3,250,609

Soil Health Institute

The Soil Health Institute aims to develop an integrated, affordable, and user-friendly soil carbon measurement and monitoring system—the DeepC System. The system will be designed to meet current and future needs for farmers, landowners, and agricultural carbon markets nationwide. The system’s three main components are in-field measurement hardware, an optimized spatial sampling algorithm to select measurement sites, and machine learning calibrations that leverage the current infrastructure of national soil spectroscopy libraries. These components synergistically enable a user to obtain rapid…

Status: ALUMNI
State: TX
Project Term: 02/23/2012 - 06/22/2015
Program: Solar ADEPT
Award: $1,099,848

SolarBridge Technologies

SolarBridge Technologies is developing a new power conversion technique to improve the energy output of PV power plants. This new technique is specifically aimed at large plants where many solar panels are connected together. SolarBridge is correcting for the inefficiencies that occur when two solar panels that encounter different amounts of sun are connected together. In most conventional PV system, the weakest panel limits the energy production of the entire system. That's because all of the energy collected by the PV system feeds into a single collection point where a central inverter…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CO
Project Term: 01/01/2014 - 06/30/2017
Program: RANGE
Award: $3,459,250

Solid Power

Solid Power is developing a new low-cost, all-solid-state battery for EVs with greater energy storage capacity and a lighter, safer design compared to lithium-ion batteries. Conventional batteries are expensive, perform poorly at high temperatures and require heavy protective components to ensure safety. In contrast, Solid Power’s liquid-free cells store more energy for their size and weight, but use non-flammable and non-volatile materials that are stable high temperatures. This results in improved safety in the event of a collision or fire. Additionally, Solid Power plans to use low-cost,…

Status: ACTIVE
State: CO
Project Term: 04/26/2023 - 04/25/2026
Program: EVs4ALL
Award: $5,600,000

Solid Power

Solid Power will develop high-energy, fast-charging, long-life, low-cost, and safe Li metal all-solid-state batteries (ASSB) for electric vehicles applications. Solid Power’s design includes a 3D-structured lithium (Li) metal anode and novel sulfur (S) composite cathode to enable such electric vehicle battery cells. Their advanced solid-state electrolyte will enable the Li metal anode and S cathode while overcoming the primary challenges for conventional lithium-sulfur chemistry. Solid Power has also developed roll-to-roll processes for Li metal ASSB cell fabrication, which can be readily…

Status: ALUMNI
State: NM
Project Term: 06/17/2019 - 06/16/2023
Program: OPEN 2018
Award: $1,369,282

Sonrisa Research

Sonrisa Research will develop a new class of SiC power transistors using a simple three-dimensional architectural modification to reduce the channel resistance by up to a factor of nine. To accomplish this, Sonrisa will etch trenches into the basic planar MOSFET, increasing its effective channel width without increasing its overall area. This is similar to the fin-type field-effect transistor (FinFET) geometry popular in advanced Si integrated circuits, but in a configuration that meets high-power application needs. A different structural modification will be used to reduce the substrate…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 06/06/2012 - 01/31/2016
Program: OPEN 2009
Award: $6,319,259

Soraa

Soraa's new GaN crystal growth method is adapted from that used to grow quartz crystals, which are very inexpensive and represent the second-largest market for single crystals for electronic applications (after silicon). More extreme conditions are required to grow GaN crystals and therefore a new type of chemical growth chamber was invented that is suitable for large-scale manufacturing. A new process was developed that grows GaN crystals at a rate that is more than double that of current processes. The new technology will enable GaN substrates with best-in-world quality at lowest-in-…

Status: ALUMNI
State: CA
Project Term: 02/17/2014 - 05/17/2015
Program: SWITCHES
Award: $225,000

Soraa

Soraa will develop a cost-effective technique to manufacture high-quality, high-performance gallium nitride (GaN) crystal substrates that have fewer defects by several orders of magnitude than conventional GaN substrates and cost about 10 times less. Substrates are thin wafers of semiconducting material needed to power devices like transistors and integrated circuits. Most GaN-based electronics today suffer from very high defect levels and, in turn, reduced performance. In addition to reducing defects, Soraa will also develop methods capable of producing large-area GaN substrates—3 to 4 times…

Status: ACTIVE
State: CA
Project Term: 05/10/2023 - 05/09/2026
Program: EVs4ALL
Award: $3,151,977

South 8 Technologies

South 8 Technologies will develop high-power lithium-ion battery cells with the capacity to charge rapidly using a novel liquefied gas (LiGas) electrolyte technology. The LiGas electrolyte uses non-toxic and non-corrosive gases, which are already domestically manufactured and widely available, that are liquefied under moderate pressures and can be contained in standard form-factor cylindrical cell cans. The technology has demonstrated excellent performance in conventional graphite/lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt-oxide cells and offers several opportunities for cost reduction. South 8…

Status: ALUMNI
State: AL
Project Term: 10/01/2019 - 09/30/2022
Program: Exploratory Topics
Award: $2,636,013

Southern Research Institute

Southern Research Institute proposes to transition most reactor maintenance activities from being done manually to people overseeing autonomous maintenance robotic systems, to reduce costs and avoid personnel exposure to radiation. To achieve this level of control, robots will be trained in a virtual environment through the use of virtual reality and machine learning to perform routine maintenance.