DoE hands out $7m for wave energy boffins
Published Wednesday, 7th May 2008
Someone, somewhere at the US Department of Energy has got a little bit mixed up. They’re confusing renewable energy grants with Panini stickers and trying to go for a whole set.
In its pantheon of grants, the DoE can list biomass with $7 million, it’s got solar with $13.7 million, and it’s got smart grids at $50 million.
Clearly, the DoE is achingly close to finishing off its whole set (even the foil ones) and filling the big Panini book of grants, and is giving away another fistful of dollars (assuming they have elephantitus of the fist and can hold $7.5 million in a single hand) to those who would research energy from water.
The grants are up for grabs for “research and development to help advance the viability and cost-competitiveness of advanced water power systems” for “industry and universities to develop innovative and effective technologies capable of harnessing water power energy resources, including ocean wave, tidal, current and other water-based resources”.
The DoE isn’t feeling that generous though – to get some of that delicious cash, applicants will need to find half of their funding from outside the government.
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I must admit that it is refreshing for the DoE to be funding something other than “clean” coal, or other equally non-renewable ideas. While the tiny amount may pay for the rental of the tug boat and the metal that goes into a full-sized model of a wave generator, it still works as a signal to private funding that the US is showing an interest (even if modest) in renewable resources.