Two Area Companies Share in Grants for Solar Energy-related Projects
By George Pyle – BUFFALO NEWS - May 05, 2010
Two Western New York companies are among those receiving 25 grants from a state agency to help develop and bring to market products that promise to improve the clean generation and storage of energy.
Graphene Devices of Amherst and Precision Electro Minerals of Niagara Falls have been notified that they are to receive awards from a pool totaling $11.3 million from the state’s Regional Greenhouse Gas cap and trade auction and the Systems Benefit Charge funds.
Graphene Devices is to receive funding for developing a process that will manufacture films consisting of a one-atom-thick layer of carbon that should be able to replace higher-cost materials in the manufacture of solar power cells. It and six other companies will divide up a total of $4.1 million in product development funds.
Precision Electro Minerals is one of 13 firms and colleges that are to split $2.6 million allocated for feasibility studies. The company is studying the practicality of a new process for making solar-grade silicon. The grants are allocated by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and in each case are to be matched by private investment, for a total of $22.6 million in project investment. They were selected from 71 proposals received.
“The products that emerge from these initiatives will help create jobs and develop the tools needed to help us mitigate our impact on the environment for the next generation,” Gov. David A. Paterson said in a statement.
The exact amount to be received by each developer is not made public at this stage of the process, officials said, because contract talks are ongoing. In many cases, authority officials said, contracts will include a requirement that the grants be repaid once the products involved become profitable.
gpyle@buffnews.com
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