SRNL gets share of $87M for solar projects

The Savannah River National Laboratory project has been selected to share in $87 million in federal funding to develop solar energy projects.

At the opening of the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon on the National Mall, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced up to $87 million will be made available to support the development of new solar energy technologies and the rapid deployment of available carbon-free solar energy systems. Of this funding, $50 million comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The 47 projects with universities, electric power utilities, DOE's National Laboratories and local governments have been selected to support use of solar technologies in U.S. cities, help address technical challenges, ensure reliable connectivity with the electrical grid and train a new generation of solar workers to install and maintain solar energy systems.

These projects will help speed adoption of solar energy nationwide, while supporting development of a skilled work force and continuing to pursue new scientific breakthroughs to increase the efficiency and lower the cost of solar technologies.

SRNL, led by Dr. Elise B. Fox, in collaboration with SRNL researchers Ann Visser, Nick Bridges and Josh Gray, will team up with partners from the University of Notre Dame and the University of South Carolina to focus on the evaluation of nanoparticle-enhanced ionic liquids, or NEILs, as heat transfer fluids for the advancement of solar thermal energy. Ionic liquids are low-temperature organic molten salts.

This work will lead to the development of high-temperature heat transfer fluids, which will increase the energy and cost efficiency of concentrating solar power plants through increased operation temperatures. If successful, this could result in a 10 to 40 percent improvement in thermal conductivity.

"The investigation of NEILs incorporates the use of green chemistry and the rapidly growing field of nanotechnology to develop new materials to support solar energy. Current CSP technology is limited due to the temperature limitation of the current heat transfer fluids," Fox said. "These new materials will help increase the temperature at which CSP can work, which increases the process efficiency."

"Today's awards are among the many investments made to create new jobs and a clean energy future with solar power," Chu said. "The projects will help accelerate the use of solar energy by residents, businesses and communities and promote the long-term viability of solar energy by investing in the technologies of the future. I applaud each of these award winners who are vital to moving our country toward a sustainable solar infrastructure."

The selected projects will help accelerate the commercialization of solar technologies in an effort to achieve cost-competitive solar electricity by 2015, in addition to developing advanced solar technologies for the future. Projects focus on both technology improvements and the elimination of market barriers to help make solar electricity accessible to a wide variety of consumers.