US DOE, Israel Ink $3.5 Million Deal To Support 4 Renewable Energy Projects

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

---

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) and Israel’s Energy and Water Ministry have jointly allocated $3.5 million budget towards the development of four American-Israeli renewable energy projects. The projects will receive financing under the Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Energy program. BIRD Energy has announced that each project receiving funds will be comprised of one American and one Israeli partner.

BIRD was established by US and Israeli governments in 1977 to promote cooperation between the two nations in the emerging hi-tech and start-up sectors, and has since expanded its scope to areas of renewable energy, life sciences, optics, electronics, software, and homeland security.

The four projects that have been selected by BIRD for providing investments are as follows:

1. The first project will focus on the development of the Hydrogen-Halogen Regenerative Fuel Cell. The project will be developed by Bromine Compounds of Beersheba and Sustainable Innovations of Glastonbury, Connecticut. Both companies aim to produce mechanisms for low-cost, modular energy storage capacity.
2. The second project will involve the development of high-energy, rechargeable magnesium batteries. The project will be undertaken by Bar-Ilan Research and Development Company of Ramat Gan and Pellion Technologies of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Both companies are of a view that magnesium batteries are more superior to conventional lithium-ion batteries in size, weight, cost and lifetime.

3. The third project will be jointly developed by B.G. Negev Technologies in Beersheba and Southwest Solar Technologies of Phoenix, Arizona to carry out research to develop a concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) system which employs new active cooling module.
4. In the fourth project, development of solar windows with a high level of transparency and insulation will take place. Windows will employ the use of  building-integrated photovoltaic technology and replace conventional windows. The project will be developed by Pythagoras Solar of Petah Tikva and BISEM of Sacramento, California.

‌

BIRD finances about 20 projects annually and the cumulative sales of products that have resulted from BIRD projects amount to more than $8 billion. BIRD believes that these four research projects will create jobs, improve economic competitiveness, and help to commercialise renewable energy projects.

Image Credit: Solar panels via Waynenf (some rights reserved)

The views presented in the above article are the author’s personal views only.