The Department of Energy has awarded $45 million to multiple projects aimed at driving the integration of clean energy sources into the U.S. power grid system. DOE said Wednesday that the grants include $25 million for the creation of a public-private consortium to pursue grid-forming inverter technologies.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Electric Power Research Institute and the University of Washington will oversee the industry-wide consortium that will explore the potential of inverter-based energy sources, such as solar power, to restart an electric grid.
GridBright and the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania will receive $6 million for two projects that will focus on designing a sensor technology to help utilities determine the amount of renewable energy that solar photovoltaic installations generate for commercial and residential purposes.
DOE added that the remaining $14 million will go toward nine projects to accelerate the commercialization of a solar heat system and other hardware that can help power the grid with clean energy resources.