The California Energy Commission approved a $1.96 million grant to Silicon Valley Clean Water for a unique wastewater treatment process that saves energy by eliminating the need for aeration, and recovers water for reuse.
The grant will fund a demonstration project in Redwood City to evaluate the effectiveness of this innovative wastewater treatment technology called a Staged Anaerobic Fluidized Bed Membrane Bioreactor (SAF-BMR).
The project will test SAF-BMR's technology with the goal of producing reusable water at the end of a pipe. The system saves energy by eliminating aeration - an energy-intensive process typically used in conventional secondary wastewater treatment.
The SAF-BMR process is expected to save 10 percent on operational and maintenance costs on conventional processes used to treat wastewater. The technology will also recover biogas that can be used for energy production.
The Energy Commission also approved a $750,000 grant to Hyperlight Energy to further develop Hyperlight's low-cost Concentrated Solar Power collector technology and make it ready for commercial application. The project is expected to eliminate the problem of high solar collector costs by paving the way for a low-cost and deployment-ready solar collector.
The grant leverages federal money by providing cost-share funding to a U.S. Department of Energy $1.5 million grant to Hyperlight. The pilot project will install and demonstrate a one-acre system in Brawley, which is an economically disadvantaged community.
Hyperlight's low-cost collector will benefit ratepayers by increasing electricity reliability while lowering costs from additional renewable power generation at power plants that operate around the clock.
Funds for both grants come from the Energy Commission's Research and Development Division.
For details on all actions taken today, see the business meeting agenda.
For more information
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