On Friday, March 6, 2020, U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette and Israel's Minister of Energy Dr. Yuval Steinitz announced three winners to receive up to $27.6 million under the U.S.-Israel Energy Center competitive funding opportunity. Three consortia, comprised of U.S. and Israeli organizations, will undertake five years of research, development, and commercialization of innovative energy technologies in the fossil energy, energy storage, and energy-water nexus sectors. The total value of these three projects with cost-shared arrangements could reach $55.2 million. Each project will be negotiated with the partners under conditions set forth by the BIRD Foundation, and subject to appropriations.
"The U.S.-Israel Energy Center is a premier hub for innovative energy research, and sends a strong signal of the long-standing special relationship between the U.S. and Israel," said Secretary Brouillette. "From our collaboration through the Energy Center, we expect to see market-moving technologies that will strengthen our energy security and strengthen our economies. We look forward to continue fostering deep institutional relationships through this groundbreaking initiative."
"I am proud of the collaboration we have established with the US Department of Energy, of which the U.S.-Israel Energy Center is an important part. It is a day of pride in partnership and technological excellence, as evidenced by the many proposals we have received for research and development in the core areas of the energy world. The success of the call for proposals is a result of more than a year and a half of intensive efforts by many, and I am confident that the winning consortia will form an impressive energy center of excellence that will lead to discoveries that are essential for a clean and sustainable world," said Dr. Yuval Steinitz, Israeli Minister of Energy.
"Promoting innovation in energy technologies is a mutual objective of Israel and the US. These winning collaborations bring significant value for the development of the energy industries in both countries as well as the promotion of additional sectors through effective energy management. The joint Consortia that have been awarded present promising technological innovations that address important energy challenges in both countries and worldwide," said Aharon Aharon, CEO, Israel Innovation Authority.
Three awards were made, one for each of three research topics, as described below. All three selected groups include academic institutions, industry and research labs.
Fossil Energy
Consortium Leads: Tulane University (U.S.) and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel).
Program Title: Safe, sustainable, and resilient development of offshore reservoirs and natural gas upgrading through innovative science and technology: Gulf of Mexico - Mediterranean (GoMed Consortium).
U.S. Partners: Louisiana State University, University of Louisiana, and Argonne National Laboratory
Israeli Partners: Technion Research & Development Foundation (TRDF), the University of Haifa, the Geological Survey of Israel, Ramot at Tel-Aviv University Ltd, and Delek Drilling LP
Energy Storage
Consortium Leads: University of Maryland, College Park (U.S.) and Bar-Ilan University (Israel).
Program Title: Lithium and sodium metal solid state batteries for advanced energy storage applications.
U.S. Partners: Saft America and Forge Nano
Israeli Partners: Tel Aviv University, Materials Zone, and 3DBattery.
Energy-Water Nexus
Consortium Leads: Northwestern University (U.S.) and Ben Gurion University of the Negev (Israel).
Program Title: Israel-US Collaborative Water-Energy Research Center (Israel-US CoWERC).
U.S. Partners: Argonne National Laboratory, Yale University, DuPont Water Solutions, Evoqua Water Technologies LLC, CycloPure, Inc., Current Innovation NFP, and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRD)
Israeli Partners: Technion Research and Development Foundation (TRDF), Mekorot, Fluence Corporation, and the Galilee Society
The call for proposals also included the Energy-Cyber sector, but no winners were selected in this topic area. The U.S. and Israeli governments, with support from the BIRD Foundation, will redefine the scope of the Energy-Cyber topic to better address each country's research priorities, and will re-issue a call for proposals on this topic in coming months.
For more information about the U.S.-Israel Energy Center, managed by the BIRD Foundation, please click HERE.
Contact:
Limor Nakar-Vincent
Deputy Executive Director of Business Development & BIRD Energy
BIRD Foundation
Limorn@birdf.com
