grant

The New York Power Authority and mPrest, an Israeli software development firm, were awarded a $900,000 grant from the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation to develop a system that can rapidly detect malfunctioning power transformers before they cause larger problems on the electric grid. NYPA and mPrest will develop software for deployment on the NYPA transmission system, and plan to engage the Electric Power Research Institute for research assistance.

Phoenix Energy's joint venture, North Fork Community Power's project was awarded a $4.9 million grant. The award will be used to construct one of the first forest-sourced biomass gasification plants, as well as research into the field of forest biomass utilization. The plant will utilize local forest biomass sustainably sourced from restoration and fuel reduction activities on local forest lands, including the Sierra National Forest.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded The University of Texas at Austin a $12 million grant to fund carbon storage research aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The four-year DOE grant will fund a carbon storage research project at the university’s Center for Frontiers of Subsurface Energy Security. This grant is a renewal of the department’s five-year, $15.5 million research grant to the center in 2009.

GridCOM Technologies, a provider of quantum cyber security solutions for energy infrastructures, was awarded a grant from the state of California to help protect the country's electrical grid from the growing threat of cyber-attacks. GridCOM will receive $95,000, the maximum amount available, under the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program, specifically the energy innovations small grant (EISG) program.