DOE Offers $74 Million For Fuel-Cell R&D

The Department of Energy announced last week the availability of $74 million to fund R&D activities for stationary and mobile fuel cells. Some $65 million will be available for three-year R&D grants for fuel-cell components such as catalysts and membrane electrode assemblies. Applicants are likely to include teams of university, industry, and national lab participants. Another $9 million is earmarked for independent cost analyses of DOE’s progress under ongoing research initiatives to guide future fuel-cell and hydrogen storage R&D efforts. These cost analyses will help determine the economic viability and technical progress of these technologies, DOE said, and they include a life-cycle cost analysis for different manufacturing volumes to gauge near-term, low-volume market viability for the technology. Cost analysis applications are due on Feb. 18, and R&D applications, on March 3.