ARPA-E Round 4: for $130 Million, GENI HEATS PETRO REACT and Solar ADEPT
By Fred M. Greguras, Charles D. Holland (Palo Alto)
Steven Chu, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, announced on April 20, 2011 that up to $130 million will be available in a fourth round of funding to be provided by the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E).[1] The deadline to submit concept papers for qualifying technology areas is May 19, 2011 at 5:00 PM Eastern time. The deadline to submit full papers is not set as of this date.
The five technology areas include:
1. Plants Engineered To Replace Oil (“PETRO”). PETRO seeks to develop plants that are more suited to be converted into fuel. Today, a small fraction of plant matter can be converted into fuel, but PETRO seeks to harness more of the energy from sunlight and plants’ processes to make fuel and plants that require less processing to make fuel. Up to $30 million is available for PETRO.
