Pa. businesses to get $2.2M in Department of Energy research grants

Anne Danahy

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Anne Danahy has been a reporter at WPSU since fall 2017. She was a reporter for nearly 12 years at the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pennsylvania, where she earned a number of awards for her coverage of issues including the impact of natural gas development on communities.

She earned a bachelor's degree in communications from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and a master's in media studies from Penn State.

She worked as a writer at Penn State, including with the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute. She’s a volunteer host at C-NET, Centre County's government-education access station.

May 26, 2020 | 5:05 AM

The U.S. Department of Energy is giving $2.2 million in 11 grants to small businesses in Pennsylvania to support research into areas including turbines, thermal energy storage and nuclear energy.

The money is going to companies in York, Lancaster, Allentown, Reading, Pittsburgh, Landisville, Pipersville and State College, with an aim of promoting innovative approaches in energy production and storage.

For State College-based Lupine Materials and Technology, that means about $200,000 for work related to high-temperature superconductors.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette said the goal is to move beyond current technologies, and in Pennsylvania, nuclear energy is key.

“The technologies that they are developing are going to help us understand fusion energy much better,” Brouillette said.

Advanced Cooling Technologies in Lancaster is getting three grants totaling about $650,000. Assistant secretary for fossil energy Steve Winberg said one part of that is focused on turning waste into an asset.

“What we’re trying to do is improve the efficiency of power plants by utilizing waste streams, in this case flue gas, to produce commodities and materials such as ammonia,” Winberg said.

The projects are part of $53 million in grants the DOE is awarding nationally.