The Department of Energy, along with the Ministry of Energy of Israel announced this Monday an approval of $17,5 million for eight sustainable energy projects, emanated from the Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Energy program.
DOE announced a $7,15 million for the projects and explained they will leverage $10,25 million in shared costs for a total project value of $17,5 million in the areas of electricity, storage, sustainable transportation, and others.
According to the report, the projects build on a long story of energy cooperation between the U.S. and Israel; it will serve as a bridge from both nations to keep developing disruptive innovation mainly for renewable energy, energy storage, and even cybersecurity among other areas.
“The BIRD Energy program fosters collaboration between U.S. and Israeli companies that have produced real innovations in renewable energy and energy efficiency. This partnership continues to build bilateral relationships that will benefit our economies and environment for years to come,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette in a statement.
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Projects tight the bond between U.S. and Israel
The report underlines that since origin, the BIRD energy program has funded more than 50 projects; including those announced on Monday, for a total investment of $42 million in addition to other $55 million in funds paired by the private sector.
Some of the approved projects are, the development of high-power, high-capacity solid-state batteries with novel electrode components, by Addionics IL and Saint-Gobain Ceramics & Plastics; the development of l ow-cost fuel cell system based on hydroxide exchange membranes, by POCellTech and W7energy LLC; and the development of next generation heat and power solutions, by TurboGen and En-Power Group.
“I am proud of the successful collaboration between Israeli and U.S. companies, which is based on mutual trust and groundbreaking innovation in the energy market. I hope that these R&D projects will bring us closer to an efficient and clean energy market. Government investment in R&D is important to help reach these goals, and as a recovery tool from the Corona virus crisis we are experiencing now,” said Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s Minister of Energy.
