The Biden administration announced a new investment in solar thermal power projects. The Department of Energy (DOE) allocated $33 million to nine different initiatives aimed at harnessing solar energy more efficiently.
“Under the Biden–Harris Administration, DOE continues to invest in the next-generation solar technologies we need to tackle the climate crisis and ensure American scientific innovation remains the envy of the world,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in a statement. “With today’s announcement, DOE is supporting projects that will harness the sun’s energy to power NASA space missions, beer and wine production, and everything in between.”
Unlike traditional solar panels that use photovoltaic (PV) technology to convert sunlight directly into energy, solar thermal power collects sunlight and transforms it into heat, which is then stored and converted into electricity. This method is approximately three times more efficient at harvesting energy from the sun.
The largest grant from the DOE’s solar thermal funding announcement is a $7 million grant awarded to Firestone Walker Brewery in California. The brewery plans to use solar thermal energy to generate the steam necessary for brewing its IPAs and other beers.
Other notable projects receiving funding include a $6 million grant to Premiere Resource Management. The group intends to build a solar power plant that will store thermal energy in retired fracking sites. Additionally, the DOE granted researchers at West Virginia University and NASA $5 million to develop a clean form of hydrogen using solar thermal power.
The DOE aimed to reduce the costs associated with solar thermal technology. It hopes that these projects will help make it more widespread. Currently, the costs need to fall by about half to make the technology financially feasible.
This funding announcement comes as part of a broader clean energy push by the federal government, which has directed $6 billion towards renewable energy projects in the month of July alone. The White House is likely to increase spending in the final months of President Joe Biden’s term. Some of the administration’s key pieces of legislation allow for tens of billions of dollars in funds that still need to be allocated to clean energy projects.