U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, recently announced with Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) the award of USD 1.9M in federal grant money to advance new solar technologies. The grants were awarded through the Department of Energys (DOE) Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energys Solar Energy Technologies Office, which aims to support research projects that will lower solar energy costs, strengthen the manufacturing of solar technology and harden the cybersecurity of solar systems.
Of the USD 1.9M that was awarded, USD 1.2M will be allocated to the University of New Hampshire in support of a project aiming to increase access to solar technologies in low-income communities through the expansion of solar finance training for personnel of community finance institutions. The DOE will award USD 700,000 to Hamptons Brayton Energy, which will support research efforts by the company to optimize heat exchangers to withstand mechanical stress. These heat exchangers are critical for the cooling of concentrating solar-thermal power plants, which operate under very high temperatures.