'BIRD Energy' Announces $3.6 Million in Cooperative Clean Energy Projects

The approved projects involve innovations in the areas of wind, fuel cells and energy storage

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Jan 14, 2014, 07:15 ET

TEL AVIV, Israel, January 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Israel's Ministry of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources (MEW) have selected four projects to receive $3.6 million under the 2013 Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Energy program. Each of the cooperative projects includes a U.S. and Israeli partner and addresses energy challenges and opportunities of interest to both countries, while focusing on commercializing clean energy technologies that improve our economic competitiveness, create jobs, and support innovative companies. The selected projects will leverage private sector cost-share for a total project value of $8.8 million.

This partnership between Israel and the United States began as a result of the U.S. Israel Cooperation in Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and the Israeli Government approval of the program in 2008. This is the fifth round of funding provided by BIRD Energy since its establishment in 2009.

Projects that qualify for BIRD Energy funding must include one U.S. and one Israeli company or a company and a university or research institution, one from Israel and one from the U.S. The companies must present a project which involves innovation in the area of energy and is of mutual interest to both countries.

Dr. Eitan Yudilevich, Executive Director of BIRD said: "BIRD Energy is a unique program that actively engages in matchmaking activities to create alternative energy and energy efficiency partnerships between Israeli and American companies. The funding provided to the companies accelerates the development and commercialization of their technologies. We already see sales from projects that we have supported over the last 5 years."

The four approved projects include:

EnStorage (Yavne, Israel) and Princeton Power Systems, Inc. (Lawrenceville, NJ), will develop a next generation energy storage system for uninterrupted supply.
GenCell (Petach Tikva, Israel) and Innovative Machine Corp. (Birmingham, AL), will collaborate on the development and industrialization of a new cathode for a next generation electrochemical fuel cell generator.
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems (Haifa, Israel) and Aquion Energy, (Pittsburgh, PA), will develop an advanced energy system for remote off-grid systems.
Winflex (Kibbutz Moran, Israel) and GE (Niskayuna, NY), will collaborate on the development of a wind turbine generator with an inflatable rotor.