Energy Commission Funds Four ETAP Projects


Research on alternative energy production received a boost today as the California Energy
 Commission chose four projects to receive funding under this year's Energy Technologies
 Advancement Program, or ETAP.  

A total of $1.43 million was awarded to the four projects; three of which focus on
 developing renewable energy resources, including solar and biomass.  The four
participating companies are putting up a total of more than $4.3 million in matching funds.

All four projects are repayable research contracts. The amounts "loaned" are repaid
 through royalties once the company generates revenue as a result of the co-funded project
The projects being funded are listed below with a contact at each of the companies.


Powerlight Company
POWERGUARDª: Photovoltaic Commercial/Industrial Roofing Assembly

Commission funding:	$354,637	Match funding:	$617,590

Powerlight Company (located in Berkeley), in association with Advanced Photovoltaic
Systems Inc. of Fairfield, Calif., the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, T. Clear
 Corporation, the Western Area Power Administration and the U.S. Department of
Energy's Energy-Related Inventions Program, will be designing, fabricating and testing a
 building-integrated photovoltaic (PV) roof assembly.  

The product called POWERGUARDª is designed for commercial and industrial use. The
 assembly serves multiple functions as a solar-electricity generator for a building, roof 
ballast, roof insulation, and weather protector for a building's roof membrane.

A primary advantage of the POWERGUARDª system is that a significant fraction of the
 cost of the PV system can be offset by avoided costs of building materials and
construction labor.  

No known product exists that offers features similar to POWERGUARDª.  Thus,
production by a California company can help maintain technical competitiveness in 
area and can create a significant export market for the product.

Once the technology penetrates the commercial and industrial markets, prospective
 POWERGUARDª users could purchase more than 390 megawatts per year nationally 
 and more than 30 megawatts per year in California alone.

For more informationÉ
Contact: Thomas Dinwoodle - 510-525-9495
Davis Energy Group Incorporated
"Free Siphon" Solar Water Heater

Commission funding: 	$296,300	Match funding:	$322,200

This repayable research contract co-funds the development and field testing of a low-cost,
 high-performance residential thermosiphon solar water heating system, called the
 "FreeSiphon."

Davis Energy Group (located in Davis, Calif.), in association with Heliodyne Incorporated 
of Richmond, Calif., and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), will design, 
fabricate, install and monitor ten "FreeSiphon" solar water heaters.

The Davis Energy Group's system combines the solar collector and water storage in a "flat
 pack" design similar to a flat plate solar collector but without the need for the cylindrical 
storage tank.  The design also incorporates an advanced absorber and thermosiphon 
collector flow with a well-insulated water storage chamber.

The design concepts and the materials proposed to be used in the "FreeSiphon" system
 promise to dramatically reduce the installed cost of solar water heating systems, the
 primary barrier to their widespread usage.  Davis Energy Group's target retail price for the
system is $1,130, based on volume production costs.  This price represents the lowest
 price available for solar water heaters.

SMUD's Solar Program has a goal of equipping 10,000 homes with solar water heaters by
 the year 2000.  The utility is currently offering a direct rebate of $836 for the installation of
 a solar water heater.

Widespread use of this technology throughout California and elsewhere will provide
 significant benefits to the state. This project will create a new product that can be volume
 manufactured in California, resulting in jobs and economic benefits.

Additionally, using the sun's "free energy" will annually displace the use of 2,800 
kilowatt/hours worth of electricity for each "FreeSiphon" system.  Reducing electricity
 production means a decrease in air pollution. Using the current electric generating mixture
 for regional power plants, each "FreeSiphon" system would reduce emissions of nitrogen
 oxides by 12 pounds per year, and sulfur dioxide emissions would be reduced by five
 pounds per year.

For more informationÉ
Contact: Richard C. Bourne - 916-753-1100

* * * * *

Acurex Environmental Corporation
Producing Methanol from Biomass Using the Hynol Process

Commission funding:	$585,210	Match Funding:	$3,241,194

This project will develop a prototype system for producing methanol from various
 biomass residues.  California generates about 47 million tons of biomass residues per year 
and currently uses only about seven million tons per year, mostly for generating electricity
in biomass-fired power plants.  Also, there are approximately 20 to 25 million tons of 
municipal solid waste generated each year, which can possibly be used for producing
 methanol.

Methanol is produced now from a process that uses natural gas as a feedstock.  Using
 biomass would give methanol a renewable feedstock.  In addition, development of another 
product for the $2 billion California biomass energy industry could help sustain an industry 
that is facing possible financial problems associated with current low electricity rates.

This project will demonstrate the technical feasibility a methanol synthesis system called 
the Hynol process.  The Commission's funds will develop a new approach for cleansing
 the biomass hot gases used to produce methanol fuel. Technical data obtained from this 
project will be used to design a full-scale methanol production facility.

The Hynol process is based on thermochemical gasification and methanol synthesis and 
was originally developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory.  The prototype system will
 be constructed and tested at the University of California at Riverside.

Joining Acurex Environmental (located in Mountain View, Calif.) in the project are Hynol
Corporation, the University of California Riverside's College of Engineering Center for 
Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT), the U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the U.S. Department of 
Defense.  

For more informationÉ
Contact: Stefan Unnasch, Acurex Environmental - 415-254-2413

* * * * *

Applied Utility Systems Incorporated
Ultra-Low NOx Burner

Commission funding:	$200,000	Match funding:	$200,456

This project will develop, test and demonstrate a burner system for industrial and utility
 boilers that produces ultra-low levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx).

Currently, the process used to reduce NOx emissions from industrial and utility boilers
 involves combustion staging and using external flue gas recirculation. This process's
 technology is less fuel efficient and more expensive to install than the new technology
 proposed by Applied Utility Systems Incorporated (AUS). 

Located in Irvine, AUS will be developing a burner with internal flue gas recirculation
 based on an existing low-NOx burner technology made by Hamworthy, a British firm.
  AUS hopes to reduce the levels of NOx from 25 parts per million (ppm) with the current 
burner to about 10 to 15 ppm with the new ultra-low NOx design.

The project will have three main benefits:

1)	Provide high-efficiency combustion to minimize fuel costs
2)	Provide low-cost compliance with NOx emission regulations by reducing or 
eliminating the need for costly post combustion NOx control technology
3)	Significantly improve NOx emission reduction technology and lower capital,
 operational and maintenance costs below the current NOx emission reduction options

The cost goal for this technology is $300 per ton of NOx removed, which represents 60 percent of the cost of state-of-the-art low-NOx burner technology.

For more informationÉ
Contact: M.N. Mansour - 714-852-3950


* * * * *


The Energy Commission's Energy Technologies Advancement Program was established by the Legislature to assist California energy research and development companies in making energy technologies more efficient or cost-effective and develop alternative sources of energy. 

ETAP leverages funds from private companies toward each project.  Since being established by the Rosenthal-Naylor Act in 1984 (and including this year's four repayable research contracts), ETAP has funded 68 projects totaling more than $23 million, with project sponsors providing more than $137.4 million in matching funds.  The projects, to date, have provided research, development and manufacturing jobs and more than $7.4 million in tax revenues to local and state government.


For more information about ETAP and the California Energy Commission contact:

Bob Aldrich
Information Officer, California Energy Commission - 916-654-4993


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