Clean Power Blog

New Year, New ARPA-tunities

Marissa Amenta

Investment Fellow

Jan 26, 2015

Kicking off the New Year, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) has issued an exciting new Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA): OPEN 2015!

At $125 million, this FOA is big news for innovative energy technologies being developed nationwide. The announcement marks the third open funding solicitation in ARPA-E’s history, and is designed to support the advancement of new, potentially disruptive, energy technologies in the U.S.

Late last year, ARPA-E and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center signed a partnership agreement to foster the success of Massachusetts-based applicants who are entering, working through and graduating from the ARPA-E program.  In support of this partnership and in order to increase the competiveness of these applications, MassCEC launched a new program, AmplifyMass, that provides up to 10 percent of the total project budget for company awardees (capped at $300,000), and up to 5 percent for university-based awardees (capped at $100,000).

Since 2010, MassCEC has provided over $2.3 million in matching funds to seven Massachusetts-based ARPA-E awardees, including 1366 Technologies, Ogin, FastCAP, MIT and INFINIUM. Awardees have gone on to raise more than $290 million in additional funding, and hire more than 280 employees.

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A Prize for an Idea

Lindsay McCallum

Communications Fellow

Dec 17, 2014

It’s a good time to be a student or clean energy innovator – but it’s a great time to be both.

On Dec. 2, 2014, MassCEC hosted the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Clean Energy Prize (CEP) Boston kickoff event at our office in Downtown Crossing. The event brought together the organizing team of the CEP, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, past winners and students eager to participate.

The MIT CEP gives university students from across the United States the opportunity to compete for over $300,000 in prizes. A student-organized business plan competition, the CEP focuses on three tracks for entries: Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy and Infrastructure & Resources. Student teams with ideas or technologies in these fields are encouraged to participate.

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Mapping Wind Energy in Massachusetts

Matthew Dwyer

Commonwealth Wind Fellow

Dec 16, 2014

With the recent completion of a wind turbine project at the Lynn Water and Sewer Commission, Massachusetts is now up to 107 megawatts of installed wind capacity, enough to power more than 32,000 average households here in the Commonwealth.

Now you can learn about the Lynn project and others in an interactive map we've created to allow users to explore wind projects in Massachusetts. Simply click on any wind turbine to see an overview of the project, including details such as the height and power generation capacity, and support the projects have received from MassCEC.

In 2006, there were only about 3 megawatts of wind power installed in Massachusetts. Today there is over 107 megawatts installed at 130 projects across the Commonwealth with more projects expected in the future.

Through our Commonwealth Wind Program, MassCEC has played an integral role in helping these projects come online by providing technical services, loans, and grant funding to projects in various stages of completion. These projects encompass turbines of all sizes, ranging from micro scale to commercial scale, and are owned by public and private entities.

As wind energy becomes more popular here in the Commonwealth, MassCEC will continue to help developers and communities assess sites, fund promising projects and keep the turbine blades spinning.

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