DES MOINES, Iowa—The Iowa Energy Center (IEC) announced slightly over $2.6 million in grants for 10 projects at last Thursday’s IEC board meeting. The awarded projects assist in the implementation of the Iowa Energy Plan and are the first awards since the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) began administering the IEC. Eight of the 10 projects were submitted through Iowa State University.
The IEC Grant program is funded by Iowa ratepayers, customers who pay for an electric or natural gas utility service through a local electric and/or gas utility. These funds enable eligible applicants to pursue projects that align with one of the seven key focus areas of the Iowa Energy Plan.
“The Grant program has spurred organizations to submit projects that will keep Iowa at the forefront of energy innovation,” said Debi Durham, director of IEDA and the Iowa Finance Authority. “Energy is an integral component of our economy and provides us with the opportunity to enhance the state’s competitive advantage for our ongoing economic development efforts.”
The IEC received 61 pre-applications, totaling over $21 million in funding requests. Nineteen projects, requesting more than $5 million, were selected to complete a full application. Applications were reviewed and scored by a subcommittee of the IEC board members based on alignment with the Iowa Energy Plan, the ratepayer benefit provided, project goals, programmatic capabilities of the applicant and collaboration efforts with other eligible applicants, among other criteria.
“The IEC recognizes the importance of supporting both ratepayers and the Iowa Energy Plan,” said IEC Board Chair Tim Whipple. “The funded projects focus on a variety of areas, from research and development of new technologies to biomass conversion.”
Thursday’s awards follow the announcement in March that the IEC would offer newly concepted grant and loan programs to facilitate energy-related economic development in Iowa. Alternate Energy Revolving Loan Program recipients are expected to be announced in the fall.
The IEC, transferred to IEDA by legislative mandate in October 2017, is overseen by a governor-appointed board composed of representatives from academia, state government and the utilities. The list of current IEC Board members is available here. For more information on the IEC, visit iowaeconomicdevelopment.com.
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Organization
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Project
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Award
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Iowa State University
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Smart Peak Power Avoidance for Reducing Grid Demand in Poultry Facilities
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$263,070
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Baldridge Environmental Services, LLC
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Wastewater Case Studies to Prove Ratepayer Benefits in Underserved Iowa Communities
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$140,000
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Iowa State University
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New Paradigm to Solve Unit Commitment and Optimal Power Flow Problems
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$244,367
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Iowa State University
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Strategies for Building Soil Carbon and Generating Carbon Negative Energy in Iowa Communities
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$280,000
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Iowa State University
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Wind Turbines in Cold Winter: Icing Physics and Novel Strategies for Wind Turbine Icing Mitigation
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$303,587
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Iowa State University
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Development of Low Cost, Safe and High Performance Sodium Batteries for Wind Energy Storage
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$480,656
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University of Northern Iowa
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Utility Workforce Assessment and Strategy Planning
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$129,293
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Iowa State University
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Toolkit for Identification, Characterization and Energy Evaluation of Low-Efficiency Rural Housing
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$287,354
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Iowa State University
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Distributed Solar and Wind Power Generation Planning in Rural and Underserved Areas
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$243,036
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Iowa State University
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Shared Micro Phasor Measurement Units (uPMU) for Data-Driven, Real-Time Distribution Monitoring, Modeling and Analysis
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$290,400
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(contributed press release)
