DETROIT – NextEnergy has awarded $295,000 in Michigan Accelerating
Technology Energy Grant funds to three Michigan companies – Navitas Advanced
Solutions Group, REL and Temper.
The MATch Energy Grant provides matching funds, or
cost-share, as well as funding for follow-on commercialization projects, to
eligible Michigan businesses and universities applying for federal funding in
the area of advanced energy. Launched in 2012 with funding from the Michigan
Economic Development Corporation, the MATch Energy Grant directly supports the
commercialization process for applied research projects.
“While there are multiple sources of funding for advanced
energy research, development and demonstration projects, businesses often
struggle to come up with matching funds,” said NextEnergy President & CEO,
Jean Redfield. “The MATch Energy Grant allows us to provide this critical support
to deserving organizations, which then helps Michigan companies transform
federal funding into job growth for the state of Michigan.”
Navitas Advanced Solutions Group earned a $20,000 MATch
grant to support their research on new electrode coating and microwave drying
processes for advanced battery cell assembly and production. The grant supports
a sub-award through the DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Office. Navitas Advanced
Solutions Group is based in Ann Arbor and serves as the research and
development arm of Navitas Systems – a battery pack system integrator for
mobile, military and grid applications, with extensive experience in
development and small-scale manufacturing of unique battery materials.
REL, a research and development company located in Calumet with extensive capabilities in advanced composite materials, has earned a
$175,000 in cost-share and commercialization support for the development of a
conformable natural gas tank that can be integrated into the body of a vehicle.
The development would eliminate the need to utilize cargo space for gas
storage, potentially enabling widespread adoption of compressed natural gas
automobiles. The grant supports an award through the U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE)’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy’s Methane Opportunities for
Vehicular Energy (MOVE) program.
Temper earned $100,000 in MATch Energy Grant
commercialization project funds to develop a more energy-efficient molding
process for thermoplastic composites. Temper is based in Rockford, and focuses on automotive process and tooling research. The grant supports
Temper’s work on a project with Boeing funded through the DOE’s Advanced
Manufacturing Office.
