If all you know about Sweden is ABBA and those little red gummi fish, read no further. We wouldn't want to confuse you with news that the U.S. Department of Energy and the Swedish Energy Agency are partnering to work on plug-in hybrids. The two agencies signed a Memorandum of Understanding two days ago that will allow staff from the Argonne National Laboratory to "work with Test Site Sweden to investigate PHEV instrumentation and smart charging systems, and how they interact with the electrical grid; track and evaluate consumer behavior while testing the vehicles in the field; quantify national, utility, and customer benefits; and plan and develop convenient public charging stations." This is a one year program that will cost $1m, to be split evenly between the DOE and the SEA.

Last year, the DOE began working with Sweden on biomass production and other green vehicle technologies. There is a list of other DOE partnerships with European countries here and you can download a PDF of the agreement with Sweden.

[Source: DOE]

Late last week, the U.S. Department of Energy picked three cellulosic ethanol projects as recipients of up to $86m in federal funding for fiscal years 2008-2011. These "small-scale biorefinery projects" are located in Maine, Tennessee and Kentucky and are intended to bring "cost-competitive" second-generation ethanol to market by 2012 (the plants will also make other bio-based chemicals and products). DOE Secretary Samuel Bodman said the projects would help President Bush reach his goal of stopping greenhouse gas emissions growth by 2025. The three winners are:

• RSE Pulp & Chemical of Old Town, Maine. (DOE share: up to $30 million.) This plant will use a wood extract made at an existing pulp mill.
  
• Mascoma Corporation of Boston, Massachusetts Proposed Plant in Vonore, Tennessee. (DOE share: up to $26 million.) The source here will be switchgrass and will be the largest cellulosic ethanol plant in Tennessee.
  
• Ecofin, LLC, of Nicholasville, Kentucky. (DOE share: up to $30 million.) Ecofin will use a variety of feedstocks, including corncobs, in this plant.
  

You can read more about the awards at the DOE website.

[Source: DOE]

The U.S. Department of Energy announced the recipients of the department's first round of cellulosic ethanol biorefinery project funding yesterday. Four small-scale projects will share $114 million of federal funds. The grantees are:

• ICM Incorporated of Colwich, Kansas will get up to $30 million for a plant to be built in St. Joseph, Missouri.
• Lignol Innovations Inc., of Berwyn, Pennsylvania will get up to $30 million for a proposed plant, to be built next to a petroleum refinery, in Commerce City, Colorado.
• Pacific Ethanol Inc., of Sacramento, California, will get up to $24.3 million for a plant coming to Boardman, Oregon.
• Stora Enso, North America, of Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin will get up to $30 million for a plant in Wisconsin Rapids.

These plants will use a staggering variety of biofuelstocks: corn fiber, corn stover, switchgrass, sorghum, hard and soft wood residues, agricultural and forest product residues, and wood waste. You can read more details on each of these plants at the DOE website.

One interesting aspect of the DOE's announcement is that there was an "overwhelming response" to the solicitation for proposals and so the DOE will be offering a second round of funding this spring that will bring the DOE's funding to $200m. We know that GM and Coskata will be applying for some of these second-round grants. We'll be keeping an eye on who else applies and then wins.

Related:

• KL Process Design Group to supply cellulosic ethanol for ALMS
• Detroit 2008: GM and Coskata announce worldwide cellulosic ethanol partnership

[Source: DOE]

The exact wording of the DOE's statement says that the "DOE will participate in a cooperative, pre-competitive research and development alliance – known as the U.S. Automotive Partnership for Advancing Research & Technologies – or USAutoPARTs. ... This $30 million Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) seeks projects that will find solutions to improving battery performance so vehicles can deliver up to 40 miles of electric range without recharging, and address critical barriers to achieving DOE's goal of making PHEVs cost-competitive by 2014 and ready for commercialization by 2016."

Let's see: $60 million in the next three years for cars that will be out in eight. Not bad. More and sooner is certainly going to be heard somewhere on the Internet, but this is certainly good news.

[Source: DOE, AP]

The money just keeps on flowing from the U.S. Department of Energy to alternative energy companies. If we're just talking about Bioenergy Research Centers (BRCs), the DOE has invested over $400 million (over five years), now that $30 million in new funding was announced yesterday. Those BRCs are at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Madison, Wisconsin; and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory near Berkeley, California. BRCs are responsible for a lot of the cellulosic ethanol and other biofuel research is going on, especially work to make it commercially viable on a national scale. We're talking about studying plant fibers breaking down into sugars, the ethanol potential of poplar trees and switchgrass, turning rice into biofuel and "exploring microbial-based synthesis of fuels beyond ethanol." If only the DOE could fund a time machine to get these technologies ready now.

[Source: DOE]

Earlier this month, the Department of Energy signed an agreement with China's Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) that has the potential to play quite a role in the future of greener driving. After all, last year China moved into second place for buying vehicles and third in producing them. According to the DOE, this new five-year agreement binds the partners to "support the large-scale deployment of electric, hybrid-electric, fuel cell, and alternative fuel vehicles in both countries."

What does that mean, exactly? Lots. "DOE and MOST will focus on advanced batteries, alternating current motor control systems, fast charging batteries, advanced materials for vehicle systems, and vehicle charging and fueling infrastructure. The United States and China plan to conduct information exchanges, joint studies, technology demonstrations, and training sessions through collaborations with national laboratories, automotive industries, and other private industries involved in energy efficient transportation." It'd be easier to remember the green car angles this agreement doesn't cover. Biofuels, for one, but China is working on that , too.

[Source: DOE]