The University of Washington’s Clean Energy Institute (CEI) will work to develop more efficient and cost effective solar power and energy storage systems.
Launched last week, the Institute was allocated USD $6 million for its development by Washington’s governor and lawmakers. The funding will support the Institute’s first two years. Around half of the funding in the first year will go toward developing lab space and new instrumentation.
“Our goal is to create record-breaking solar energy efficiencies, low-cost processing and the integrated systems that will make solar power the cornerstone of a new clean energy economy,” said Professor Daniel Schwartz, who is director of the Institute.
“Solar energy is the one resource that can truly scale up going forward, but we need to be smart about the whole energy system to help it happen.”
The Institute’s Advanced Materials for Energy (AME) researchers will focus on developing low-cost novel organic and inorganic materials for solar energy and storage, as well developing methods for production for commercial production.
“Our basic approach is to design and synthesize new materials with sophisticated molecular and nanometer-scale control of structure and composition. This level of control leads to outstanding energy harvesting and storage properties and breakthrough device performance,” states the CEI site.
Another branch of the CEI will focus on Energy Systems & Integration (ESI), where researchers will develop innovative software and hardware tools to accelerate the integration of solar energy and storage with systems and the mains grid.
“I am very pleased that this institute can help germinate and see the fruition of intellectual talent and put that to work right here at the University of Washington,” said Washington Governor, Jay Inslee. “This is the culmination of a multi-decadal dream I’ve had, and to see it come to pass it just a huge delight.”
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