NY-BEST Newsletter 10-7-2011

The 1st NY-BEST Regional Technology Conference will be held on November 15th and 16th in Rochester NY. The meeting is designed to bring university researchers and energy storage industry leaders together to promote and accelerate commercialization efforts in New York State. The event will start with a networking reception and poster session on the evening of the 15th and will continue with a series of presentations on the 16th. Leading researchers from Alfred, Cornell, RIT, the University of Rochester, the University of Buffalo, and SUNY Binghamton will be presenting results from their current and on-going work. The full agenda for the conference and registration information can be found here.

As incentive for participation in the poster session, I'm pleased to announce that NY-BEST will award an iPad2 to the top poster presentation at the conference. Please help spread the word!

I wanted to offer a word of thanks to the many members who responded so quickly to our request earlier this week for statements of support for the NY-BEST Product Commercialization Center project. Given the relatively short timeframe for this request, we've been very pleased with the quality and number of responses. Thank you to those who rose to the call!

Best regards,

William Acker
Executive Director

NY-BEST members received information in this newsletter about funding opportunities. Becoming a member is easy and economical. Visit http://www.ny-best.org/MembershipForm for more information.

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NYSERDA awards $1M to Paper Battery Co.
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) awarded $1 million to Paper Battery Company of Troy $1 million on Monday to continue development of an energy-storage device that is as thin as a sheet of paper.

Fast rechargeable zinc-polymer battery
The PolyZion project will create a new class of fast rechargeable zinc-polymer batteries for hybrid and small electric vehicle applications. The research program combines fundamental material and process advances in ionic liquids, rechargeable zinc electrodes, ultra-fast pulse charge injection techniques, and conducting polymers, with the construction of prototype battery units for industry standard testing.

GE Global Research, RPI share in $4.5M federal grant
GE Global Research in Niskayuna, New York, has received two energy grants totaling $5.3 million through the U.S. Department of Energy, one of which will involve collaboration with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy.

GE may lease vehicle batteries for electric cars
General Electric Co may lease costly vehicle batteries to electric-car buyers, joining other companies looking to get more people to buy alternative-energy automobiles.

Department of Energy awards $156 million for groundbreaking energy research projects
Arun Majumdar, Director of the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), today announced 60 cutting-edge research projects aimed at dramatically improving how the U.S. produces and uses energy.

Chrysler Group LLC Providing Central Hudson Gas & Electric and the National Grid New York With Test Fleet of PHEV Ram 1500 Pickup Trucks
Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) will be supplied to Central Hudson Gas & Electric and the National Grid New York as part of a demonstration project by Chrysler Group LLC. The battery packs in these vehicles are supplied by Electrovaya, a NY-BEST member company.

Rensselaer Engineers “Cook” Promising New Heat-Harvesting Material
Waste heat is a byproduct of nearly all electrical devices and industrial processes, from driving a car to flying an aircraft or operating a power plant. Engineering researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed new nanomaterials that could lead to techniques for better capturing and putting this waste heat to work.

Researchers debut glass reactor to study battery materials synthesis
A team of Brookhaven National Laboratory researchers has fabricated a new transparent chemical reactor vessel that may give scientists in many fields a window into real-time chemistry.

Saft launches industrial production at Jacksonville lithium-ion battery plant
Saft has inaugurated the world's most advanced automated lithium-ion battery factory, in Jacksonville, Florida. This high-volume, state-of-the-art production facility is dedicated to building advanced lithium-ion cells and batteries for energy storage for renewable energy, smart grid support, broadband back-up power, transportation and defense.

RCV (refuse collection vehicles) specialist Dennis Eagle is about to ship its first diesel-electric hybrid truck, powered by BAE Systems' new parallel hybrid powertrain.
The truck, seen for the first time at last week's RWM (Recycling Waste Management) show, at the NEC, will go to an unnamed local authority – one of Dennis Eagle's existing customers – on full fleet road trials in the next few days.

Samsung SDI: To Supply Energy Storage System To Nichicon From 1st Half 2012
South Korea's Samsung SDI Co. (006400.SE) said Thursday it signed an agreement with Japan's Nichicon Corp. (6996.TO) to start supplying energy storage systems to Japanese households from the first half of next year.

Energy Storage firm Ice Energy raises $24 Million
Colorado-based Ice Energy (IE) has raised $24 Million in a Series C funding round from TIAA-CREF. Existing investors Energy Capital Partners, Good Energies, SAIL Ventures and Second Avenue Partners also participated in the round. Founded in 2003, the firm develops ice-based energy storage and air conditioning (AC) systems.)

Nissan Leaf, GE partner on electric-car grid research
Nissan and General Electric are partnering to research ways for electric vehicles such as Nissan's Leaf to connect with homes and electric grids, the companies said Friday.

LG to invest nearly $7 billion in E.V. batteries, green business
LG Electronics will invest almost $7 billion in its new green business ventures which includes promoting the use of electric vehicle batteries and light-emitting diodes.

RIT Researchers Study Battery Recycling
Researchers at the Golisano Institute for Sustainability have received grants to study recycling of rechargeable lithium ion batteries found in cell phones, laptops, and portable power tools.

For more news about NY-BEST and NY-BEST members click here.

Dow & Argonne National Laboratory Collaborating on New Battery Materials
The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a multi-year research collaboration to jointly develop the next generation of materials for advanced battery technologies.

For more news about New York's Battery & Energy Storage Community click here.

Ten-minute charge makes battery spectacle at CEATEC
CEATEC Japan, the Tokyo event focused on new devices in electronics and IT, opens this week with lots of pre-buzz circling around a little gadget that keeps smartphones from dying, courtesy of NTT DoCoMo and NEC. Engadget seeded the interest after visiting NTT DoCoMo’s booth to examine an NTT smartphone battery. The charge takes only ten minutes. The battery lives in an external pack.

China's Largest and First Environmentally-friendly Battery Storage Station is in Service
China Southern Power Grid (CSG) -- the second largest utility company in the world -- has completed construction of China's largest battery energy storage station (ESS) as well as the World's first megawatt-level, grid-connected, environmentally-friendly, Iron-phosphate (Fe) battery storage station for commercial use, integrating BYD technology.

A Way to Boost Battery Storage
A stretchy binder material that's compatible with existing factories could help electric vehicles and portable electronics go 30 percent longer.

New Battery Could Be Just What the Grid Ordered
Utilities need cheap, long-lasting ways to store the excess energy produced by power plants, especially as intermittent power from solar and wind farms is added to the mix. Unfortunately, the batteries available for grid-level storage are either too expensive or don't last for the thousands of cycles needed to make them cost-effective.

Virtual lithium mine attaches to geothermal plant
Simbol Materials today started operations at a plant in California that extracts lithium and other battery materials without having to dig new holes in the ground.

LG to invest nearly $7 billion in E.V. batteries, green business
LG Electronics will invest almost $7 billion in its new green business ventures which includes promoting the use of electric vehicle batteries and light-emitting diodes.

Development boosts lithium-ion battery power by 8-fold
Researchers at Berkeley have developed a new kind of anode polymer can absorb eight times the lithium of current designs.

Is hydrogen the future of motoring?
The opening of the UK's first public refuelling station for hydrogen vehicles in Swindon is part of efforts to create a "hydrogen highway" along the M4 motorway.

Nissan teams up with suppliers to speed up EV charging infrastructure
Nissan has teamed up with leading European utility and electrical vehicle supply equipment companies to speed development of cheaper, smaller, quick chargers for electric vehicle batteries across Europe.

Fighting Backlog in Patents, Senate Approves Overhaul
The Senate approved a sweeping reform of the nation’s patent laws on Thursday, sending to President Obama a bill that changes the system for determining priority for inventions at the patent office and provides more financing for an agency beset by application backlogs and outdated computer systems.

Dipping May Improve Ultracapacitors and Batteries
A simple trick could improve the ability of advanced ultracapacitors, or supercapacitors, to store charge. The technique, developed by Stanford University researchers, could enable the use of new types of nanostructured electrode materials that store more energy.

For more news articles from beyond New York State click here.

This news update is provided as a service to members and interested parties of the New York Battery and Energy Storage Technology Consortium. NY-BEST is an industry-led coalition working to build a vibrant, world-class, advanced battery and energy storage sector in New York State.

Your suggestions and comments for future topics are welcome.

Please email suggestions to: info@ny-best.org