DSC R&D gets funding in Singapore
Eight teams get $10m grants for clean energy research projects
Source: StraightTimes, Singapore, July 4, 2008
http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/STIStory_254527.html
EIGHT teams have been awarded grants totalling S$10 million under the Clean Energy Research Programme (CERP). Their proposals span a wide range of technologies in the solar energy field, said the Clean Energy Programme Office (CEPO) on Friday. This includes R&D in the various main classes of solar energy, including purification of solar-grade silicon used in conventional wafer-based solar cells, thin-film photovoltaics (PV), novel PV technologies such as dye-sensitised solar cells, and high-efficiency concentrator solar cells.
The international Project Evaluation Panel members were pleased with the high quality of the selected projects, said a statement from Cepo. Professor Andrew Blakers, one of the foreign panel members and Director of the Australian Research Council Centre for Solar Energy Systems said: 'They demonstrate internationally competitive science from strong teams led by skilled researchers. All will contribute to the international effort to replace greenhouse-emitting energy sources with clean renewable energy.'
Cepo's executive director Ko Kheng Hwa, who is also Managing Director of the Economic Development Board, said the grants will give a further boost to the strong growth momentum in our fledging solar industry. The Clean Energy Research Programme was launched by Cepo last October to accelerate research and development efforts to help drive the growth of the Clean Energy industry in Singapore.
This $50 million initiative supports both upstream and downstream commercially-relevant R&D efforts through a competitive project funding approach.
The eight research proposals awarded funding are:
* Computational Tools for Optimal Planning and Scheduling of Distributed Renewable
Energy Sources (National University of Singapore)
* Development of Flexible Dye Sensitized Solar Cells for Commercial Applications
(NUS and Nanyang Technological University)
* Development of New Prototypes of High Performance Quantum Dots
Excitonic Solar Cells (NUS)
* High Efficiency Multijunction III-V Solar Cell Technology for Terrestrial
Photovoltaic Application (NTU)
* Innovative Processes for Low-cost Solar-grade Silicon Purification
(Sinomem Technology Limited)
* Low Cost, Microcrystalline Silicon Thin-Film Solar Cells via Advanced
Plasma Processing (NTU)
* Multifunctional Photovoltaic Facades with Integrated Innovative Thinfilm and
Selected Emerging PV Technologies for Energy Generation and Conservation (NUS)