US, Israel commit $27m to 9 clean energy projects through BIRD scheme

In a collaborative effort, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Israel’s Ministry of Energy (MoE), and the Israel Innovation Authority have greenlit nine clean energy initiatives with a combined value of $27 million. The projects, falling under the Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Energy program, will receive $9.75 million in cost-share funding. The focus areas encompass agrivoltaics, battery technology, CO2 reduction, energy efficiency, solar energy, and energy storage.

Selected Projects Include:

Advanced flexible thin film coatings for high-capacity anodes.
Rollable solar awning is suitable for various applications.
Solutions for soil carbon sequestration targeting corn and soybean crops.
Ocean-based carbon dioxide removal technology for the desalination industry.
Tar cracking system for gasification projects.
AI-driven SaaS platform for monitoring and reducing IT carbon footprint.
Electric motor tailored for smaller eVTOL aircraft.
Water-energy agri-voltaic mounting system for rainwater collection and irrigation.
Compressed air energy storage solution incorporating wind turbine towers.

BIRD Energy, initiated in 2009, aims to boost collaborative research and development between the U.S. and Israel in sustainable energy technologies. Over 60 projects have been funded to date, with a total government investment of about $50 million, leveraging approximately $927 million in private-sector investment.