05-04-12 BPU RPT 06 - Laserfiche WebLink

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W A T E R E N E R G Y l i f F RIVERSIDE PUBLIC UTILITIES wow km W& Board Memorandum PUBLIC UTILITIES BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIES DATE: May 4, 2912 ITEM NO: 6 SUBJECT: SEIZING OUR DESTINY - THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE'S PROPOSAL_ FOR THE RIVERSIDE PUBLIC UTILITIES' ENERGY INNOVATIONS GRANT ISSUE: That the Board of Public Utilities consider approval of an Energy Innovations Grant in the amount of $98,975 to the University of California Riverside (UCR) to fund research for multi-scale engineering of solar cells. RECOMMENDATION: That the Board of Public Utilities recommend that the City Council approve the UCR request for an Energy Innovations Grant in the amount of $98,975 for Fiscal Year 2019-12 to research Multi-Scale Engineering of Solar Cells: Employing Biological Inspiration and Nanotechnology. BACKGROUND: One of Riverside Public Utilities' (RPU) programs funded from the Public Benefits Funds is the Energy Innovations Grant (EIG) Program. This Program was developed for the funding of research, development and demonstration programs for the public interest to advance science or technology in electric related projects in the institutions of higher education within the City of Riverside. Participation in the EIG Program is restricted to public or private post-secondary institutions whose primary activities fall within the City limits. The grant funds must comply with the relevant portions of California Public Utilities Code (PUC) Section 385 related to the use of Public Benefits Funds. UCR has been awarded grant funds through this program in the past for ten separate projects: 1) Clean Automated Electric Power, Heating and Cooling from Urban Waste; 2) Novel Energy Efficient Coatings Based on Transition Metal Oxide Sol-Gel Films; 3) The Control of NOx (nitrogen oxides), Sox (sulfur oxides), and Particulate Matter in Biological Filters; 4) Polymer-zeolite nanocomposit High-temperature Proton-exchange-membrane (PEM) for Fuel Cells; 5) bow Power Operated Light Emitting Displays; 6) Solar Charged Flexible Batteries; 7) Solar Powered Proto-Type Devices; 8) the establishment of the Southern California Research Initiative for Solar Energy (SC-RISE); and 9) a second request for funding to support outreach programs, research and development opportunities, the development of strategic collaborations in the area of renewable and solar energy for SC-RISE; and 10) Miniaturized, Efficient and Low-cost Energy Storage Devices. To date, the college has received a total of $1,661,110 in grant funding through this program. A new proposal was recently submitted for grant funding by UCR Professors Valentine I. Vullev, from the Department of Bioengineering, Mihri Ozkan, from the Department of Electrical Engineering, and Cengiz Ozkan from the Department of Mechanical Engineering. In this proposal, the applicants' intention is to bring together researchers with complementary expertise from three of the university's departments to undertake an inter-disciplinary approach to improve solar energy conversion at a broad range of scales.