09.15.20

Hoeven Announces Nearly $4 Million to EERC For Fuel Cell Technology Development

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven, a member of the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Committee, today announced that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded nearly $4 million to the University of North Dakota’s (UND) Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC). This grant was made available under the Small-Scale Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) Systems and Hybrid Electrolizer Technology Development funding opportunity announcement (FOA) and will be used to research and demonstrate a coal-derived syngas capable of sustaining SOFC performance equal to that of natural gas. EERC will partner with the National Energy Technology Laboratory, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Carnegie Mellon University and the Ohio Fuel Cell Coalition to complete this project.

“As the EERC continues to develop technologies that harness North Dakota’s lignite resources with better environmental stewardship, this nearly $4 million grant will help advance the commercial-viability of solid oxide fuel cell technologies that utilize coal-derived syngas,” said Hoeven.

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