July 6, 2007
Canada
Canada
A federal agency that backs clean technology has approved $48 million in grants for projects that range from a self-erecting wind-turbine tower to a biosensor that can test water for as many as 100 pathogens in less than 30 minutes.
Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) said Thursday that it has approved 19 new projects. It has supported a total of 125 projects with $285 million in grants since it started in 2001. Those grants to projects have helped to attract another $690 million in investments from private and government partners.
SDTC is intended to help take clean technologies out of the lab and into the marketplace by providing funding for development and demonstrations.
In the current funding round, the agency’s tenth, the public money is accompanied by $101 million from private and public-sector partners. SDTC only gives grants to applicants who have other funding sources.
Among the grant recipients Thursday, 3G Energy Corp. will demonstrate “a self-erecting 100 metre concrete tower for wind turbines.” The turbine will be lifted to the top by a crane system built into the tower, which means massive mobile cranes won’t be needed for the job.
“This practice is becoming a limiting factor in the deployment of wind farms in Canada – especially in small installations and remote communities – where crane use is very expensive or not even possible,” SDTC said.
Early Warning Inc. plans to demonstrate its Biothreat Early Warning System to water agencies, food processors, industrial plants, hospitals, and tourist establishments. The system can prevent outbreaks of illnesses caused by water-borne pathogens such as E. coli by using a nanotechnology biosensor to identify pathogens without the need for a laboratory, technicians, or expensive equipment.
Other grants went to a Nova Scotia Power project that will test a tide-powered electricity generator in the Bay of Fundy, a company that has developed enzymes that can replace up to 30 per cent of the chemicals used in pulp and paper production – which would reduce the amount of toxins released in the process – and a system to convert waste to carbonaceous ash and a clean gas fuel, for use in northern and resort communities, and on ships.
The fuel “can be used to power the waste treatment system and provide additional energy to the user,” SDTC said.
The agency has been allocated $550 million by the government since 2001, and is now setting up a biofuels fund announced in the 2007 budget.
5 July 2007
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2007/07/06/federal-money-supports-19-new-green-technologies/