UW-Madison researchers learned Monday that their proposal for a $125 million federal grant for a renewable energy research center qualified for final consideration by the U.S. Department of Energy.
""We have partnered with Michigan State University, with UW in the lead, to propose the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center,"" said Molly Jahn, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. ""This would be a five year award, $25 million a year, and each year for five years—totaling $125 million.""
A large number of bids for the grant were submitted to the U.S. Department of Energy in February. The department invited a select few, including UW, to meet with it in Washington D.C. at the end of the month and is expected to make its final decision in June.
The proposed center would carve a path in the development of renewable energy resources—relevant in a world of continually shrinking fossil fuel supplies.
""The goal there, would be that anything we can do to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels and replace them with biofuels is a good thing for society,"" said Timothy Donahue, a UW-Madison professor in bacteriology and the proposed scientific director of the center.
In addition, the center has a scientific goal to find more sources of biomass to be converted into biofuels.
Donahue explained that now the cellulose from corn kernels is converted into usable energy, but that the center would make strides to develop other biomass sources, such as the cellulose from grasses, corn stalks and tree pulp.
The Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center is supported not only on a federal level but also on a state one, according to Jahn.
Last month Gov. Jim Doyle created the Office of Energy Independence, the state's first biofuels production guide.
The new office is ""a big supporter of this proposal both intellectually and in a material way,"" Donahue said. ""Once discoveries are generated we can work to bring that technology off the campus and help build community in state and help build an economy in state that is dependent upon the biomass that we generate on our own land.""
Donahue also said the center could further the state economy with new types of companies that convert biomass into biofuels.
If the grant is awarded, Jahn said space for the center would be provided in the new Microbial Sciences building and partnerships with the state would look to create a new facility.
