Berkeley Lab in Broad-Based, International Consortium to Address Water-Energy Technologies

October 6, 2015

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded the University of California (UC) Berkeley and partners Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkley Lab) and UC Irvine $12.5 million over five years to help fund the Clean Energy Research Center for Water Energy Technologies (CERC-WET). Ashok Gadgil, deputy of research at Berkeley Lab’s Energy Technologies Area and UC Berkeley professor, will lead the international consortium, which includes UC Davis, UC Merced, UCLA, and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)-US.

“The selection of our team illustrates the University of California system’s leading role as a brain trust for the state,” said Gadgil. “We will be delivering important water technologies, data analyses and policies for the state, the country, and the world.”

The consortium will collaborate with scientists at The Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology to develop technologies and expertise that will help the United States and China overcome barriers related to constrained energy and water resources. It will target water use reduction at thermoelectric plants; treatment and management of non-traditional waters; improvements in sustainable hydropower design and operation; climate impact modeling, methods, and scenarios to support improved understanding of energy and water systems; and data and analysis to inform planning and policy.

“The U.S. consortium of university, nonprofit, industry, and national laboratory partners, led by the University of California, Berkeley, will leverage cutting-edge science and technology research capabilities to ensure our collective energy and water security,” said Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.

The full investment in CERC-WET will be $50 million, with consortium partners providing $12.5 million, and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and its consortium partners providing an additional $25 million.

Co-principal investigators are Soroosh Sorooshian and Scott Samuelsen, both professors at UC Irvine’s School of Engineering. The broad-based CERC-WET team will include the UC Office of the President, the Energy Foundation, GE Power and Water, Southern California Edison, Southern California Gas, Disney Research-China, Glacier Technologies, California Office of Trade and Investment and the California Energy Commission.

Author

Mark Wilson