$25 million in federal funds for Upstate NY renewable energy and defense companies

Congressman Maurice Hinchey has announced that $25.36 million in federal funding through the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill will go to: BAE Systems ($3.84 million), Binghamton University's Center for Autonomous Solar Power (CASP) ($4 million), Endicott Interconnect ($4.8 million), Johnson Outdoors ($2.4 million), Primet Precision Materials ($6.4 million), Rockwell Collins ($2.72 million), and Widetronix ($1.2 million) for projects to advance renewable energy and defense systems.

Among the renewable energy highlights:

• Binghamton University’s Center for Autonomous Solar Power (CASP), $4 million – To advance the university’s leadership in solar energy research and development for defense, aerospace, consumer and industrial markets.  The funding will help CASP to develop new storage systems, or "supercapacitors," that are better suited for the solar power generation technology the center is developing -- large area thin film flexible solar modules. Supercapacitors are intended to help improve the challenges associated with gathering solar energy at peak availability for off-peak usage
• Primet Precision Materials, $6.4 million – To assist this high-tech battery company form a partnership with Applied Materials, a major semiconductor company, as well as Cornell University and Binghamton University.  Primet will use a portion of the funding to further develop an advanced composite nickel-manganese-cobalt and other lithium ion battery technologies for the U.S. military with energy sources that are smaller, lighter, safer, and longer-lasting than any lithium batteries available on the market today, greatly extending duty cycle and survivability for applications ranging from handheld devices to unmanned aerial vehicles.
• Widetronix, $1.2 million – To assist the company scale its low-defect silicon carbide wafer production process to accommodate larger wafer sizes and production volumes sought by the commercial customers and the U.S. Department of Defense.