The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) has announced it will award a grant of nearly $1 million to a blockchain startup in an effort to advance the development of a decentralized energy grid infrastructure.
The Colorado-based Grid7 is among the 95 grant recipients announced by the DoE on Monday, who won the agency’s second phase Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which will cover a period of two years.
According to the DoE, Grid7 will be awarded with $999,363, which is part of the total $95 million that the DoE will grant to small businesses in 26 U.S. states, in a bid to advance the country’s energy sector using nascent technologies.
Based on data from the SBIR program, Grid7, with a three-man team, already received a grant of around $150,000 in 2017 through the program’s first phase competition.
The DoE explained startups that “demonstrated technical feasibility for innovations during their Phase I grants competed for funding for prototype or processes development during Phase II.”
According to Grid7’s website, the project aims to develop a decentralized solar power system that can connect energy data from homes, buildings and electric grids in a distributed manner. The goal is to ensure a safe power plant control against cyber attacks, the DoE added.
The agency’s effort also comes amid a blockchain-friendly environment recently fostered by lawmakers in the Colorado state.
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