Two New Hampshire companies collectively received nearly $2.3 million in grants from the Department of Energy, including one to improve monitoring of nuclear events around the world.
A $150,000 grant to Ground Energy Support LLC in Durham will help create more data to measure the use of heat pump technology that taps thermal energy below the earth’s surface, according to Matt Davis, co-founder of GES and an associate professor and interim chair of the earth sciences department at the University of New Hampshire.
The goal is to generate more information about the technology’s potential financial savings over other fuel options and whether it is “more practical and feasible to use,” Davis said Tuesday.
Creare in Hanover, meanwhile, received three grants, totaling more than $2.1 million.
One grant for nearly $150,000 will develop technology for low-cost desalination of water in coastal regions hit by water scarcity.
One “project aims to improve our ability to monitor and characterize nuclear events around the world to determine compliance with the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty,” according to a company summary provided by the Department of Energy.
“We will develop a new lower-power method of collecting the small aerosol particles from the atmosphere that are needed for analysis.” The other grant will develop technology to produce uranium alloy fuel pins that will be needed for the next generation of nuclear power plants.
Creare officials couldn’t be reached Tuesday.
The funds were part of 263 grants totaling $116 million given to 184 small businesses in 40 states.
Phase I grants, including the Creare one on desalination and the GES award, allow small businesses to research the technical feasibility of new innovations that advance the mission of the Department of Energy.