US Energy Department Invests in Some Big Names (GM, WFR, DOW, LYB, APD, DLPH, TDY)

On Tuesday the US Department of Energy announced awards to 13 projects totaling more than $54 million. According to the press release:

[The projects seek] to advance transformational technologies and materials that can help American manufacturers dramatically increase the energy efficiency of their operations and reduce costs. These projects will develop cutting-edge manufacturing tools, techniques, and processes that will be able to save companies money by reducing the energy needed to power their facilities.

Among the recipients of the $54 millionare General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) with $2.67 million; MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (NYSE: WFR) with $3.68 million; The Dow Chemical Co. (NYSE: DOW) with $9 million; LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE: LYB) with $4.5 million; Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: APD) with $1.2 million; Delphi Automotive PLC (NYSE: DLPH) with $3.7 million; and a unit of Teledyne Technologies Inc. (NYSE: TDY) with $2.11 million. That’s a total of $25.86 million to 6 companies with a total market cap of around $122 billion. The rest of the federal money went to small companies and research institutes and universities.

This is no Solyndra deal, which cost US taxpayers $500 million, but somehow it seems that the publicly traded companies that received these grants just got a little gift from their Uncle Sammy.

A complete list of the projects is available here.

Paul Ausick