Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 2

The Atmospheric Vortex Engine (""AVE"") is a cleantech game changer with potential to produce vast quantitiesof carbon free electricity at less than three cents per kilowatt hour. The energy comes from low temperatureheat that would otherwise be wasted. The project goal is to test a small scale prototype AVE that will producean atmospheric vortex with a diameter of 50 centimeters and a height of 40 meters. NSERC funding for thisproject will give Lambton College faculty and students an opportunity to work closely with industrialcollaborators on a leading edge applied research project.The College team will install instruments on the eight meter diameter prototype to monitor various processparameters including power output and the temperature, pressure and velocity of the air flows. They will studyand analyse the data they collect and co-relate it with data from their meteorological station with a view toimproving the design and providing scale-up analysis. The overall project will demonstrate the feasibility andsafety of this technology and optimize the design, thereby justifying further investment in larger scaleimplementations and commercialization.Leading the world with low cost green energy and related cleantech applications will give Canadian industry asignificant competitive advantage. AVEtec Energy Corporation holds international patents and is an Ontariocorporation which is 99% Canadian owned. AVEtec's prototype is being funded by the Thiel Foundation'sBreakout Labs program (which was founded by Peter Thiel who was a co-founder of PayPal and the firstinvestor in Facebook). Developing and commercializing this technology in Canada has enormous potential forrevenues and job creation.