CLEMSON — South Carolina Clean Energy Business Alliance has selected Clemson University as recipient of the energy summit award for its advanced energy programs and initiatives.

The 2015 S.C. Clean Energy Summit Award for Outstanding Achievement recognizes an organization that has singularly changed the landscape of the clean and advanced energy industry in South Carolina.

Nikolaos Rigas, executive director of Clemson University’s Restoration Institute, accepted the award on behalf of the university.

“We’re honored to be recognized for the work our faculty and students are doing to create clean energy alternatives and support sustainability,” said Rigas. “It means a great deal, coming from our South Carolina peers and partners who share our passion for clean and sustainable energy.”

Initiatives that highlight Clemson’s achievements in clean energy include:

• The Clemson Solar Decathlon program’s Indigo Pine project, involving design and construction of a 1,000 square-foot, low-environmental-impact solar home using innovative solutions for significantly lowered energy costs;

• Hybrid battery research at CU-ICAR to improve battery longevity and repurpose retired batteries;

• Research at the Institute of Translational Genomics on international diverse sorghum materials to speed development of sustainable energy crops for transportation fuels;

• The Carolina Energy Crop Alliance, a new public-private partnership between Clemson and Abengoa Energy Crops to research the use of different trees and grasses to produce sustainable biomass for energy; and

• The SCE&G Energy Innovation Center, where testing is under way in wind, solar, energy storage, micro-grid, as well as new energy efficient and resilient hardware and cyber-physical security of the electrical grid.

“The South Carolina Clean Energy Business Alliance is proud to call Clemson University a partner in our journey to make the Palmetto State a better place for the clean and advanced energy industry,” said Andrew Epting, SCCEBA program director. “The university’s leadership is the example to follow in developing partnerships with industry to stir innovation and foster the growth of the knowledge-based economy in South Carolina.”

The S.C. Clean Energy Business Alliance is a cooperative enterprise dedicated to growing the clean and advanced energy industry in South Carolina. This is the fourth S.C. Clean Energy Summit, which explores trends in the industry.