Skip to main content

Congressman Gonzalez Announces $1.25 Million Grant for UTRGV’s South Texas Industrial Assessment Center

July 26, 2021

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Vicente Gonzalez (TX-15) announced $1,250,338 for the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley's (UTRGV) South Texas Industrial Assessment Center (ST-IAC). This initiative is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy as part of a larger $60 million nationwide investment for university-based Industrial Assessment Centers (IACs).

IACs provide site-specific recommendations to small and medium sized manufacturers with opportunities to improve productivity, secure information, reduce waste and save energy while providing training for undergraduate and graduate engineering students in manufacturing processes, energy assessment procedures, and energy management systems.

"This investment will provide young minds in our region opportunities to improve manufacturing, drive economic growth and develop more energy efficient business models," said Congressman Gonzalez. "I'm proud to secure this federal funding which will equip our students and institutions of higher education to create a more sustainable future."

"We are grateful to the Department of Energy for supporting the important work of our Industrial Assessment Center at UTRGV. The funding provided to continue the center's work will go a long way in helping small and medium-sized manufacturers to save on energy and our environment. These investments are urgently needed in growing the underserved Rio Grande Valley region" said Parwinder Grewal, Ph.D., Executive Vice President for Research and New Program Development at UTRGV.

"America's best and brightest university students are successfully helping local manufacturers reduce pollution, save energy, and cut their electricity bill," said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. "DOE's university-based Industrial Assessment Centers are assisting small businesses – particularly those in disadvantaged and underrepresented communities – in the transition to a clean energy economy, building a diverse energy workforce, and propelling America toward a carbon-free future by 2050."

The ST-IAC will provide opportunities for individuals, and manufacturing and water industries alike, in addition to developing an energy engineering program to further advance resilience and sustainability of operations through the use of renewable energy sources, decarbonization, battery storage, and cybersecurity in South Texas and nationally.

Despite the Rio Grande Valley's rapidly growing population and manufacturing sector, the closest Industrial Assessment Center is 350 miles away and has completely different demographics in industry and population. The funding of the ST-IAC will provide industrial energy assessments to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that previously did not have access to such no-cost energy assessments. Through these industrial energy assessments, the ST-IAC has the potential to assist manufacturers with saving millions of dollars each year in energy and water management costs.

More information on the grant is available here.

# # #