The DOE has announced the winners of the SunShot Concentrator Solar Power (CSP) Research and Development Awards for 2012.  Drs. Sheldon Jeter and Said Abdel-Khalik formed a team lead by Sandia National Laboratories won funding for the development of an advanced "High Temperature Falling Particle Receiver".  The team will investigate two particle heating receiver (PHR) designs for power tower systems:
 (1) a receiver with freely falling particles, which is Sandia's favorite and
 (2) a design in which sand is heated while flowing (more slowly) through a porous medium, which is the design favored by KSU and GIT.

A full list of this year's awards can be found online.