5 DOE Programs to Secure U.S. Energy Future
Written By: John Shimkus
The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) spends its time, and taxpayer money, searching for the most cutting edge technologies to ensure U.S. energy security. The new federal budget, which was recently painstakingly passed, has allocated $180 million in research funds to ARPA-E for the following five projects:
1. Plants Engineered To Replace Oil (PETRO): PETRO aims to create plants that capture more energy from sunlight and convert that energy directly into fuels.
2. High Energy Advanced Thermal Storage (HEATS): HEATS seeks to develop revolutionary cost-effective thermal energy storage technologies.
3. Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies (REACT): REACT aims to fund early-stage technology alternatives that reduce or eliminate the dependence on rare earth materials by developing substitutes in two key areas: electric vehicle motors and wind generators.
4. Green Electricity Network Integration (GENI): GENI aims to fund innovative control software and high-voltage hardware to reliably control the grid.
5. Solar Agile Delivery of Electrical Power Technology (Solar ADEPT): Solar ADEPT aims to invest in key advances in magnetics, semiconductor switches, and charge storage, which could reduce power conversion costs.
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This marks ARPA-E’s fourth funding opportunity since its inception. ARPA-E has also attracted an additional $100 million in private funding from sources outside the government.