Last week, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced funding of USD$130 million for new program areas focusing on clean fuels, renewable energy and energy efficiency.
In its fourth round, the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) funding has seen USD$363 million go to energy projects so far.
“ARPA-E is unleashing American innovation to strengthen America’s global competitiveness and win the clean energy race,” said Secretary Chu.
Among the programs to receive support in this round is the High Energy Advanced Thermal Storage (HEATS) initiative. One of HEATS’ aims is to develop low cost-effective thermal energy storage technologies through high temperature storage systems in order to deliver solar electricity more efficiently 24 hours a day.
Another program, Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies (REACT), has received support to seek alternatives for rare earth minerals used in equipment such as wind turbines. Demand for rare earths is rapidly escalating and prices for many have increased 300-700% in the past year, threatening the widespread adoption of important energy solutions.
The Green Electricity Network Integration (GENI) will develop innovative control software and high-voltage hardware to provide better grid reliance, efficiency, and better management of wind and solar electricity.
The Solar Agile Delivery of Electrical Power Technology (Solar ADEPT) focuses on integrating better electronics into solar panels, which could reduce power conversion costs by up to half for utilities and 80 percent for homeowners. Up to $10 million will be made available for this program area.
Solar ADEPT falls under the DOE SunShot Initiative that aims to deliver solar electricity at roughly 6 cents a kilowatt hour within the decade to make it cost competitive with electricity generated from fossil fuels.
In U.S. President Barack Obama’s State Of The Union speech earlier this year, he signalled more support for clean energy and an end to oil subsidies, stating “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they’re doing just fine on their own. So instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy, let’s invest in tomorrow’s.”
