The US Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced more than US $ 30 million in federal funding, plus more than US $ 35 million in private sector funding, for 68 projects that will accelerate the commercialization of technologies. promising energies – ranging from clean and advanced manufacturing energy to building efficiency and next-generation materials.
These awards will help bring innovative solutions from DOE’s National Laboratories to market, helping to create new jobs and businesses while strengthening the country’s economic competitiveness and meeting President Biden’s goal of net zero emissions from carbon by 2050.
“President Biden is serious about making sure America is cornering the clean energy market – and that means we need to work with our nation’s smartest entrepreneurs to accelerate DOE’s national labs solutions to technologies. ready for trade, ”Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm said. “These projects will help us deploy groundbreaking innovations that will position us to win the clean energy race while creating jobs and opportunities in all regions of the country.”
The recent awards are facilitated by the Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) of the DOE Office of Technology Transitions (OTT). The TCF was created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to help catalyze the agency’s research, development, demonstration and deployment efforts into affordable, market-ready energy solutions by strengthening partnerships between DOE national labs and US contractors.
To date, the TCF has funded more than 380 projects by unlocking more than $ 170 million in funding from more than 300 private sector partners, including automakers, energy storage companies, utilities, bioenergy companies, solar energy suppliers and aerospace companies. To receive a TCF award, national laboratory teams must receive a commitment from private sector partners to match at least 50% of planned federal funding.
“Tomorrow’s innovations will be based on our investments today. As we allocate federal funds, we must ensure that we prioritize renewable energy and efficiency solutions that will allow us to build a sustainable and just society. This $ 30 million DOE investment is an investment in the next economy, good jobs, and our health and safety as we move swiftly towards net zero carbon emissions, ”said U.S. Representative Jamaal Bowman. “The national laboratories and the entrepreneurs behind these projects have led this crucial work. But as we know, resources are generally hard to come by for people from marginalized communities. We need to keep this in mind as we scale up these programs to spur innovation, and ensure that we break the cycle of disinvestment in innovators from color. I am delighted to partner with Secretary Granholm and the DOE in this mission. “
The TCF projects selected this year represent 12 national DOE laboratories across the country, supported by partners in 25 states and four countries, including:
- Ames Laboratory: US $ 343,500 in federal funds, the costs of which are shared by partners in Pennsylvania and New York. The projects include an alternative for supply-dependent critical rare earth magnets and an energy-efficient process for coatings used in energy-efficient gas turbines.
- Argonne National Laboratory: US $ 4,150,000 in federal funds, the costs of which are shared by partners in Wisconsin, California, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana. Projects include the processing of materials for energy storage, highly efficient processes to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) chemicals, advanced material processing to produce fast reactor fuel alloys, and improvements in industrial simulation.
- Idaho National Laboratory: $ 1,175,000 in federal funds, the costs of which are shared by partners in Arizona and Idaho. Projects include new alloy anodes for the electrochemical production of advanced materials, modeling to improve the resiliency and reliability of the United States power grid, and a hardware-to-software device to ensure secure wireless communications at a facility. electricity production.
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: US $ 2,029,599 in federal funds, the costs of which are shared by partners in Massachusetts, Ohio and Connecticut. The projects include a detector for the identification of fissile material, sustainable aviation fuel and the reduction of water requirements for hydrogen production.
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: US $ 3,130,000 in federal funds, the costs of which are shared by partners in California. The projects include carbon capture improvements, technology to improve the reliability of the metal additive manufacturing process, Lidar improvements and the conversion of biogas into salable products.
- Los Alamos National Laboratory: US $ 4,724,659 in federal funds, the costs of which are shared by partners in California, Maryland and Massachusetts. Projects include remote monitoring of power transmission lines, innovative manufacturing technology for carbon-carbon composites, an innovative approach to renewable hydrogen production, and machine learning of natural and man-made geoscientific processes.
- National Laboratory of Energy Technologies: US $ 150,000 in federal funds, the costs of which are shared by a partner in Oklahoma. The project focuses on chemical conversions.
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory: US $ 5,044,337 in federal funds, the costs of which are shared by partners in California, Florida, New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Delaware, Virginia and North Carolina. Projects include thin films for solar modules, hybrid power plants, bioproducts, offshore wind turbines, electric aviation systems, grid resilience, super insulation, wind power plants, support for hydrogen power plants, heating, ventilation and ventilation systems. energy-efficient air conditioning, management of distributed energy resources, bio-based insecticides and CO2 waste gas purification processes.
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory: US $ 5,126,689 in federal funds, the costs of which are shared by partners in Tennessee, New York, Minnesota and North Carolina. Projects include converters for extremely fast charging, artificial intelligence (AI) to characterize additive manufacturing, etc.
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory: US $ 4,819,579 in federal funds, the costs of which are shared by partners in Texas, Quebec, New York, Illinois, Oklahoma, Ontario, Washington, Louisiana, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Indiana and California. Projects include self-healing cements for underground applications, cybersecurity applications for control rooms, and optimization of hydroelectric and marine hydrokinetic facilities.
- Sandia National Laboratories: US $ 2,092,523 in federal funds, the costs of which are shared by partners in Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Cleveland (UK) and New Mexico. Projects include alkaline water electrolysis, improved power converters for microgrids and robotics for optimization of wind power generation.
- National Laboratory of SLAC Accelerators: US $ 115,000 in federal funds. The project includes the development of transactive energy service systems.
For the full list of TCF selections, partners, and federal award amounts, go here.
