DOE Commits $130M in Funding for ARPA-E's Fourth Round of Funding

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu announced that DOE intends to commit up to $130 million to support advanced research projects on rare earth alternatives and breakthroughs in biofuels, thermal storage, grid controls and solar power electronics. The five new program areas supported through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy's (ARPA-E) fourth round of funding include:

• Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies (REACT) Program — Approximately $30 million 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);
• Plants Engineered to Replace Oil (PETRO) Program — Approximately $30 million will be made available to fund technologies that optimize the biochemical processes of energy capture and conversion of plant matter into fuel;
• High Energy Advanced Thermal Storage (HEATS) Program — An anticipated $30 million to develop cost-effective thermal energy storage technologies in three focus areas (High temperature storage systems, Fuel produced from the sun's heat and HVAC systems that use thermal storage);
• Green Electricity Network Integration (GENI) Program — Approximately $30 million in funding to support research on innovative control software and high-voltage hardware to reliably control the grid network; and,
• Solar Agile Delivery of Electrical Power Technology (ADEPT) Program — An anticipated $10 million to support the integration of advanced power electronics into solar panels and solar farms to extract and deliver energy more efficiently.

During the announcement, Secretary Chu said, "ARPA-E is unleashing American innovation to strengthen America's global competitiveness and win the clean energy race." Secretary Chu went on to say, "In addition to creating new jobs, breakthroughs in clean energy technologies can reduce our country's dependence of foreign oil, decrease the cost of clean electricity, and build a sustainable infrastructure for future generations of Americans."

The five technology areas join ARPA-E's seven existing programs in power electronics (ADEPT), battery technologies (BEEST), building cooling (BEETIT), non-photosynthetic biofuels (Electrofuels), grid energy storage (GRIDS), carbon capture (IMPACCT), and the initial open solicitation. Read the press release...