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Here’s the latest of our periodic updates on projects sponsored by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), which calls itself “the disruption wing of the U.S. Department of Energy that funds and directs the discovery of outlier energy technologies that are strategic to America’s energy security.”
Recently announced projects include:
Enhancing grid resilience
Thirty million dollars in ARPA-E grants announced in January will go toward developing technologies designed to enhance the reliability of America’s power grid.
The Grid Reliability with Automatic Damping and Inertia for Electrical Networks and Transmission Systems (GRADIENTS) program aims to develop hardware and software technologies, such as power electronics controls, intelligent relays and optimization algorithms, for balancing energy consumption and production.
“GRADIENTS technologies will help incorporate a variety of generation sources and stabilize the grid to prevent cascading failures that can lead to dangerous and costly blackouts,” said Evelyn N. Wang, director of ARPA-E, who added that the projects will “enable better grid coordination, protection and real-time control.”
Hot new power source
Also in January, ARPA-E announced funding to spur geothermal power production.
Geothermal baseload production in the U.S. is limited to 4 gigawatts (GW). The Stimulate Utilization of Plentiful Energy in Rocks through High-temperature Original Technologies (SUPERHOT) project aims to provide access to superhot reservoirs deep within the Earth that are capable of producing up to 20 GW of reliable baseload power. Research will center around developing designing systems and materials capable of surviving superhot conditions.
“Geothermal is a reliable and secure baseload power source, but today we are only able to access a fraction of the energy it can provide,” Wang said. “SUPERHOT projects can change that and allow access to hotter reservoirs to create more domestic flow of energy onto America’s grid.”
Making the most of waste
A funding grant made in November will support recovering critical metals and high energy-value materials such as ammonia from wastewater.
The Realize Energy-rich Compound Opportunities Valorizing Extraction from Refuse Waters (RECOVER) program aims to replace imports of valuable materials with resources commonly found in municipal, agricultural and industrial waste streams.
The U.S. imports millions of tons of ammonia and most critical metals needed for electronics, clean energy and military technologies; much of this material is discarded in domestic wastewater systems. RECOVER aims to replace 50% of conventional ammonia supplies and offset some or all critical metals imports through wastewater recovery.
“RECOVER technologies will transform waste streams into critical materials sources that commoditize the vast volumes of wastewater flowing through our systems and strengthen our energy security,” Wang said.
Growing new energy potential
A January grant provides funding for the development of advanced plant genetic engineering technologies that will increase the energy potential of bioenergy crops such as sorghum, miscanthus, oilseeds, switchgrass and poplar, which account for about 5% of the nation’s energy needs.
Technologies developed through this program could be used to strengthen natural traits such as drought resistance and nutrient cycling.
Learn more about ARPA-E projects.
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