The US Department of Energy (DOE) is offering up to US$100 million in funding for transformative clean energy technology research and development via its Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s (ARPA-E) OPEN 2021 funding opportunity. The first of billions of dollars of DOE research and development opportunities the Biden administration plans to announce this year, this funding will help identify “cutting-edge, disruptive clean energy technologies to address the climate crisis.”
“Today we are inviting scientists, inventors, entrepreneurs, and creative thinkers around America to join us in developing the energy technologies we need to tackle the climate crisis and build a more equitable clean energy economy,” said DOE Chief of Staff Tarak Shah. “The DOE is committed to empowering innovators to develop bold solutions that will help America achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 while creating millions of good-paying jobs that benefit all Americans.”
Since its founding in 2009, ARPA-E has provided US$2.4 billion in research and development funding, and ARPA-E projects have attracted more than US$4.9 billion in private sector follow-on funding to commercialize clean energy technologies and create sustainable clean energy jobs. Previous ARPA-E awardees have also gone on to achieve breakthroughs in commercializing a variety of energy solutions, including in the development of transformative solar, geothermal, batteries, biofuels, and advanced surface coating technologies.
Visit ARPA-E’s newly launched OPEN 2021 website to access information and resources, including a teaming partner list for help forming new project teams and identifying potential collaborations, and webinars featuring program directors discussing technical areas they hope to pursue.
