ARPA-E | Changing What's Possible

We're investing in the best people, the best companies, and the best ideas to bring entirely new energy technologies to market.

Featured ARPA-E Content

ARPA-E Technologies Strengthening the Grid

Severe weather, cyber intrusions, and physical attacks can damage America’s critical energy infrastructure and cause power outages that affect families and businesses alike. As Secretary Perry observes, “A reliable and resilient electric grid is critical not only to our national and economic security, but also to the everyday lives of American families.” Increasing use of distributed generation and battery storage technologies creates new operating requirements for the grid. This transformation is driving ARPA‑E to support promising early-stage energy technologies that could make the U.S. electric grid more reliable, flexible, and resilient. To reinforce that effort, ARPA-E created the Grid Optimization (GO) Competition. This multi-round series of prize challenges seeks to accelerate the development and evaluation of grid software solutions. In anticipation of GO Challenge #1’s launch this fall, we’ve taken a look at several ARPA-E programs already working to transform the American electric grid for the 21st century.

Recent ARPA-E News

Department of Energy Announces New Projects to Extend Grid Energy Storage

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced the selection of 10 projects as part of a new Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program, Duration Addition to electricitY Storage (DAYS). Awardees will develop energy storage systems to provide reliable, affordable power to the electric grid for up to 100 hours, enhancing grid resilience and performance. Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar announced the DAYS awardees today at the Innovation XLab Energy Storage Summit at SLAC National Laboratory.

September 18, 2018

Department of Energy Announces New Funding Opportunity for Next-Generation DC Circuit Breakers

The U.S. Department of Energy today announced up to $15 million in funding for a new Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program, Building Reliable Electronics to Achieve Kilovolt Effective Ratings Safely (BREAKERS). BREAKERS projects will develop designs for medium voltage, direct current (MVDC) circuit breakers for a variety of applications.

September 12, 2018

ARPA-E Announces Funding Opportunity to Develop Novel Heat Exchanger Technologies

ARPA-E today issued a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) of up to $35 million for the High Intensity Thermal Exchange through Materials and Manufacturing Processes (HITEMMP) program, to develop new approaches and technologies for the design and manufacture of high temperature, high pressure, and highly compact heat exchangers.

August 9, 2018

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