Displaying 1 - 25 of 84

Status: Alumni
Release Date:
Project Count: 14

ADEPT

Agile Delivery of Electrical Power Technology

In today's increasingly electrified world, power conversion—the process of converting electricity between different currents, voltage levels, and frequencies—forms a vital link between the electronic devices we use every day and the sources of power required to run them. The projects that make up ARPA-E's ADEPT program, short for "Agile Delivery of Electrical Power Technology," are paving the way for more energy efficient power conversion and advancing the basic building blocks of power conversion: circuits, transistors, inductors, transformers, and capacitors.


Status: Alumni
Release Date:
Project Count: 9

ALPHA

Accelerating Low-Cost Plasma Heating and Assembly

Fusion energy holds the promise of cheap, clean power production, but up to now scientists have been unable to successfully harness fusion as a power source due to complex scientific and technological challenges and the high cost of research. ARPA-E’s ALPHA program seeks to create and demonstrate tools to aid in the development of new, lower-cost pathways to fusion power and to enable more rapid progress in fusion research and development.


Status: Alumni
Release Date:
Project Count: 15

AMPED

Advanced Management and Protection of Energy Storage Devices

The projects that comprise ARPA-E's AMPED Program, short for "Advanced Management and Protection of Energy Storage Devices," seek to develop advanced sensing, control, and power management technologies that redefine the way we think about battery management. Energy storage can significantly improve U.S. energy independence, efficiency, and security by enabling a new generation of electric vehicles. While rapid progress is being made in new battery materials and storage technologies, few innovations have emerged in the management of advanced battery systems. AMPED aims to unlock…


Status: Alumni
Release Date:
Project Count: 15

ARID

Advanced Research In Dry cooling

ARPA-E’s Advanced Research In Dry cooling (ARID) program comprises projects that are aimed at maintaining the efficiency of U.S. electric power generation, which otherwise could suffer due to regional water shortages. To achieve this objective, ARID project teams will create novel air-cooled heat exchangers, supplemental cooling systems, and/or cool-storage systems that can cost-effectively and efficiently dissipate, or reject, waste heat with no net water consumption. Project teams will design kilowatt-scale testing prototypes to ensure the technologies can scale up to the megawatt-cooling…


Status: Active
Release Date:
Project Count: 10

ASCEND

Aviation-class Synergistically Cooled Electric-motors with iNtegrated Drives

The ASCEND program supports the development of innovative lightweight and ultra-efficient electric motors, drives, and associated thermal management systems (collectively referred to as the all-electric powertrain) that will help enable net-zero carbon emissions in single-aisle, 150-200 passenger commercial aircraft, such as the Boeing 737. The ASCEND program sets a benchmark of the fully integrated all-electric powertrain system at a power density of ≥ 12 kW/kg with an efficiency at ≥ 93%. Currently, these targets, among others, are beyond the capability of state-of-the-art technologies and…


Status: Active
Release Date:
Project Count: 14

ATLANTIS

Aerodynamic Turbines Lighter and Afloat with Nautical Technologies and Integrated Servo-control

Accessible U.S. offshore wind is estimated at more than 25 quads per year (a quad is one quadrillion BTUs, equivalent to 45 million tons of coal, 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, or 170 million barrels of crude oil). Nearly 60% of that wind energy—the equivalent of the entire U.S. annual electricity consumption—blows across waters more than 200 feet deep, an area that cannot be economically accessed today. Floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT) technology has tremendous promise to access wind resources in these areas, but the current state of the art for FOWT is too massive and expensive…


Status: Alumni
Release Date:
Project Count: 12

BEEST

Batteries for Electrical Energy Storage in Transportation

The U.S. spends nearly a $1 billion per day to import petroleum, but we need dramatically better batteries for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles (EV/PHEV) to truly compete with gasoline-powered cars. The projects in ARPA-E's BEEST program, short for "Batteries for Electrical Energy Storage in Transportation," could make that happen by developing a variety of rechargeable battery technologies that would enable EV/PHEVs to meet or beat the price and performance of gasoline-powered cars, and enable mass production of electric vehicles that people will be excited to drive.


Status: Alumni
Release Date:
Project Count: 17

BEETIT

Building Energy Efficiency Through Innovative Thermodevices

The projects that comprise ARPA-E's BEETIT program, short for "Building Energy Efficiency Through Innovative Thermodevices," are developing new approaches and technologies for building cooling equipment and air conditioners. These projects aim to drastically improve building energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide (CO2) at a cost comparable to current technologies.


Status: Active
Release Date:
Project Count: 18

BETHE

Breakthroughs Enabling THermonuclear-fusion Energy

Breakthroughs Enabling THermonuclear-fusion Energy (BETHE) supports the development of timely, commercially viable fusion energy. Building on recent progress in fusion research and synergies with the growing private fusion industry, this program aims to deliver a larger number of higher maturity, lower cost fusion options via three research categories: (1) Concept Development to advance the performance of inherently lower cost but less mature fusion concepts; (2) Component Technology Development that could significantly reduce the capital cost of higher cost, more mature fusion concepts; and…


Status: Active
Release Date:
Project Count: 7

BREAKERS

Building Reliable Electronics to Achieve Kilovolt Effective Ratings Safely

Recent advances in hardware for handling direct current (DC) electricity have created an opportunity to greatly improve the efficiency, security, and safety of the U.S. power system while supporting new industries and grid design options. There remains, however, a significant technology gap in the safety and protection mechanisms required to mitigate potentially damaging faults in these systems. The projects that comprise ARPA-E’s BREAKERS (Building Reliable Electronics to Achieve Kilovolt Effective Ratings Safely) program will develop novel technologies for medium voltage direct current (…


Status: Active
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Project Count: 0

CHADWICK

Creating Hardened And Durable fusion first Wall Incorporating Centralized Knowledge

CHADWICK will pursue the discovery of transformational first-wall materials that will maintain performance over the 40-year design lifetime of a fusion power plant. The goal of the CHADWICK program is to spur the innovation and production of new materials that can maintain room temperature ductility, high thermal conductivity, low activation, dimensional stability, tritium retention, and low plasma erosion after irradiation. This program goes beyond optimization of known alloys to provide a comprehensive wide-ranging survey and analysis of new material chemistries and manufacturing processes…


Status: Alumni
Release Date:
Project Count: 2

CHARGES

Cycling Hardware to Analyze and Ready Grid-Scale Electricity Storage

Methods for storing electricity for the electric power system (i.e. the grid) are developing rapidly, but widespread adoption of these technologies requires real-world data about their performance, economic benefit, and long-term reliability. The CHARGES program, short for “Cycling Hardware to Analyze and Ready Grid-Scale Electricity Storage,” establishes two sites where ARPA-E-funded battery technologies will be tested under conditions designed to represent not just today’s applications, but also the demands of tomorrow’s electric power system. The program will establish realistic duty…


Status: Alumni
Release Date:
Project Count: 22

CIRCUITS

Creating Innovative and Reliable Circuits Using Inventive Topologies and Semiconductors

Development of advanced power electronics with unprecedented functionality, efficiency, reliability, and reduced form factor will provide the United States a critical technological advantage in an increasingly electrified world economy. The projects that comprise ARPA E’s CIRCUITS (Creating Innovative and Reliable Circuits Using Inventive Topologies and Semiconductors) program seek to accelerate the development and deployment of a new class of efficient, lightweight, and reliable power converters, based on wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductors. CIRCUITS projects will establish the building blocks…


Status: Active
Release Date:
Project Count: 0

CIRCULAR

Catalyzing Innovative Research for Circular Use of Long-lived Advanced Rechargeables

CIRCULAR aims to develop technologies to support a circular domestic supply chain for electric vehicle (EV) batteries through regeneration, repair, reuse, and remanufacture. Foundational technologies developed within the program are capable of maintaining materials and products in circulation at their highest level of performance and safety for as long as possible. The program has four categories: A, B, C, and D. Category A projects encompass primarily materials, designs, and regeneration strategies that can be implemented at the battery cell level for the purpose of extending service life…


Status: Active
Release Date:
Project Count: 15

COOLERCHIPS

Cooling Operations Optimized for Leaps in Energy, Reliability, and Carbon Hyperefficiency for Information Processing Systems

The COOLERCHIPS program will develop transformational, highly efficient, and reliable cooling technologies for data centers. The target for COOLERCHIPS is to reduce total cooling energy expenditure to less than 5% of a typical data center’s IT load at any time and any U.S. location for a high-density compute system. A data center’s total cooling energy is the energy needed to ensure that all heat generated from its IT and non-IT loads is rejected. Reducing data center cooling energy will reduce the operational CO2 footprint of data center operations. COOLERCHIPS technologies will achieve…


Status: Active
Release Date:
Project Count: 12

CURIE

Converting UNF Radioisotopes Into Energy (CURIE)

The U.S. has accumulated approximately 86,000 metric tons of used nuclear fuel (UNF) from light-water reactors (LWRs), a value that increases by approximately 2,000 tons per year. This UNF is destined for permanent disposal even though more than 90% of its energy remains. Reprocessing UNF to recover reusable actinides and recycling them into new fuel for advanced reactors (ARs) would improve fuel utilization and drastically reduce the volume of waste requiring permanent disposal. CURIE seeks to develop innovative separations technologies, material accountancy, and online monitoring…


Status: Active
Release Date:
Project Count: 11

DAYS

Duration Addition to electricitY Storage

The projects that comprise ARPA-E’s DAYS (Duration Addition to electricitY Storage) program will develop energy storage systems that provide power to the electric grid for durations of 10 to approximately 100 hours, opening significant new opportunities to increase grid resilience and performance. Whereas most new energy storage systems today deliver power over limited durations, for example to alleviate transmission congestion, stabilize voltage and frequency levels, or provide intra-day shifts of energy, the extended discharge times of DAYS projects will enable a new set of applications…


Status: Alumni
Release Date:
Project Count: 11

DELTA

Delivering Efficient Local Thermal Amenities

The projects in ARPA-E's DELTA Program, short for "Delivering Efficient Local Thermal Amenities," aim to reduce the costs for heating and cooling buildings by developing Localized Thermal Management Systems (LTMS). LTMS modify the physical space around the human body rather than the entire building, with significant energy savings for both new and old buildings. Such technologies range from on-body wearable devices to off-body installed systems and provide more options for maintaining occupant comfort within buildings. ARPA-E’s DELTA projects include a broad range of LTMS…


Status: Active
Release Date:
Project Count: 23

DIFFERENTIATE

Design Intelligence Fostering Formidable Energy Reduction and Enabling Novel Totally Impactful Advanced Technology Enhancements

In the 250 years since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, the pace of technology-driven economic growth has dwarfed that achieved in prior centuries. The emerging artificial intelligence revolution has similar transformational potential, which we seek to leverage to help resolve the energy and environmental challenges that are tied to the modern industrial age.Artificial intelligence (A.I.) makes it possible for machines to learn from experience, adjust to new inputs and perform like humans. Machine learning is a core part of A.I., and it is the study of computer algorithms that improve…


Status: Active
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Project Count: 16

ECOSynBio

Energy and Carbon Optimized Synthesis for the Bioeconomy

The ECOSynBio program aims to promote the use of advanced synthetic biology tools to engineer novel biomass conversion platforms and systems. These systems will be designed to use external energy inputs to substantially increase carbon use, versatility, and efficiency while achieving economies of scale for industrial applications. Successful platforms will offer new capacities for the bioeconomy by enabling fully carbon-optimized renewable fuel and chemical synthesis with maximum carbon and resource efficiency. Proposed systems of interest include, among others: (1) carbon-optimized…


Status: Alumni
Release Date:
Project Count: 13

ElectroFuels

Microorganisms for Liquid Transportation Fuel

ARPA-E's Electrofuels program is using microorganisms to create liquid transportation fuels in a new and different way that could be up to 10 times more energy efficient than current biofuel production methods. ARPA-E is the only U.S. government agency currently funding research on electrofuels.


Status: Active
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Project Count: 10

ENLITENED

ENergy-efficient Light-wave Integrated Technology Enabling Networks that Enhance Dataprocessing

The explosive growth of the internet has increased the amount of energy consumed by the Information Communications Technology (ICT) sector, especially from datacenters where information in the “cloud” is stored and processed. There are many approaches to improve how datacenters use energy effectively, but ultimately, the metal interconnects currently used to transmit information between devices within a datacenter will limit efficiency gains. The ENergy-efficient Light-wave Integrated Technology Enabling Networks that Enhance Dataprocessing (ENLITENED) program seeks an entirely new approach…


Status: Active
Release Date:
Project Count: 12

EVs4ALL

Electric Vehicles for American Low-carbon Living

The transportation sector is responsible for 28% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., with road-based passenger vehicles accounting for 57% of those emissions. Cars, sport utility vehicles, minivans, and pick-up trucks emit more than one billion tons of CO2 domestically per year. As the U.S. works to decarbonize the transportation sector and increase production of “clean” (zero emission) electricity, electric vehicles (EVs) are compelling alternatives to vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICEs).The key to EV adoption is a reliable, inexpensive battery that can charge fast and…


Status: Active
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Project Count: 181

Exploratory Topics

Special Projects

These projects are broad in scope, and will cover a wide range of topics to encourage the most innovative and unconventional ideas in energy technology. The objective of these projects is to support high-risk R&D leading to the development of potentially disruptive new technologies across the full spectrum of energy applications. These projects will explore new areas of technology development that, if successful, could establish new program areas for ARPA-E, or complement the current portfolio of ARPA-E programs.


Status: Active
Release Date:
Project Count: 12

FLECCS

FLExible Carbon Capture and Storage (FLECCS)

The objective of the FLExible Carbon Capture and Storage (FLECCS) program is to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies that enable power generators to be responsive to grid conditions in a high variable renewable energy (VRE) penetration environment. This includes retrofits to existing power generators as well as greenfield systems with a carbon-containing fuel input and electricity as an output (i.e., a “black box” in which the nature of the fuel-to-electricity conversion process is not prescribed). The value of such CCS technologies will be evaluated by their impact on system…