On November 8, 2023, ARPA-E awardee Niron Magnetics raised $33M in funding for their proprietary Clean Earth Magnet™ technology from the venture funds of General Motors (GM), Stellantis, and other investors. The strategic partnership between Niron, GM, and Stellantis will enable Niron to move beyond the production capacity supported by ARPA-E’s Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy technologies with Untapped Potential (SCALEUP) 2021 program, increase customer prototyping programs, and support small-scale product runs for key entry markets. This is in addition to a $21.3M raise in July…

Today, ARPA-E announces that registration is now open for the 2024 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit!   The 2024 Summit will take place May 22-24, 2024, at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Dallas, Texas. This will be the Summit’s first time in the lone star state, home to some of the most exciting energy innovation projects in the United States.   The 2024 Summit theme is, “Bolder Today, Brighter Tomorrow.” The Summit will recognize the groundbreaking work of past and present ARPA-E performers and highlight how their disruptive, impactful efforts will help make…

ARPA-E OPEN 2018 program performer University of Wisconsin – Madison (UW-Madison), in collaboration with Washington State University and Electric Power Group (EPG), developed a real-time monitoring system of the electric grid using a unique approach called “persistence” measure which is used to monitor power system oscillations. The team also developed tools to detect and locate the source of forced oscillations in the power grid using Phasor Measurement Units (PMU).  Oscillations are cyclic variations in power system metrics such as frequency, voltages, currents, and power flows.…

In mid-October, the Mining Innovations for Negative Emissions Resources Business Orientation and Origination of Spinouts Training (MINER BOOST) bootcamp brought together graduate students from across the United States for four days of entrepreneurship training in Baltimore, Maryland. The bootcamp was hosted by the Grantham Foundation and led by the Novella Center for Entrepreneurship’s Conscious Venture Lab (CVL.) MINER BOOST participants, including graduate students and postdocs and ARPA-E and CVL staff. The ARPA-E MINER program, led by Program Director Dr. Doug Wicks, seeks to…

Dr. Steven Singer currently serves as a Program Director for ARPA-E and is a Senior Scientist in the Biological Systems and Engineering Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. At ARPA-E, he is focused on reimagining nitrogen and carbon management in agriculture and biomanufacturing. What brought you to ARPA-E? I’ve had a long engagement with ARPA-E, early in my career I was the PI for a project in the Electrofuels program, which was the first big grant I managed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and I have been involved in a few additional ARPA-E projects. I…

On May 31, 2023, ARPA-E awardee Realta Fusion raised $9 million in seed funding for their compact magnetic mirror fusion technology in a round led by Khosla Ventures. This is in addition to an award from the Department of Energy’s Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program for up to $3M aimed at driving forward commercial fusion energy development. Realta Fusion will use this funding to build out their staff and develop the design of their next stage prototype fusion device, the Break-Even Axisymmetric Mirror (BEAM) device. Realta plans to generate heat from fusion for industrial…

Climate Week NYC is the largest annual climate event of its kind, bringing together some 400 events and activities across New York City. This year’s theme was, “We Can. We Will.”   Members of ARPA-E’s leadership and Technology-to-Market (T2M) team spoke during events throughout Climate Week NYC to discuss ARPA-E’s mission as a disruptive and impactful early-stage energy R&D agency. They shared how the transformational energy technologies ARPA-E supports can help achieve our nation’s climate goals. ARPA-E Director Evelyn Wang spoke at multiple events during Climate…

ARPA-E is the Department of Energy’s high-risk, high-potential early-stage R&D agency. ARPA-E’s mission is to help disruptive, impactful energy technologies reach proof-of-concept. At that point, other funding sources get involved to help bring these technologies to market. These sources can include private funding, government agencies, and other aspects of the DOE enterprise. On September 22, the Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) announced that ARPA-E awardees Echogen, Smartville, Urban Electric Power and Form Energy were four out of nine awardees…

On August 17, 2023, Yard Stick PBC announced $10.6 million raised in Series A funding for their low-cost, in situ soil carbon measurement technology in a round led by Toyota Ventures Climate Fund with participation from the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, The Nature Conservancy, Lowercarbon Capital, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Pillar VC, and others. Their Series A round brings Yard Stick’s total venture capital funding to over $16 million. Yard Stick will use this funding to expand commercial deployment of its soil carbon measurement services. This follows a previous $16 million in…

Alaska is an energy powerhouse—home to a wide variety of inspiring energy innovations. As Senator Lisa Murkowski said at the 2023 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit, Alaska is the perfect testing ground for any energy technology solution under the sun. Simply put, Alaska is the perfect place for innovation. ARPA-E Director Evelyn Wang and other members of the ARPA-E team recently visited the state to see a variety of ARPA-E-funded projects working to support America’s decarbonization goals, increase access to sustainable energy, and strengthen the economy. First, Director Wang traveled…