ARPA-E REPAIR Program Graphic
REPAIR Program Update: First Year Perspective and What's Next

DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy was established in 2009 to explore high-impact technologies that are too risky for the private sector. REPAIR (Rapid Encapsulation of Pipelines Avoiding Intensive Replacement) is a 3-year, $38 million program with ambitious goals for natural gas distribution pipes. The program seeks new technologies to rehabilitate the pipes, extending their life by 50 years, with minimal surface disruption while the pipes are live, and with a cost less than $1 million per mile. Seven teams are developing robots that can provide polymer or metal coatings on the…


ARPA-E Investor Update Vol 7 Antora Thermal Battery
ARPA-E Investor Update Vol. 7: Antora Energy's Solid-State Thermal Battery

ARPA-E awardee Antora Energy recently raised $50 million in a financing round for their solid-state thermal battery. Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Lowercarbon Capital led this financing round, offering further support for Antora’s mission store thermal energy in inexpensive carbon blocks and offer an efficient, cost-effective grid storage solution. ARPA-E funded Antora through our Duration Addition to electricitY Storage (DAYS) program in 2018, with the goal to develop energy storage systems that provide power to the electric grid for durations of 10 to approximately 100 hours. ARPA-E…


ARPA-E Blog Women's History Month Steering the Ship Navigation Compass Thumbnail Image
Steering the Ship

Women have always been at the forefront of scientific discovery, seeking new technical horizons from physics to chemistry and everywhere in between. As Women’s History Month draws to a close, ARPA-E honors the inspirational women at the heart of our own mission to chart new courses in how we use, generate, and store energy. It is no coincidence that we named one of our conference rooms after legendary physicist Dr. Marie Curie when ARPA-E's office was first built. To this day, Dr. Curie and her namesake conference room continue to serve as an inspiration for the transformational work…


ARPA-E Distinguished Senior Fellow Dr. Richard Dick O'Neill
Congratulating Dr. Richard O'Neill

At the core of ARPA-E’s success is our staff, a group of intelligent, passionate, and dedicated visionaries whose technical backgrounds and energy expertise support our mission and define the impactful R&D that we invest in. One such energy expert is Dr. Richard O’Neill, a Distinguished Senior Fellow at ARPA-E. Dr. O’Neill was recently elected as a Member of the National Academy of Engineering for his leadership and contributions to the liberalization and design of efficient natural gas and electric power markets. Dr. O’Neill has spent his career working on policy around natural gas…


ARPA-E Investor Update Vol 6 Verdox
ARPA-E Investor Update Vol. 6: Verdox's Electrochemical Carbon Capture Tech

ARPA-E awardee Verdox announced $80M in follow-on funding on February 2nd, 2022. The funding from a group of investors including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Prelude Ventures, and Lowercarbon Capital will help develop and deploy the company’s novel electrochemical carbon capture technology. The capture of atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs) is an important part of a diversified portfolio of technologies to mitigate U.S. GHG emissions. The capture of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) can lead to net-negative emissions, an important element in limiting global temperature increases resulting…


ARPA-E SEED Mini-Series Blog Fellows Exploratory Topics
Planting the SEEDs of Fruition

Funding small businesses is a critical component of ARPA-E’s mission to develop high-risk, high-reward energy technologies that could fundamentally change how we generate, store, and use energy. Generally speaking, many of these potentially game-changing technologies are too early-stage to attract private-sector investment. ARPA-E nurtures small businesses and budding entrepreneurs by providing them with funding, subject matter expertise, and commercialization support. ARPA-E’s investment plays a pivotal role in de-risking early-stage energy technologies developed by small businesses to get…


ARPA-E Blog Olga Spahn Q&A Abstract Image
Meet the Program Director: Dr. Olga Spahn

We recently sat down with new ARPA-E Program Director, Dr. Olga Spahn, to discuss her time at Sandia National Laboratories, her plans for the ENLITENED program, and her hopes for future R&D investment at the Agency. What brought you to ARPA-E? I managed an internal Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) program activity that led to follow on ARPA-E projects. I was also a line manager for ARPA-E performers at SNL. In that capacity, I got to know the ARPA-E Program Director and learned more about ARPA-E mission and program philosophy. I was impressed with what I learned and when the…


ARPA-E Blog Skyscrape US Olympic Team Thermo Adaptive Textiles Intelligent Insulation
Team USA Debuts Winter Olympics Garments with Skyscrape’s ‘Intelligent Insulation’

ARPA-E awardee Skyscrape recently teamed up with Ralph Lauren to incorporate ‘Intelligent Insulation’ into Team USA’s Opening Ceremony Parade Uniform for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The uniform includes a parka made with Skyscrape’s temperature-responsive insulating fabric, as well as a mid-layer jacket, pant, gloves, and boots. The uniforms are made with recycled polyester fiber composed of post-consumer plastic bottles, each proudly manufactured in the United States.  ARPA-E originally funded the thermo-adaptive textile technology at the core of Team USA’s parade uniform to…


ARPA-E QA Blog Program Director Dr. Simon Freeman Photo of Ocean Water Waves
Meet the Program Director: Dr. Simon Freeman

We recently sat down with new ARPA-E Program Director, Dr. Simon Freeman, to discuss his background, interest in energy, and goals during his tenure at ARPA-E. What brings you to ARPA-E? For me, ARPA-E offers a chance to “do the most good”. Climate change impacts and resource sustainability concerns will be the defining challenges of this century. As we shift to a necessarily carbon neutral economy (and then a carbon negative one) there will be many transitional challenges to solve. How will we mitigate climate impacts and simultaneously shift to this new economy? ARPA-E provides the…


ARPA-E ATLANTIS Floating Offshore Wind Turbines FOWT Program White House Department of Energy
Plumbing the Depths

ARPA-E launched the ATLANTIS program back in 2018 as our first structured effort to move the technological needle within the offshore wind energy space. With just a few short years of advanced research and development under its belt, ATLANTIS is already drawing recognition from high places. The Biden-Harris Administration released a fact sheet on January 12, 2022 detailing U.S. investments in deploying clean energy through several actions, including advancing offshore wind deployment. The White House fact sheet also highlights a recent report by the Department of Energy (DOE), which…