WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) today announced $38 million to develop technologies that would enable a more efficient grid infrastructure. The Disruptive DC Converters for Grid Resilient Infrastructure to Deliver Sustainable energy (DC-GRIDS) projects will support development of high voltage direct current technologies with greater transmission capacity and flexibility than exists in today’s grid. These systems would reroute power faster from a variety of sources to the homes and businesses that need the energy.

“ARPA-E’s vision is American-made energy for all, which means getting more power from more places to more people,” said ARPA-E Director Evelyn N. Wang. “DC-GRIDS projects will develop high-voltage direct current transmission technology that could enable a 250% capacity increase over existing transmission infrastructure.”

DC-GRIDS projects will work to eliminate current barriers to widespread adoption of a multi-terminal high-voltage direct current (MT-HVDC) grid. A MT-HVDC grid would accelerate the adoption of offshore power transmission, move power more efficiently and at greater capacity, and enable the interconnection of the three U.S. electrical grids for improved resiliency and performance. 

DC-GRIDS will focus on novel modular high-voltage power electronic valves and technology to enable highly compact MT-HVDC converter stations. The former will seek to enable lower cost, vendor-agnostic, and mass-produced submodules and valves with standardized interoperability and redundancy. The latter will develop standardized approaches to enable a highly compact, vendor-agnostic and lower-cost station with high grid resiliency, increasing capacity on the existing grid and improving operational performance.

The U.S. may require a 3-4x transmission capacity expansion in the coming decades to accommodate increasingly geographically dispersed generation, electrification, and exponential increases in power demand from data centers. ARPA-E has been a leader in power electronics, working to meet these increased demands by supporting dozens of projects focused making the grid more efficient and effective.

Visit the ARPA-E eXCHANGE website for more information about DC-GRIDS, including key guidelines, and read the DC-GRIDS program description here.

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