Slick Sheet: Project
The University of Michigan will develop load-control strategies to improve grid reliability in the face of increased penetration of DERs and low-cost renewable generation. As the electricity generation mix changes to include more renewables and DERs, load shifting is essential. Today, there are few load-shifting strategies in use at grid scale that are capable of balancing current levels of intermittent energy production. The team will develop three testing environments to identify issues the grid faces with increased levels of energy from distributed and renewable generation.

Slick Sheet: Project
Nanocomp Technologies will develop an industrially scalable method to convert NG to a high-value carbon material, Miralon®, while also producing H2. Converting methane to solids serves effectively as pre-combustion carbon capture. This process can occur at the megaton scale at permanent locations or a smaller scale at remote locations such as flare gas sites, where methane and other gases can be converted to more easily transported solid carbon and electricity.

Slick Sheet: Project
Creare, in partnership with IMBY Energy, is developing a mass-manufacturable, recuperated, closed-loop Brayton-cycle microturbine that will provide 5 kW of electrical power for residential and commercial buildings. The waste heat from the device can be harvested for heating. Technical innovations in the system that are anticipated to enable high efficiency at an attractive cost include a diffusion bonded foil recuperator, a turbomachine with specialized hydrodynamic gas bearings, a binary working fluid mixture and flameless combustion.

Slick Sheet: Project
Foro Energy will develop a high-power laser tool to assist in removing the extremely tough materials constituting aging energy assets in a timely, cost-effective, safe, and environmentally responsible manner. This cutting and melting tool will be capable of transmitting high-power laser light at long distances in a field environment, greatly boosting decommissioning efficiency.

Slick Sheet: Project
KRuMBS will develop novel bioprocesses to degrade marine macroalgae to bioenergy products (methane, alcohols, etc.). The microorganisms used in the bioprocess will be derived from the gut of ruminant marine finfish (Kyphosidae). While there is abundant potential for expansion of macroalgae production in offshore environments, they are difficult to transform into salable products. The team will work with its partners to isolate, optimize, and deploy microbial consortia and individual microorganisms capable of rapidly digesting macroalgal biomass in a highly scalable way.

Slick Sheet: Project
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) will construct an intelligent, real-time emergency control system to help safeguard the U.S. electric grid by providing effective and fast control actions to system operators in response to large contingencies or extreme events. PNNL’s scalable platform will utilize advanced machine learning techniques (deep-meta-reinforcement learning) as well as high-performance computing to automatically provide effective emergency control strategies seconds after disturbances or attacks.

Slick Sheet: Project
Advanced Magnet Lab (AML) is developing a reliable, contact-free current transfer mechanism from a stationary to a rotating electrode to allow direct current (DC) electrical machines, motors, and generators to achieve unprecedented power and torque density. This technology, a reimagining of the first electric “homopolar” motor invented by Michael Faraday, would provide current transfer without the need for the costly sliding contacts, brushes, and liquids that have limited DC electrical engine efficiency and lifetime.

Slick Sheet: Project
Rice University will develop a process to produce low-cost hydrogen at scale and recyclable, lightweight materials to replace metals in automotive applications. The team will convert NG into carbon nanotubes with concurrent production of H2, spin the nanotubes into fibers, and evaluate the fiber properties with the target of displacing metals. The proposed technology could significantly reduce energy consumption and CO2 emissions associated with both H2 and metal production at scale.

Slick Sheet: Project
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) is developing a metal-supported SOFC (MS-SOFC) stack that produces electricity from an ethanol-water blend at high efficiency and energy density. This technology will enable light- to medium-duty hybrid passenger EVs to operate at a long range, with higher efficiency than gasoline vehicles and lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than current vehicles.

Slick Sheet: Project
This CarbonHouse project seeks to validate that carbon derived from methane pyrolysis can be used as both structural and non-structural building materials. Carbon composites already offer an alternative material paradigm for large, lightweight, high-performance structural uses such as boats and aircraft. CarbonHouse targets gas-pyrolysis production of carbon nanotube (CNT) threads and sheets, with hydrogen co-generated as a supplemental high-energy fuel, which would offer an essentially benign new building logic if it can be managed economically and at vast scale.