Status: Alumni
Release Date: 11/28/2012
Project Count: 66

OPEN 2012

In 2012, ARPA-E issued its second open funding opportunity designed to catalyze transformational breakthroughs across the entire spectrum of energy technologies. ARPA-E received more than 4,000 concept papers for OPEN 2012, which hundreds of scientists and engineers thoroughly reviewed over the course of several months. In the end, ARPA-E selected 66 projects for its OPEN 2012 program, awarding them a total of $130 million in federal funding. OPEN 2012 projects cut across 11 technology areas: advanced fuels, advanced vehicle design and materials, building efficiency, carbon capture, grid…

Status: Active
Release Date: 11/23/2015
Project Count: 39

OPEN 2015

In 2015, ARPA-E issued its third open funding opportunity designed to catalyze transformational breakthroughs across the entire spectrum of energy technologies. ARPA-E received more than 2,000 concept papers for OPEN 2015, which hundreds of scientists and engineers thoroughly reviewed over the course of several months. In the end, ARPA-E selected 41 projects for its OPEN 2015 program, awarding them a total of $125 million in federal funding. OPEN 2015 projects cut across ten technology areas: building efficiency, industrial processes and waste heat, data management and communication, wind,…

Status: Active
Release Date: 11/15/2018
Project Count: 79

OPEN 2018

In 2018, ARPA-E issued its fourth open funding opportunity, designed to catalyze transformational breakthroughs across the entire spectrum of energy technologies. ARPA-E received thousands of concept papers for OPEN 2018, which hundreds of scientists and engineers reviewed over the course of several months. ARPA-E selected 45 projects for its OPEN 2018 program, awarding them $112 million in federal funding. OPEN 2018 projects cut across ten technology areas: building efficiency, distributed generation, electrical efficiency, grid, grid storage, manufacturing efficiency, resource efficiency,…

Status: Active
Release Date: 02/11/2021
Project Count: 67

OPEN 2021

In 2021, ARPA-E issued its fifth open funding opportunity designed to catalyze transformational breakthroughs across the entire spectrum of energy technologies. ARPA-E received thousands of concept papers for OPEN 2021, which hundreds of scientists and engineers reviewed over the course of several months. ARPA-E selected 68 projects for its OPEN 2021 program, awarding them $175 million in federal funding. OPEN 2021 projects cut across the technology areas of building efficiency, distributed energy resources, electrical efficiency, generation, grid, manufacturing efficiency, resource…

Status: Active
Release Date: 02/07/2020
Project Count: 12

PERFORM

Optimal utilization of all grid assets requires a fundamental shift in grid management rooted in an understanding of asset risk and system risk. Existing management practices were designed for a grid consisting of and fully reliant on conventional generation assets. Present operational and planning practices do not acknowledge or leverage the true capabilities and associated challenges of emerging assets. A novel risk-driven paradigm will allow emerging assets to be trusted and relied upon to provide the critical products and services necessary to maintain an efficient and reliable grid,…

Status: Alumni
Release Date: 09/29/2011
Project Count: 10

PETRO

The 10 projects that comprise ARPA-E’s PETRO program, short for “Plants Engineered to Replace Oil,” aim to develop non-food crops that directly produce transportation fuel. These crops can help supply the transportation sector with plant-derived fuels that are cost-competitive with petroleum and do not affect U.S. food supply. PETRO aims to redirect the processes for energy and carbon dioxide (CO2) capture in plants toward fuel production. This would create dedicated energy crops that serve as a domestic alternative to petroleum-based fuels and deliver more energy per acre with less…

Status: Active
Release Date: 06/14/2017
Project Count: 8

PNDIODES

The projects that comprise ARPA-E’s PNDIODES (Power Nitride Doping Innovation Offers Devices Enabling SWITCHES) program seek to develop transformational advances in the process of selective area doping in the wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductor, gallium nitride (GaN), and its alloys. Wide-bandgap semiconductors have applications similar to today’s popular semiconductors, such as silicon and gallium arsenide, but with properties that allow them to operate at much higher voltages, frequencies and temperatures than these traditional materials. These qualities inherent to WBGs stand to enable high-…

Status: Active
Release Date: 08/21/2013
Project Count: 22

RANGE

The projects that comprise ARPA-E's RANGE Program, short for "Robust Affordable Next Generation Energy Storage Systems," seek to develop transformational electrochemical energy storage technologies that will accelerate the widespread adoption of electric vehicles by dramatically improving their driving range, cost, and safety. RANGE focuses on four specific areas 1) aqueous batteries constructed using water to improve safety and reduce costs, 2) non-aqueous batteries that incorporate inherent protection mechanisms that ensure no harm to vehicle occupants in the event of a collision or fire, 3…

Status: Alumni
Release Date: 09/29/2011
Project Count: 14

REACT

The projects that comprise ARPA-E's REACT program, short for "Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies", are developing cost-effective alternatives to rare earths, the naturally occurring minerals with unique magnetic properties that are used in electric vehicle (EV) motors and wind generators. The REACT projects will identify low-cost and abundant replacement materials for rare earths while encouraging existing technologies to use them more efficiently. These alternatives would facilitate the widespread use of EVs and wind power, drastically reducing the amount of greenhouse gases…

Status: Alumni
Release Date: 06/19/2014
Project Count: 13

REBELS

Fuel cell technologies have been touted for decades due to their high chemical-to-electrical conversion efficiencies and potential for near-zero greenhouse gas emissions. Fuel cell technologies for power generation have not achieved widespread adoption, however, due primarily to their high cost relative to more established combustion technologies. There is a critical need to develop fuel cell technologies that can enable distributed power generation at low cost and high performance. The projects that comprise ARPA-E’s Reliable Electricity Based on ELectrochemical Systems (REBELS) program…

Status: Active
Release Date: 12/17/2019
Project Count: 9

REEACH

The REEACH program objective is to develop a disruptive system to convert the chemical energy contained in energy-dense carbon neutral liquid fuels (CNLFs) into electric power for aircraft propulsion via electric powertrains and other key systems. With a developmental prototype as the ultimate goal, REEACH performers will work to create innovative, cost-effective and high-performance energy storage and power generation (ESPG) sub-systems. The developed ESPG system must deliver adequate electric power to propel a fully electric, narrow-body aircraft through all the various flight phases (i.e…

Status: Active
Release Date: 12/15/2016
Project Count: 18

REFUEL

Most liquid fuels used in transportation today are derived from petroleum and burned in internal combustion engines. These energy-dense fuels are currently economical, but they remain partially reliant on imported petroleum and are highly carbon intensive. Alternatives to internal combustion engines, like fuel cells, which convert chemical energy to electricity, have shown promise in vehicle powertrains, but are hindered by inefficiencies in fuel transport and storage. Projects in the Renewable Energy to Fuels Through Utilization of Energy-Dense Liquids (REFUEL) program seek to develop…

Status: Active
Release Date: 04/08/2021
Project Count: 12

REMEDY

REMEDY (Reducing Emissions of Methane Every Day of the Year) is a three-year, $35 million research program to reduce methane emissions from three sources in the oil, gas, and coal value chains: 

1. Exhaust from 50,000 natural gas-fired lean-burn engines. These engines are used to drive compressors, generate electricity, and increasingly repower ships.
2. The estimated 300,000 flares required for safe operation of oil and gas facilities.
3. Coal mine ventilation air methane (VAM) exhausted from 250 operating underground mines. 

Status: Alumni
Release Date: 09/19/2013
Project Count: 16

REMOTE

The projects that comprise ARPA-E’s REMOTE program, short for “Reducing Emissions using Methanotrophic Organisms for Transportation Energy,” seek to enable highly efficient biological conversion of methane to liquid fuels for small-scale deployment. Specifically REMOTE focuses on improving the energy efficiency and carbon yield of biological routes from methane to a useable form for fuel synthesis while also examining high-productivity methane conversion processes and bioreactor technologies.

Status: Active
Release Date: 02/18/2020
Project Count: 11

REPAIR

Cast iron, wrought iron, and bare steel natural gas distribution pipes—legacy pipes—make up 3% of the nearly 2 million miles of utility pipes in use, but account for a disproportionate number of gas leaks and pipe failures compared to more recently replaced infrastructure. REPAIR seeks to reduce natural gas leaks from these pipes by developing a suite of technologies to enable the automated construction of new pipe inside existing pipe. The new pipe must meet utilities’ and regulatory agencies’ requirements, have a minimum life of 50 years, and have sufficient material properties to operate…

Status: Active
Release Date: 12/15/2016
Project Count: 10

ROOTS

America’s vast terrestrial resources (over 520 million hectares of crop, range and forestland) are strategic assets essential for sustainable economic growth. While advances in technology have resulted in a ten-fold increase in crop productivity over the past hundred years, soil quality has declined, incurring a soil carbon debt equivalent to 65 parts per million (ppm) of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). The soil carbon debt also increases the need for costly nitrogen fertilizer, which has become the primary source of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, a greenhouse gas. The soil carbon debt also…

Status: Active
Release Date: 02/16/2023
Project Count: 0

SEA CO2

The Sensing Exports of Anthropogenic Carbon through Ocean Observation (SEA CO2) program seeks to accelerate the development of the marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) carbon capture industry through the advancement of scalable Measurement, Reporting and Validation (MRV) technologies. SEA CO2 seeks to develop new approaches to chemical oceanographic sensing, modeling, and data characterization by developing:

• marine carbon sensor technologies operating across spatial and temporal scales broad enough to sufficiently understand mCDR effects on the ocean carbon cycle, quantify…

Status: Active
Release Date: 11/16/2017
Project Count: 17

SENSOR

The projects of ARPA-E’s SENSOR (Saving Energy Nationwide in Structures with Occupancy Recognition) program will develop user-transparent sensor systems that accurately quantify human presence to dramatically reduce energy use in commercial and residential buildings. SENSOR projects will focus on one or more of four areas: 1) human occupancy sensors for residential use, 2) occupant-counting sensors for commercial buildings, 3) CO2 sensors to enable the use of variable building ventilation based on data from occupant-counting sensors, and 4) real-world testing and energy savings validation of…

Status: Active
Release Date: 11/24/2020
Project Count: 11

SHARKS

SHARKS seeks to develop new technical pathways to design economically competitive Hydrokinetic Turbines (HKT) for tidal and riverine currents. These renewable energy resources are highly reliable, forecastable, and typically co-located with demand centers. HKTs are suited for both micro-grids that supply energy to remote communities without grid connections and utility-scale grid-connected applications. Despite these attractive qualities, current HKTs are too expensive for deployment due to technical challenges and harsh operational environments. This program seeks to fund new holistic HKT…

Status: Active
Release Date: 05/18/2016
Project Count: 14

SHIELD

The SHIELD Program, short for “Single-Pane Highly Insulating Efficient Lucid Designs,” aims to develop innovative materials that will improve the energy efficiency of existing single-pane windows in commercial and residential buildings. Technologies created through the SHIELD program seek to cut in half the amount of heat lost through single-pane windows in cold weather. These materials would improve insulation, reduce cold weather condensation, and enhance occupant comfort. The technologies could also produce secondary benefits, such as improved soundproofing, that will make retrofits more…

Status: Active
Release Date: 09/01/2020
Project Count: 6

SMARTFARM

The SMARTFARM program’s objective is to bridge the data gap in the biofuel supply chain by funding technologies that can quantify feedstock-related emissions at the field-level and enable new market incentives for efficiency in feedstock production and carbon management. The value of such technologies lies in their ability to reliably, accurately (i.e., low uncertainty), and cost-effectively quantify feedstock production life cycle emissions (in g CO2e/acre) at the field level (i.e., scalable to >80 acres).The SMARTFARM program is structured in two initial phases:

1. Phase 1…

Status: Alumni
Release Date: 09/29/2011
Project Count: 7

Solar ADEPT

The projects that make up ARPA-E's Solar ADEPT program, short for "Solar Agile Delivery of Electrical Power Technology," aim to improve the performance of photovoltaic (PV) solar energy systems, which convert the sun's rays into electricity. Solar ADEPT projects are integrating advanced electrical components into PV systems to make the process of converting solar energy to electricity more efficient.

Status: Alumni
Release Date: 10/21/2013
Project Count: 14

SWITCHES

The projects in ARPA-E's SWITCHES program, which is short for “Strategies for Wide-Bandgap, Inexpensive Transistors for Controlling High-Efficiency Systems,” are focused on developing next-generation power switching devices that could dramatically improve energy efficiency in a wide range of applications, including new lighting technologies, computer power supplies, industrial motor drives, and automobiles. SWITCHES projects aim to find innovative new wide-bandgap semiconductor materials, device architectures, and device fabrication processes that will enable increased switching frequency,…

Status: Alumni
Release Date: 06/18/2015
Project Count: 6

TERRA

The TERRA program is facilitating improvement of advanced biofuel crops, specifically energy sorghum, by developing and integrating cutting-edge remote sensing platforms, complex data analytics tools, and high-throughput plant breeding technologies. Project teams are constructing automated systems to accurately measure and analyze crop growth in the field, thoroughly characterizing genetic potential and creating algorithms for selecting the best plants to reproduce. These innovations will accelerate domestic production of sustainable, renewable, and affordable liquid transportation fuels. The…

Status: Alumni
Release Date: 07/30/2015
Project Count: 5

TRANSNET

The projects in ARPA-E’s Traveler Response Architecture using Novel Signaling for Network Efficiency in Transportation (TRANSNET) program aim to minimize energy consumption in personal transportation, without having to improve current infrastructure or vehicle efficiency. TRANSNET project teams are developing new network control architectures, coupled with incentive strategies, to encourage individual travelers to take specific energy-relevant actions. These actions could, for example, contribute to reductions in miles traveled and increased occupancy rates for all modes. Project teams will…