DOE announces $264 million for basic research in support of Energy Earthshots™

(Press-News.org) WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $264 million in funding for 29 projects to develop solutions for the scientific challenges underlying DOE’s Energy Earthshots™ Initiative to advance clean energy technologies within the decade. The funding will support 11 new Energy Earthshot Research Centers led by DOE National Laboratories and 18 university research teams addressing one or more of the Energy Earthshots™ that are focused on six different areas, including industrial decarbonization, carbon storage, and offshore wind. The Department launched the Energy Earthshots Initiative to spur decarbonization efforts that will help the United States meet President Biden’s ambitious climate and clean energy goals, including a 50% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 and a net-zero carbon economy by 2050.

“Our Energy Earthshots are game-changing endeavors to unleash the technologies of the clean energy transition and make them accessible, affordable, and abundant,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “The Energy Earthshot Research Centers and the related work happening on college campuses around the country will be instrumental in developing the clean energy and decarbonization solutions we need to establish a 100% clean grid and beat climate change.”

The Energy Earthshots™ connect DOE’s basic science and energy technology offices to accelerate innovations toward more abundant, affordable, and reliable clean energy solutions. These efforts seek to revolutionize many sectors across the United States and will rely on fundamental science and innovative technology to be successful.

The 29 projects were selected by competitive peer review under two DOE solicitations: the National Laboratory Program Announcement for Energy Earthshot Research Centers and the Funding Opportunity Announcement for Science Foundations for Energy Earthshots. Both solicitations covered the first six Energy Earthshots: Carbon Negative Shot™, Enhanced Geothermal Shot™, Floating Offshore Wind Shot™, Hydrogen Shot™, Industrial Heat Shot™, and Long Duration Storage Shot™. Since then, DOE announced a seventh: the Clean Fuels & Products Shot™.

Science Foundations for Energy Earthshots™
DOE’s Office of Science awarded a combined $69.1 million to researchers at 18 different universities across 14 states that will, for example, investigate hydrogen arc plasmas to make steelmaking carbon-free and how to make clean energy systems more resilient using exascale computer simulations and observations.

Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia New York University, New York, New York The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawaii University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, Nevada University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut Energy Earthshot Research Centers
The Energy Earthshot Research Centers will support multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary teams addressing key basic research challenges relevant to the Energy Earthshots. The centers will be housed at eight DOE National Laboratories and will receive a combined $195 million across four years.

Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois

C-STEEL: Center for Steel Electrification by Electrosynthesis Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York

C4M: Center for Coupled Chemo-Mechanics of Cementitious Composites for EGS Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California

CIWE: Center for Ionomer-based Water Electrolysis RESTOR-C: RESTORation of Soil Carbon by Precision Biological Strategies Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California

Terraforming Soil EERC: Accelerating Soil-Based Carbon Drawdown Through Advanced Genomics and Geochemistry National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado

DEGREES: Degradation Reactions in Electrothermal Energy Storage FLOWMAS: Floating Offshore Wind Modeling and Simulation Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

NEETER: Non-Equilibrium Energy Transfer for Efficient Reactions Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington

ACE-FWICC: Addressing Challenges in Energy: Floating Wind in a Changing Climate CUSSP: Center for Understanding Subsurface Signals and Permeability Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey

PEHPr: Center for the Science of Plasma-Enhanced Hydrogen Production Total funding is $264 million for projects lasting up to 4 years in duration, with $100 million in Fiscal Year 2023 dollars and outyear funding contingent on congressional appropriations. The list of projects and more information can be found on the Office of Science Energy Earthshot initiative homepage.

Selection for award negotiations is not a commitment by DOE to issue an award or provide funding. Before funding is issued, DOE and the applicants will undergo a negotiation process, and DOE may cancel negotiations and rescind the selection for any reason during that time.

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