ARPA-E, or Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy is an agency within the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear w ...

tasked with funding the research and development of advanced energy technologies. The goal of the agency is to improve U.S. economic prosperity, national security, and environmental well being. ARPA-E typically funds short-term research projects with the potential for a transformative impact. It is inspired by the

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adva ...

(DARPA). The program directors at ARPA-E serve limited terms, in an effort to reduce bureaucracy and bias. the director is Evelyn Wang.

History and mission

Legislative history

ARPA-E was initially conceived by a report by the

National Academies A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, and serves as a public policy advisors, research ins ...

entitled ''Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future''. The report described a need for the US to stimulate innovation and develop clean, affordable, and reliable energy. ARPA-E was officially created by the America COMPETES Act , authored by Congressman Bart Gordon, within the

(DOE) in 2007, though without a budget. The initial budget of about $400 million was a part of the economic stimulus bill of February 2009. In early January 2011, the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 made additional changes to ARPA-E's structure; this structure is codified in Title 42, Chapter 149, Subchapter XVII, § 16538 of the United States Code. Among its main provisions, Section 16538 provides that ARPA-E shall achieve its goals through energy technology projects by doing the following: # Identifying and promoting revolutionary advances in fundamental and applied sciences; # Translating scientific discoveries and cutting-edge inventions into technological innovations; and # Accelerating transformational technological advances in areas that industry by itself is not likely to undertake because of technical and financial uncertainty.

Mission

Like DARPA does for military technology, ARPA-E is intended to fund high-risk, high-reward research involving government labs, private industry, and universities that might not otherwise be pursued. ARPA-E has four objectives: # To bring a freshness, excitement, and sense of mission to energy research that will attract the U.S.'s best and brightest minds; # To focus on creative, transformation energy research that the industry cannot, or will not support due to its high risk, but that has high reward potential; # To utilize an ARPA-like organization that is flat, nimble, and sparse, capable of sustaining for long periods of time those projects whose promise remains real, while phasing out programs that do not prove to be as promising as anticipated; and # To create a new tool to bridge the gap between basic energy research and development/industrial innovation.

Launch

ARPA-E was created as part of the America COMPETES act signed by President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

in August 2007. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

announced the launch of ARPA-E on April 27, 2009 as part of an announcement about federal investment in research and development and science education. Soon after its launch, ARPA-E released its first Funding Opportunity Announcement, offering $151 million in total with individual awards ranging from $500,000 to $9 million. Applicants submitted eight-page "concept papers" that outlined the technical concept; some were invited to submit full applications. Arun Majumdar, former deputy director of the

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL, Berkeley Lab) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in the Berkeley Hills, hills of Berkeley, California, United States. Established i ...

, was appointed the first director of ARPA-E in September 2009, over six months after the organization was first funded.

U.S. Secretary of Energy The United States secretary of energy is the head of the United States Department of Energy, a member of the Cabinet of the United States and fifteenth in the presidential line of succession. The position was created on October 1, 1977, when Pr ...

Steven Chu Steven ChuWashington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Timeline

2006 The National Academies released “Rising Above the Gathering Storm” report. August 9, 2007 President

signed into law the America COMPETES Act that codified many of the recommendations in the National Academies report, thus creating ARPA-E. April 27, 2009 President

allocated $400 million in funding to ARPA-E from the

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (), nicknamed the Recovery Act, was a Stimulus (economics), stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. Developed ...

. September 18, 2009 President Barack Obama nominated Arun Majumdar as Director of ARPA-E. October 22, 2009 Senate confirmed Arun Majumdar as ARPA-E's first Director. October 26, 2009 Department of Energy awarded $151 million in Recovery Act funds for 37 energy research projects under ARPA-E's first Funding Opportunity Announcement. December 7, 2009 U.S. Secretary of Energy

Steven Chu Steven ChuJoe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

announced 37 awarded projects under ARPA-E's second funding opportunity. July 12, 2010 Department of Energy awarded $92 Million for 42 research projects under ARPA-E's third funding opportunity. December 8, 2014 Ellen Williams confirmed by Senate as Director of ARPA-E. June 28, 2019 Lane Genatowski confirmed by Senate as Director of ARPA-E. December 22, 2022 Evelyn Wang was confirmed by the Senate as director of ARPA-E.

ARPA-E and EERE

ARPA-E was created to fund energy technology projects that translate scientific discoveries and inventions into technological innovations, and accelerate technological advances in high-risk areas that industry is not likely to pursue independently. This goal is similar to the work of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) which advances clean energy projects according to established roadmaps. However, ARPA-E also funds advanced technology in other spaces such as natural gas and grid technology. ARPA-E does not fund incremental improvements to existing technologies or roadmaps established by existing DOE programs.

Project creation and the review process

ARPA-E programs are created through a process of debate surrounding the technical/scientific merits and challenges of potential research areas. Programs must satisfy both “technology push”—the technical merit of innovative platform technologies that can be applied to energy systems—and “market pull”—the potential market impact and cost-effectiveness of the technology.

Project creation

The program creation process begins with a “deep dive” where an energy problem is explored to identify potential topics for program development. ARPA-E Program Directors then hold technical workshops to gather input from experts in various disciplines about current and upcoming technologies. To date, ARPA-E has hosted or co-hosted 13 technical workshops. Following each workshop, the Program Director proposes a new program and defends the program against a set of criteria that justifies its creation. The Program Director then refines the program, incorporating feedback, and seeks approval from the Director. If successful, a new ARPA-E program is created, and a funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is released soliciting project proposals.

Peer review process

The ARPA-E peer review process is designed to help drive program success. During proposal review, ARPA-E solicits external feedback from leading experts in a particular field. ARPA-E reviewers evaluate applications over several weeks and then convene a review panel. One notable facet of ARPA-E's evaluation process is the opportunity for the applicant to read reviewers’ comments and provide a rebuttal that the Agency reviews before making funding decisions. The applicant response period allows ARPA-E to avoid misunderstandings by asking clarifying questions that enable ARPA-E to make informed decisions.

Funding and awards

First funding opportunity

The U.S. Department of Energy and ARPA-E awarded $151 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds on October 26, 2009 for 37 energy research projects. It supported

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

technologies for

solar cell A solar cell, also known as a photovoltaic cell (PV cell), is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by means of the photovoltaic effect.

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...

s, geothermal drilling,

biofuel Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from Biomass (energy), biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricu ...

s, and biomass energy crops. The grants also supported energy efficiency technologies, including

power electronics Power electronics is the application of electronics to the control and conversion of electric power. The first high-power electronic devices were made using mercury-arc valves. In modern systems, the conversion is performed with semiconduct ...

and engine-generators for advanced vehicles, devices for waste heat recovery, smart glass and control systems for smart buildings,

light-emitting diode A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corre ...

s (LEDs), reverse-osmosis membranes for water desalination,

catalyst Catalysis () is the increase in rate of a chemical reaction due to an added substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed by the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycles quick ...

s to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, improved

fuel cell A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel (often hydrogen fuel, hydrogen) and an oxidizing agent (often oxygen) into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most bat ...

membranes, and more energy-dense magnetic materials for electronic components. Six grants went to

energy storage Energy storage is the capture of energy produced at one time for use at a later time to reduce imbalances between energy demand and energy production. A device that stores energy is generally called an Accumulator (energy), accumulator or Batte ...

technologies, including an ultracapacitor, improved

lithium-ion batteries A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery that uses the reversible intercalation of Li+ ions into electronically conducting solids to store energy. Li-ion batteries are characterized by higher specific energy, energy ...

, metal-air batteries that use

ionic liquid An ionic liquid (IL) is a salt (chemistry), salt in the liquid state at ambient conditions. In some contexts, the term has been restricted to salts whose melting point is below a specific temperature, such as . While ordinary liquids such as wate ...

s, liquid sodium batteries, and liquid metal batteries. Other awards went to projects that conducted research and development on a

bioreactor A bioreactor is any manufactured device or system that supports a biologically active environment. In one case, a bioreactor is a vessel in which a chemical reaction, chemical process is carried out which involves organisms or biochemistry, biochem ...

with potential to produce gasoline directly from sunlight and carbon dioxide, and

crystal growth Crystal growth is a major stage of a crystallization, crystallization process, and consists of the addition of new atoms, ions, or polymer strings into the characteristic arrangement of the crystalline lattice. The growth typically follows an ini ...

technology to lower the cost of light emitting diodes.

Second funding opportunity

The U.S. Secretary of Energy

Steven Chu Steven ChuBiden announced the 37 awardees that ARPA-E had selected from over 540 initial concept papers.Vice President Biden Announces Recovery Act funding for 37 Transformation Energy Research Projects, The awards ranged from around $500,000 to $6 million and involved a variety of national laboratories, universities, and companies. Unlike the First Funding Opportunity, the Second Funding Opportunity designated project submissions by category. Of the selected projects, 14 focused on IMPAACT, 13 focused on Electrofuels, and 10 focused on BEEST. For example,

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

submitted a project under Electrofuels entitled "Engineering a Bacterial Reverse Fuel Cell," which focuses on development of a bacterium that can convert carbon dioxide into gasoline.

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

received an award under BEEST for a proposal entitled "Semi-Solid Rechargeable Fuel Battery," a concept for producing lighter, smaller, and cheaper vehicle batteries. IMPAACT projects included the GE Global Research Center's "CO2 Capture Process Using Phase-Changing Absorbents," which focuses on a liquid that turns solid when exposed to carbon dioxide.

Third funding opportunity

On March 2, 2010, at the inaugural ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced a third funding opportunity for ARPA-E projects. Like the second funding opportunity, ARPA-E solicited projects by category: Grid-Scale Rampable Intermittent Dispatchable Storage (GRIDS), Agile Delivery of Electrical Power Technology (ADEPT), and Building Energy Efficiency Through Innovative Thermodevices (BEET-IT). GRIDS welcomed projects that focused on widespread deployment of cost-effective grid-scale energy storage in two specific areas: 1) proof of concept storage component projects focused on validating new, over-the-horizon electrical energy storage concepts, and 2) advanced system prototypes that address critical shortcomings of existing grid-scale energy storage technologies. ADEPT focused on investing in materials for fundamental advances in soft magnetics, high voltage switches, and reliable, high-density charge storage in three categories: 1) fully integrated, chip-scale power converters for applications including, but not limited to, compact, efficient drivers for solid-state lighting, distributed micro-inverters for photovoltaics, and single-chip power supplies for computers, 2) kilowatt scale package integrated power converters by enabling applications such as low-cost, efficient inverters for grid-tied photovoltaics and variable speed motors, and 3) lightweight, solid-state, medium voltage energy conversion for high power applications such as solid-state electrical substations and wind turbine generators. BEET-IT solicited projects regarding energy efficient cooling technologies and air conditioners (AC) for buildings to save energy and reduce GHG emissions in the following areas: 1) cooling systems that use refrigerants with low

global warming potential Global warming potential (GWP) is a measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere over a specific time period, relative to carbon dioxide (). It is expressed as a multiple of warming caused by the same mass of carbon dioxide ( ...

; 2) energy efficient air conditioning (AC) systems for warm and humid climates with an increased

coefficient of performance The coefficient of performance or COP (sometimes CP or CoP) of a heat pump, refrigerator or air conditioning system is a ratio of useful heating or cooling provided to work (energy) required. Higher COPs equate to higher efficiency, lower energy ( ...

(COP); and 3) vapor compression AC systems for hot climates for re-circulating air loads with an increased COP. Secretary Chu announced the selection of 43 projects under GRIDS, ADEPT, and BEET-IT on July 12, 2010. The awards totaled $92 million and ranged from $400,000 to $5 million. The awards included 14 projects in ADEPT, 17 projects in BEET-IT, and 12 projects in GRIDS. Examples of awarded projects include a "Soluble Acid Lead Flow Battery" that pumps chemicals through a battery cell when electricity is needed (GRIDS), "Silicon Carbide Power Modules for Grid Scale Power Conversion" that uses advanced transistors to make the electrical grid more flexible and controllable (ADEPT), and an "Absorption-Osmosis Cooling Cycle," a new air conditioning system that uses water as a refrigerant, rather than chemicals (BEET-IT).

Fourth funding opportunity

ARPA-E's fourth round of funding was announced on April 20, 2011 and awarded projects in five technology areas: Plants Engineered To Replace Oil (PETRO), High Energy Advanced Thermal Storage (HEATS), Rare Earth Alternatives in Critical Technologies (REACT), Green Electricity Network Integration (GENI), and Solar Agile Delivery of Electrical Power Technology (Solar ADEPT). PETRO focused on projects that had systems to create biofuels from domestic sources such as tobacco and pine trees for half their current cost. REACT funded early-stage technology alternatives that reduced or eliminated the dependence on rare earth materials by developing substitutes in two key areas: electric vehicle motors and wind generators. HEATS funded projects that promoted advancement in thermal energy storage technology. GENI focused on funding software and hardware that could reliably control the grid network. Solar ADEPT accepted projects that integrated power electronics into solar panels and solar farms to extract and deliver energy more efficiently. The Awardees for the fourth funding opportunity were announced on September 29, 2011. The 60 projects received $156 million from the ARPA-E Fiscal Year 2011 budget. Examples of the awarded projects included a project that increases the production of

turpentine Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthine, terebenthene, terebinthine and, colloquially, turps) is a fluid obtainable by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Principall ...

, a natural liquid biofuel (PETRO); a project entitled "Manganese-Based Permanent Magnet," that reduces the cost of wind turbines and electric vehicles by developing a replacement for rare earth magnets based on an innovative composite using manganese materia (REACT); a project entitled "HybriSol," that develops a heat battery to store energy from the sun (HEATS); a project that develops a new system that allows real-time, automated control over the transmission lines that make up the electric power grid (GENI); and a project that develops light-weight electronics to connect to photovoltaic solar panels to be installed on walls or rooftops.

ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit

Since 2010, ARPA-E has hosted the Energy Innovation Summit. The 10th Summit was held July 8–10, 2019 in

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, and the 11th Summit was held March 17–19, 2021 at the Gaylord Convention Center, near Washington, D.C.

ARPA-E accomplishments

ARPA-E has generated over 1,000 projects since inception, attracted about $4.9 billion in private investment for 179 of these projects, with $2.6 billion invested in R&D by the US government. Published, peer reviewed research articles are also a significant output, totaling 4,614. In addition, the program has generated 716 patents.

References

External links

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$400 Million For Off the Wall Energy Ideas

DOE Launches the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy; Creates 46 New Energy Frontier Research Centers
( Renewable Energy World) {{Authority control United States Department of Energy agencies Renewable energy organizations based in the United States Government research Research and development in the United States 2009 establishments in the United States Government agencies established in 2009