In our final day at the 2023 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit, we started with ‘Coffee with ARPA-E,’ a continuation of yesterday’s event where folks had the opportunity to network with and learn from ARPA-E leadership, Program Directors, Technology-to-Market Advisors, and Fellows about opportunities related to ARPA-E and discussions about moving transformational technologies out of the lab and into the market. Following ‘Coffee with ARPA-E,’ morning breakout sessions consisted of three panels on the blue economy, ARPA-E’s SCALEUP program, and the new independent Foundation for Energy…

We had a jam-packed second day of the 2023 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit. Day 2 of the Summit kicked off with "Coffee with ARPA-E," where attendees had the opportunity to network with ARPA-E leadership, Program Directors, Tech-to-Market Advisors, and Fellows, and to talk about the future of energy innovation and technology. ​ Coffee with ARPA-E The morning began with Fast Pitches about Nuclear and Materials from ARPA-E Program Directors Dr. Ahmed Diallo, Dr. Robert Ledoux, and Dr. Jenifer Shafer. ​ ARPA-E Fast Pitch - Dr. Jenifer Shafer, Dr. Robert Ledoux, and Dr. Ahmed…

The 2023 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit is in full swing here in National Harbor, MD. The Summit began with opening remarks from ARPA-E Director Evelyn Wang. Director Wang shared her journey from being a four-time ARPA-E performer to current ARPA-E Director shaping the direction of the Agency. She reaffirmed her confidence in people’s capacity to transform the energy landscape “when there’s a unified focus on tackling real-world challenges quickly.” ​ ARPA-E Director Dr. Evelyn N. Wang “Together, we can develop real, clean energy solutions that are scalable, deployable, and…

ARPA-E’s Performance-based Energy Resource Feedback, Optimization, and Risk Management (PERFORM) program seeks to develop new grid management systems that represent the relative delivery risk of individual electricity generation resources and balance the collective risk of all assets across the grid. The program has funded twelve project teams across the country to build software platforms that optimize grid management as the penetration of variable renewable resources continues to increase. However, the difficulty of obtaining and sharing sensitive transmission grid data has historically…

We sat down with Program Director Dr. William Horak to chat about his professional experiences, interest in advanced thermal systems, nuclear energy, and combined heat and power, along with his vision for his time at ARPA-E. Dr. Horak comes to ARPA-E from Brookhaven National Lab, where he worked for 40 years. He served in leadership roles as the Chair of the Energy Science and Technology Department and as Chair of the Nuclear Science and Technology Department. He was part of the DOE team that analyzed the Chernobyl accident and managed numerous programs in nuclear safety, international…

Syzygy Plasmonics recently raised $76 million in Series C funding from Carbon Direct Capital along with Aramco Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, Lotte Chemical, and Toyota Ventures. Early investors in Syzygy also joined the round, including EVOK Innovations, The Engine, Equinor Ventures, Goose Capital, Horizons Ventures, Pan American Energy, and Sumitomo Corporation of Americas. Syzygy previously raised over $35 million in public and private funding for their novel technology. Syzygy’s breakthrough technology provides a deep decarbonization platform that relies on light, rather…

Dr. Laurent Pilon comes to ARPA-E from the University of California, Los Angeles where he is a professor in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department. His area of research focused on the nexus of interfacial and transport phenomena, radiative heat transfer, and material science for the development of sustainable energy conversion, storage, and efficiency technologies. What brought you to ARPA-E? First, the recent fires and the major drought in California gave me a sense of urgency. It was a call to action! Second, I have spent the last 20 years working with my students and…

ARPA-E awardee Brimstone Energy raised $55 million in Series A funding in a round co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and DCVC in April of 2022. This is one of the largest ever Series A rounds for a materials-science startup and follows Brimstone’s $5.1 million seed round raised in November of 2021. Brimstone showcased their technology as part of the First Movers Coalition at 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Brimstone Energy’s CEO Dr. Cody Finke presented their breakthrough commercially scalable, environmentally friendly process for…

2022 saw a series of exciting achievements at ARPA-E. Now, at year’s end, I want to take a moment to recap and appreciate the hard work of our team members, awardees, supporters, and other stakeholders. Thank you for a wonderful year of driving impactful energy innovation. New Programs In 2022, ARPA-E launched four new focused programs covering a wide range of energy applications, several second phases of existing programs in areas such as electric aviation and floating offshore wind, and three potentially disruptive Exploratory Topics. We also announced selections for three of our most…

ARPA-E Principal Investigators Dr. Wei Chen, Dr. Ayman El-Refaie, Dr. Fang Zheng Peng, Dr. Eric D. Wachsman, and Dr. Joseph Wang were recently announced as National Academy of Inventors (NAI) Fellows. NAI recognizes academic inventors who demonstrate a prolific spirit of innovation and whose inventions make a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and societal welfare. Learn more about the Principal Investigators’ (PIs) ARPA-E projects below👇 PI Dr. Wei Chen’s DIFFERENTIATE project at UT Arlington develops a machine learning-enhanced mixed-variable…