WASHINGTON DC – Last week, the Department of Energy, or DOE, released a road map for scaling up three emerging technologies that could make or break the U.S. energy transition. According to the agency, advanced nuclear, clean hydrogen, and long-duration energy storage are crucial for reaching net-zero emissions. The problem is, self-sustaining markets for these technologies don’t exist yet.
The department’s new “Pathways to Commercial Liftoff” reports identify key challenges and potential solutions for getting these industries off the ground. They provide, for the first time, concrete numbers on how much additional energy capacity is needed from each of the three new technologies to reach U.S. climate goals. They also spell out how much money private and government actors will need to invest in research and development, and what challenges stand in the way of commercializing these sectors.
The Biden administration aims to halve emissions by 2030 and hit net-zero emissions by 2050. These fast-approaching deadlines mean that the next few years are critical for redrawing the energy landscape.
“It’s an all-hands-on-deck situation, but it’s also an all-technologies-on-deck situation,” said DOE chief commercialization officer Vanessa Chan in a webinar last week introducing the new reports. “We want to ensure that we’re looking at all technologies that can help toward the president’s ambitious climate goals.”
The “liftoff” reports mark one of the first concrete steps the Biden administration has taken to map out how the government will spend billions in recent clean energy funding. As a result of laws including the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act, which provides energy investments and boosts U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, the DOE now holds tens of billions in climate investments to spend over the next decade.
This huge pot of money means that the agency can help “buy down risk” for companies and private investors that remain hesitant to wade into new energy territory, according to Chan. The new reports highlight the federal government’s plans to help jump-start three new industries.
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