DOE awards ‘smart grid’ and ARPA-E grants

President Obama’s 28 October announcement of $3.4 billion in grants to begin a major upgrading of the US electricity grid came a day after the Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy (ARPA–E) grant program at the Department of Energy (DOE) named the winners of its first $151 million in grants to support 37 high-risk research projects that could advance novel clean-energy technologies.

The 100 “smart grid” grants will begin a modernization of the US electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system—a process that when completed will save consumers $20 billion over 10 years on their utility bills, Obama said. Ranging from $200 million to less than $1 million, the awards will pay for utilities to install 18 million “smart” meters, covering 13% of US homes—devices that will allow customers to monitor their electricity use in real time, and as utilities begin to move to dynamic electricity pricing, to program new smart appliances to operate when rates are low.

The awards will also pay for the replacement of 200,000 transformers and the automation of 700 substations—5% of the US total—improvements that will allow utilities to respond faster and more effectively to restore service after power interruptions. More than 850 sensors called phasor measurement units are to be installed, providing improved monitoring of conditions on the grid and helping prevent minor disturbances from cascading into power outages or blackouts. Awardees, who were chosen from 400 grant applicants, are putting up another $4.7 billion of their own capital for the grid upgrades.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu traveled to Google Inc’s Mountain View, California, headquarters to unveil the ARPA–E grants, which are to support R&D for especially high-risk, but potentially high-payoff concepts for producing clean energy. All 37 awards went for projects proposed by universities or to small and large companies, though a number of DOE national laboratories were teamed with awardees. ARPA–E will award its remaining fiscal year 2010 funding of $249 million through a second solicitation later this year. As with the smart grid program, ARPA–E’s resources are from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“We’re here to announce a portfolio of bold new research projects, any one of which could do for energy what Google did for the Internet,” Chu said. Renewable energy, energy storage, industrial and building efficiency, petroleum-free vehicles, and carbon capture are all represented. DOE received 3700 responses—"a stunning level of interest"—Chu said, when it first solicited expressions of interest in the ARPA–E program in April. The agency invited 300 of those to submit full proposals, which were put before 500 expert reviewers.

David Kramer