DOE’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative would accelerate manufacturing of clean energy products and strengthen competitiveness of the U.S. clean energy sector in the global energy market.
On March 26, 2013, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced a new program – the Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative – to support manufacturing of clean energy products in the U.S. The DOE announced the initiative at the opening of its Oak Ridge Carbon Fiber Technology Facility in Tennessee. The facility manufactures cost-efficient and lightweight carbon fiber used in electric vehicles, energy storage components, and wind turbines. According to the DOE, carbon fiber can reduce the weight of a passenger car by 50% and enhance fuel efficiency by approximately 35%. DOE estimates that the material could cut the weight of vehicles by up to 750 pounds by 2020.
The Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative aims to boost production of clean energy technologies and enhance energy productivity. To this end, it will utilize advanced manufacturing technologies, energy-efficiency measures, combined heat and power, and low-cost natural gas. The initiative will increase funding for R&D in clean energy manufacturing to support the manufacture of cost-competitive clean energy products from solar, wind, and geothermal energy; biofuels, and batteries. At the launch of the initiative, DOE awarded $23.5 million for five R&D projects. The agency announced an additional $15 million funding opportunity to cut manufacturing costs of solar power generation and demonstrate technologies that would facilitate commercial-grade production in the coming years. Among other goals, the initiative intends to issue a funding opportunity to establish a manufacturing innovation institute. The goals build on existing efforts, such as Industrial Assessment Centers and Better Plants Challenge, to provide manufacturers with additional training on energy productivity improvement.
The initiative will facilitate private sector collaboration, new DOE funding, and enhanced evaluation of the clean energy manufacturing supply chain to make funding decisions. It also aims to prioritize strategic investments that would increase U.S. competitiveness in the global energy market.
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