The DOE has announced $47 million in new funding for seven projects as part of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s (ARPA-E) Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy technologies with Untapped Potential (SCALEUP) program. These selections bring total SCALEUP program funding to over $70 million, building on $24 million in previously announced SCALEUP “Fast Track” selections. These new SCALEUP teams are receiving funding to support the scaling of high-risk and potentially disruptive new technology for EV batteries, data center efficiency, grid modernization, emissions mitigation and energy storage.

“ARPA-E’s SCALEUP program builds on the research and development mission of the agency to help take transformational energy technologies out of the lab and into the market,” said ARPA-E Director Lane Genatowski. “These selections directly address the challenge that so many early-stage energy concepts face in scaling and will help awardees to continue on the path of commercialization.”

The program’s goal is to translate the performance achieved at the lab- and bench-scale to commercial viability, supporting energy technologies that require scaling-up or pre-pilot projects to enable a path to market and ultimately lead to commercial impact. SCALEUP awardees will focus on further developing existing technologies, for which the proof-of-concept R&D challenges have been addressed, that can establish real-world impact through scaling.

ARPA-E developed the SCALEUP program to help successful ARPA-E-funded technologies to demonstrate a path to market and be well-positioned for investment from the private sector. These newly selected SCALEUP teams will add to previously selected “Fast Track” teams announced in September 2020, who received early funding due to disruptions in the investor and R&D financing communities caused by COVID-19.

Source: DOE