US invests in Energy Frontier Research Centres

Focus on PV, CCS, nuclear, hydrogen, biomass, and energy storage

In August, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the delivery of $377 million in funding for 46 new Energy Frontier Research Centres. The centres will be hosted by universities, national laboratories, non-profit organisations, and private companies. The research domains that were chosen offer a good sampling of those technologies the US Department of Energy (DOE) sees as potentially important in the energy landscape of the future. The funded projects are focussed on:

• Improving the efficiency of photovoltaic systems; with particular projects dedicated to hybrid inorganic/organic PV cells and nanometre-sized PV cells
• Advanced nuclear techniques
• Carbon capture and geological storage (CCS)
• Hydrogen, including the production of hydrogen as well as hydrogen fuel cells
• Biomass, including energy-rich plants and the conversion of biomass into chemicals and fuels
• Energy storage systems
• Superconductivity (1 project)

Differing preferences between the US and the EU

It is an interesting exercise to compare this list with the energy research priorities of the EU. Some time ago, Philippe Busquin, Member of the European Parliament and former Commissioner for Research shared his personal view on the five major energy research issues that need to be addressed for a European energy policy in the 21st century. Those five issues were nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, solar photovoltaics, hydrogen, and carbon sequestration.

Comparing these preferences with those of the US DOE, the most striking difference is that biomass and energy storage systems are strongly supported in the US and considered of minor importance by EU. This perhaps reflects the power of agricultural interests in the US. Furthermore, as expected, the US Energy Frontier Research Centres do not cover nuclear fusion, since this domain is already supported by the US through cooperation in the ITER fusion International Research Cooperation, based in France.

There is a remarkable parallel between the US and the EU in their seemingly mutual strong belief in the potential of organic or semi-organic photovoltaic cells. Several of the research centers funded by the DOE are focussed on this topic, while Philippe Busquin gave it a special mention as an example of a photovoltaic technology that is worth further R&D efforts.