WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Department of Energy today announced up to $10 million in funding to develop novel manufacturing technologies for superconducting tapes. Enabling widely available low-cost, high-performance superconducting (HTS) tapes could have major implications in the energy transition.
This funding supports President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to reach the clean energy future by bolstering American-made manufacturing, improving grid infrastructure, and strengthening domestic supply chains.
“ARPA-E recognizes that by improving superconductors and manufacturing them here at home, we can enable cost savings, faster production, improved capability, and ultimately speed up the energy transition," said ARPA-E Director Evelyn N. Wang. “I look forward to seeing the project teams that will work on this critical effort to develop these technologies which could lower emissions, bolster national security, increase energy independence, and improve energy efficiency."
The funding announced today is part of a new Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Exploratory Topic, Novel Superconducting Technologies for Conductors.
ARPA-E seeks proposals for novel scalable superconducting manufacturing methods that can increase the production rate and significantly reduce the cost of high-quality superconducting tapes or wires with uniform performance parameters. Projects as part of this Exploratory Topic will work to develop novel fabrication methods for HTS tape or wire that can concurrently:
1. Increase continuous tape length
2. Reduce electrical variation along the tape
3. Increase overall production rate while also
4. Significantly reducing the production costs and
5. Maintaining a high level of tape performance.
You can access more information on ARPA-E Exchange.