NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

Current Status and Future Perspectives of Clean Energy Technologies at NREL

RD20 Conference for Clean Energy Technologies

Bill TumasAssociate Lab Director

Materials and Chemical S&T

National Renewable Energy LabNREL

Tokyo, JapanOctober 11, 2019

www.nrel.gov

Innovation for Our Energy FutureNREL | 2

SolarWind Water

Geothermal

BioenergyVehicle

Technologies

Hydrogen

BuildingsAdvanced

Manufacturing

Government Energy Management

Grid ModernizationHigh-Performance

Computing

Data and Visualizations

NREL advances the science and engineering of energy efficiency, sustainable transportation, and renewable power technologies and provide the knowledge to integrate and optimize energy systems

Foundational Science

Energy Analysis and Decision Support

Bioenergy

Vehicle Technologies

Hydrogen

Sustainable Transportation

Buildings

Advanced Manufacturing

Government Energy Management

Energy Efficiency

RenewablePower

Sustainable Transportation

Energy Efficiency

Energy SystemsIntegration

Innovation for Our Energy FutureMaterials Processes/Components Devices Systems

• Understand limitations and enhance performance in current systems • Accelerate emerging technologies • Develop next generation concepts

Cost ($/W) Performance

Reliability

Scalability Manufacturability Sustainability Circularity

Systems Integration Balance of System

Renewable Energy Conversion, Storage and Integration

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NREL International CollaborationsAGREEMENTS

• MOUs• CRADAs, ACT• User Facility Agreements • Material Transfer Agreements• Technical Service Agreements• Funds-In Agreements

FUNDING• U.S. government-funded programs• Partner-funded projects • In-kind collaboration

OTHER COLLABORATIONS• Visits and personnel

exchange/training • General information exchange• Joint publications• Focused Workshops

https://www.nrel.gov/workingwithus/technology-partnership-agreements.htmlhttps://www.nrel.gov/workingwithus/international.html

NREL has over 100 collaborative agreements with international entities: • Companies • Foundations• Government Agencies• Research Institutions • Universities• US AID

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Vision: Create an environment for cooperation and innovation “without borders” to develop and ready revolutionary solar electricity technologies towards the long-term success of India’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Energy Mission and US DOE’s Sunshot Initiative

Objectives: • High impact R&D and analysis for PV, CSP

and Integration• ID critical barriers and issues • Collaborative project structure & IP mgmt• Effective bi-lateral collaboration• Workforce development

Budget (2012-2017): $25M for 5 years (50% India, 50% US)Cost share

www.seriius.org

2012-2017

• Research challenges span materials science, module design, systems reliability, product integration, and manufacturing

• Reuse, recycling and addressing embedded energy important for sustainability • More flexible grids that can handle high levels of PV

- Mitigate devaluation of solar at high penetration - Energy storage and demand response needed and can enhance resiliency

• Increased electrification of transportation, industrial processes, buildings- Solar to X, Power to X (fuels, materials, products)

N. Haegel et al. Science 356, 141 (2017); 364, 6443 (2019)

International Workshops on Terawatt-Scale PV Trajectories and Challenges

K/ Zhu et al.

Advanced PV Concepts from NREL—we’re not done yet

A. Tamboli et al. N. Haegel et al.

J. Luther et al.

W. Metzger et al.

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FuelOlefins

Aromatics

ChemicalPlastic

Refined Metals

ElectrochemicalWater SplittingCO₂ upgrading

Nitrogen upgradingPhotochemical

PhotoBiologicallPhotoChemical

Hybrid Photochemical and BioChemicalEnergy Storage

Hybrid Chemical/Biochemical Hybrid Processes Electrochemical + ChemicalProcessingMicrobial ElectrosynthesisElectrochemical + Biochemistry ProcessingReactive Carbon Capture and ConversionSeparation Science

Electrons to Molecules

Science and Technology

Electron FoundryScience and Technology

Transformation

ChemicalConversions

BiologicalConversions

Refining

Separations

Ores Wasteplastic

NREL Electrons to Molecules

NREL: B. Pivovar, K. Wipke, H. Dinh, J. Kurtz, M. Ruth, K. Harrison, ….

https://www.energy.gov/eere/fuelcells/h2scale https://h2awsm.org

Research and Development NeedsElectrocatalystsMembranesDurability/TestingCell/Electrode LayerBalance of Plant

Lower cost power supplies, inverters; DC systems

H2 UtilizationCatalysisSeparationsProcess IntensificationReliability, Durability, Circularity

H2@Scale

10

NREL Approaches to CO2 Utilization (CO2U) and E2M

T. Deutsch, W. Smith, KC Neyerlin et al. P-C. Maness, K. Harrison et al. N. Neale, P. King, E. Miller, J. van de Lagemaat et al.

Electrocatalysis Abiotic/Biotic Hybrids Solar Fuels

The Electric Economy meets Synthetic Biology

Direct Sunlight to Fuels

Membrane Electrode Assemblies (MEAs)for scale-up: current, area, size (kW)

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Future Perspectives • Discovery & development of high-performance materials critical• Still major opportunities for cost reduction and

performance enhancement

• Scalable, low CAPEX manufacturing processes• Hydrogen production and utilization central

• Carbon utilization will require further advances in selectivity and efficiency

- Hybrid processes (e.g. abiotic/biotic) - Artificial photosynthesis remains a grand challenge

• Innovation in energy systems integration - Advanced batteries needed for multi-scale energy storage- Grid of the future will require large amounts of energy storage

• Science of reliability, durability and circularity - “Design to re-mine”

Solar/RE