March 21, 2011—Building on their previous cooperation, the U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense recently announced new steps to strengthen national security through the continued development of advanced clean energy technologies, further leveraging the expertise and resources of both departments in everything from advanced vehicles to energy storage.
DOD aims to exploit early technology breakthroughs funded through DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). Using ARPA-E’s technical expertise in grid-scale energy storage, batteries for electric vehicles, and power electronic, DOD plans to develop an energy storage device that will provide future defense systems with long-duration storage suitable for a variety of applications, including military bases and vehicles and eventually commercial grids.
Cost-effective energy storage is also of interest to DOD’s Installations and Environment office, which will work with ARPA-E to assess technology requirements for storage across military installations. On-site renewable electricity generation combined with grid-scale storage would allow defense installations to maintain critical functions in the event of grid disruption and to enhance installations’ efforts to develop micro-grids for energy security, notes DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
