The projects are being funded under the agency’s new Reliable Electricity Based on Electrochemical Systems (REBELS) program.
The projects will focus on providing low-cost distributed energy and offer improvements to grid stability and help balance variable renewable technologies as well as reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
ARPA-E acting director Cheryl Martin said the 13 REBELS projects show how the agency is developing innovative technology options to transform and modernize America’s electric grid.
"Distributed generation technologies like these could fundamentally change the way America generates and stores energy," Martin added.
The electrochemical distributed power generation projects will use low-cost intermediate-temperature fuel cells (ITFCs).
Redox Power Systems has secured $5m for its low-temperature oxide fuel cell and SAFCell received $3.7m to develop a solid acid fuel cell that will operate at 250°C and uses no precious metals.
FuelCell Energy has received $3.5m to develop an intermediate-temperature fuel cell that will convert methane to methanol and United Technologies Research Center secured $3.2m for a residential fuel cell that will combine a building’s heating and power systems into single unit.
Other winners include Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Colorado School of Mines, Georgia Tech Research, Palo Alto Research Center, SiEnergy Systems, the University of California Los Angeles, the University of South Carolina, Argonne National Laboratory and Materials & Systems Research.
