ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit: Day One
The ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit (The Summit) is an annual conference and technology showcase that brings together experts from different technical disciplines and professional communities to think about America’s energy challenges in new and innovative ways. Now in its thirteenth year, the Summit offers a unique, three-day program aimed at moving transformational energy technologies out of the lab and into the market.
The summit is taking place at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, National Harbor, Maryland.
Agenda: Day One | Day Two | Day Three
| 10:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. | Opening Remarks & Keynote Address | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10:15 a.m. – 10:50 a.m. | Fireside Chat
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| 10:50 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. | Fireside Chat
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| 11:15 a.m. – 11:35 a.m. | Keynote Address
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| 11:35 a.m. – 11:55 a.m. | Fireside Chat
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| 11:55 a.m. – 12:10 p.m. | Keynote Address
| Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures
| 11:45 a.m. – 1:45 p.m. | Government Agency Networking Program (GANP)
| The Government Agency Networking Program (GANP) at the annual ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit provides an opportunity to meet with representatives from federal government agencies to discuss research interests, funding solicitations, grants, and other potential partnership opportunities.
| 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. | Fast Pitch: Batteries & Storage
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| 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. | Lab to Impact: Maximizing Success with Technology Licensing Offices
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In this panel, we will delve into best practices for how and when to engage with Technology Licensing Offices, and what common pitfalls to avoid. We will hear from a diversity of stakeholders representing an inventor, investor, lawyer, and licensing office, who will share their successes and failures – drawing from decades of experience. Whether you are looking to spin out a startup or license a technology, this panel will help provide practical takeaways on how to maximize success and impact.
| 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. | Prospects for Inertial Fusion Energy Given the Recent Achievement of Ignition at the National Ignition Facility
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This panel will address the following questions about the prospects for inertial fusion energy (IFE): Can lasers be made efficient enough to enable a commercial IFE power plant? Can targets be made inexpensively and at scale? Are the physics challenges going from indirect drive (as is done on the National Ignition Facility) to direct drive (or another concept) tractable?
| 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. | Fast Pitch: Industrial Processes
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| 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. | Decarbonizing the “Bus Stop” of the Future: Innovations in Urban Transportation
| As cities strive to reduce carbon emissions and improve urban transportation, defining the “bus stop” of the future, and with it, the necessary technology innovations and infrastructure, is becoming increasingly important. In high population density areas, where large metro systems are not available, the energy implications of the shift towards electrified and on-demand mobility options must be considered. Ride-hailing services currently optimize for pick-up proximity, but what does the equivalent approach for passenger transit look like in these situations and what role does energy efficiency need to play when the most convenient option is continued reliance on privately owned, personally driven cars? How does the increase in car sales during the pandemic further factor into future solutions? This thought-provoking panel will explore the disruptive innovations and flexible options that can address the energy consumption of future modes of urban transportation and tackle the question of how to ensure equity for all.
| 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. | Beyond VC: Alternative Funding Sources for Startups
| Panelists from a range of non-dilutive (federal, state and non-profit) and “less-dilutive” (venture debt, in various structures) funding sources will discuss how energy- and climate-tech startups can navigate non-traditional funding sources to best support their companies’ growth plans.
| 5:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. | Tech Demo: Advanced Operation & Maintenance Techniques implemented in the Xe-100 Plant Digital Twin to reduce Fixed O&M Cost
| X-energy is an Advanced Reactor design company and an awardee of the ARPA-E GEMINA Program. The main objective of the GEMINA Program is to demonstrate how Digital Twins can reduce Fixed Operations & Maintenance (O&M) costs for the Advanced Reactors (i.e. the Xe-100). X-energy’s 3D Immersive Digital Twin Experience demonstrates the integration between the physics-based Xe-100 Simulator and a 3D virtual representation of the Xe-100 plant. Users can walk through and interact with the Virtual Reality (VR) model as if it were the real Xe-100 plant. During the design phases of the Xe-100, the 3D model is being used for iterative design reviews to incorporate feedback, optimize layouts, and inform future work. During the operation phase of the Xe-100, the 3D model will be used for training of plant staff, particularly Maintenance crews. Combined with X-DATA™, X-energy’s Digital Twin product, the 3D Immersive Environment supports the implementation of “Central Maintenance” concepts that will ultimately lead to a safer, more reliable, and more economic nuclear plant for the 21st century.
| 5:45 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. | Tech Demo: Low-cost non-destructive plant root phenotyping
| Tomographic Electrical Rhizosphere Imager (TERI) is a technology aiming to make plant root phenotyping easier and faster. Root digging, washing, photographing, counting, and analysis have been the standard practice for field scale root phenotyping for a very long time. This is a process that is low throughput and very time and labor consuming. TERI aims to disrupt this practice to significantly accelerate plant root phenotyping at field scales to help accelerate the development of new root-superior plant varieties that are more resource efficient and climate resilient. TERI technology is based on the dialectic properties and behavior of plant root systems and can work under almost any type of soil, moisture, and plant species conditions. The lightweight of the hardware system and the user-friendly software interface make the system very easy to use by anyone without the technical background.
| 6:30 p.m. – 6:45 p.m. | Tech Demo: Basin-SCAN: Basin Scale Continuous oil and gas emissions mitigAtion Network
| Founded in 2018 through the ARPA-E MONITOR program, LongPath Technologies is the “5G” of methane measurement and abatement, providing a proven and standardized approach across the value chain. Our specialized laser systems detect, locate and quantify site-level emissions across 20+ square mile regions with a single laser tower, and the continuous emissions monitoring networks provide actionable real-time alerts and quantitative emission rates to oil and gas operators. LongPath’s innovative regional-scale solution provides continuous, reliable data at the lowest cost to the customer.
| 7:15 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. | Tech Demo: Pilot Production for Commercial Sampling of Rare-Earth-Free Iron Nitride Permanent Magnets
| Niron Magnetics has developed the first powerful permanent magnets free of rare earths and other critical materials. Niron’s Iron Nitride-based Clean Earth Magnet® technology makes use of globally available commodity raw material inputs. As an ARPA-E SCALEUP awardee, Niron is expanding its pilot production to support commercial design partnerships, including those with GM, Volvo Cars, Western Digital, Tymphany Audio, and Premium Sound Solutions.
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Nominations of Dr. Kathryn Huff to be Asst. Secretary of Energy (Nuclear), Dr. David Applegate to be USGS Director, Carmen Cantor to be Asst. Secretary of the Interior (Insular and International Affairs), Dr. Evelyn Wang to be ARPA-E Director
The first business meeting will be held on Thursday, April 28, 2022, at 10:00 a.m., immediately preceding the previously scheduled hearing in Room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.
The purpose of the business meeting is to consider the nomination of Dr. Kathryn Huff to be an Assistant Secretary of Energy (Nuclear Energy).
Following that, the next hearing will be held.
The purpose of the hearing is to consider the nominations of:- Dr. David Applegate to be Director of the United States Geological Survey;
- Ambassador Carmen G. Cantor to be an Assistant Secretary of the Interior (Insular and International Affairs); and
- Dr. Evelyn Wang to be Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, Department of Energy.