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
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Fast Pitch: Nuclear & Materials
Dr. Ahmed Diallo, Program Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
Dr. Robert Ledoux, Program Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
Dr. Jenifer Shafer, Program Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Grid Storage Beyond the Hype
Intermittent resources such as wind and solar play a greater role in energy generation. Concurrently, consumer, commercial, and industrial power consumption increasingly electrifies. Energy storage will play a critical role in balancing supply and demand across the grid, regardless of time of day, weather, or season. This is reflected in the public funding and private capital flowing to the development of new battery and alternative energy storage technologies and projects. This panel will explore the role that storage currently plays in the grid and, more importantly, what to expect in the future, and when. Our panelists will discuss the technologies and the business cases behind recent high-profile long duration energy storage projects to provide an inside view into this key enabler of the energy transition.
Yayoi Sekine, Head of Energy Storage, BloombergNEF
Dr. Jesse Jenkins, Assistant Professor, Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University
Julia Souder, Executive Director, Long Duration Energy Storage Council
TJ Winter, Vice President, Strategic Technologies, Fluence
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
What’s Behind the Corporate Curtain?
This panel will examine large company absorption and adoption of companies and their technologies. When a company conducts an IPO or other type of capital raise, everything happens in the public eye. Conversely when one company acquires another’s technology – or the company itself – the process is opaquer and that technology sometimes doesn’t resurface for years, if ever. Large company executives will pull back the curtain and explain what happens to the energy technologies they acquire after the purchase and how they are absorbed or adopted into the acquirer’s operations. Learn more about this potential road to commercialization.
Christy Wyskiel, Director, Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures
Dr. Patty Chang-Chien, Vice President & General Manager, Boeing Research and Technology
Roman Mueller, Executive Director and Principal, RTX Ventures
Limor Spector, General Manager, Incubation Technologies, GE Research
Mark Szendro, Director, Battery Materials North America, BASF
11:00 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Tech Demo: CHARGED: Commercialization of Highly Accelerated Reliable Grid-Networked Energy Delivery
Team: Imagen Energy
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Tech Demo: Predictive Data-Driven Vehicle Dynamics and Powertrain Control: from ECU to the Cloud
University of California, Berkeley (UCB)
This NEXTCAR project seeks to reduce vehicle
energy consumption by 30%, via connectivity and automation technologies.
If scaled to all on-road vehicles in the U.S., these technologies
potentially eliminate 4.5 quads of energy consumption. Our project
pursues three use-cases. The first leverages communication with
signalized intersections to automate the speed profile and lane changing
to minimize energy consumption, in arterial roads. Second, we automate
the parking and charging behaviors in parking lots via
vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. Third,
we minimize fleet vehicle energy consumption via optimized dispatching,
routing, and charge scheduling in urban environments. We invite you to
engage with us on scaling this technology to maximize impact.
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Student PITCHES (Proposing Ideas for Technologies that Can Harness Energy Sustainably)
Pitchers:
Aditya Mishra, University of California, San Diego: “DERConnect: Voltage state estimation in partially known power network”
Bogdan Dryzhakov, University of Tennessee – Knoxville: ” Single Cells with Tandem Power”
Gustavo Marquez, Stanford University and Melissa Zhang, Harvard University: “RockFix”
Lindsay Walter, University of Utah: “Power at the nanoscale: Waste heat recovery using near-field thermophotovoltaics”
Shomik Verma, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: ” High-temperature ceramic combustor with thermophotovoltaic power generation”
Sichao Cheng, University of Maryland: “Self-sustaining methane conversion facility for methane flaring sites with economical feasibility” Panel:
Dr. Halle Cheeseman, Program Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA‑E)
Dr. Paul Glaser, Hydrogen & Future Fuels Leader, GE Vernova Advanced Research
Dr. Brenda Haendler, Director of Technology Management, Breakthrough Energy Fellows
Gautam Phanse, Strategic Relations Manager, Chevron Tech Ventures
Mark Szendro, Director, Battery Materials North America, BASF
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
American Energy Innovators Network: Designing Federal Policy for Energy Startups
The American Energy Innovators Network (AEIN) is hosting a policy discussion for Summit participants. Join us for a brief overview of the policy landscape affecting clean energy startups, entrepreneurs, and investors, and discussion on policy priorities for the upcoming year. This conversation is open to anyone who is interested.
Dr. Tanya Das, Senior Associate Director of Energy Innovation, Bipartisan Policy Center
Natalie Tham, Policy Analyst, Energy Program, Bipartisan Policy Center
1:15 p.m. – 1:35 p.m.
Keynote Address
Arun Majumdar, Dean, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability
1:35 p.m. – 1:55 p.m.
Fireside Chat
Mujeeb Ijaz, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, ONE
Alicia R. Knapp, President and Chief Executive Officer, BHE Renewables
Kathi Vidal, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
1:55 p.m. – 2:05 p.m.
Keynote Address
Wes Moore, Governor, State of Maryland
2:15 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Keynote Address
* Dr. David Victor, Professor of Innovation and Public Policy, School of Global Policy and Strategy, University of California San Diego, BP
2:30 p.m. – 2:40 p.m.
Keynote Address
Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senate, Alaska
2:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.
Keynote Address & Fireside Chat
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Fredrick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium
Evelyn Wang, Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA‑E)
3:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Fast Pitch: Sustainability & Resilience
Dr. Simon Freeman, Program Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
Dr. Anil Ganti, Fellow, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
Dr. Philseok Kim, Program Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
Dr. Marina Sofos, Program Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E)
3:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Best Practices and Challenges for Product or Process Lifecycle Analyses
The focus on sustainability across multiple industry sectors has enhanced the need for the development of highly sophisticated Lifecycle Analysis (LCA) tools for revenue generating products and processes. These tools help companies estimate and reduce their Scope 1-3 emissions to meet the sustainability scorecards they have been mandated to report on. Development of such models are a non-trivial task requiring a comprehensive understanding of cradle-to-grave supply chains and acquiring and analyzing data sources, for accurate reporting. This panel session will focus on identifying some of the challenges and best practices for the development of LCA tools for the aviation, datacenter, oil & gas, and materials manufacturing industries and what transformational technologies are needed. Perspectives from the panelists will focus on what is possible versus what is needed and how the uptake of these tools for future decision making can be enhanced.
Dr. Stephen McCord, Research Area Specialist Lead, University of Michigan Global CO2 Initiative
Michelle Krynock, Senior Life Cycle Analyst, National Energy Technology Laboratory
Laurette Lahey, Senior Director of Flight and Vehicle Technology, Boeing Research & Technology
Cory Tatarzyn, Global Zero Waste Program Manager, General Motors
3:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Nuclear Power for our Low Carbon Future: Rethinking the Nuclear Waste Challenge
The energy transition will require a variety of low-carbon energy technologies and, while early in the transition, the premium for constant, on-demand power is becoming increasingly important. One option for low-carbon, baseload electricity is nuclear energy. Several advanced reactor companies are targeting deployment towards the latter part of this decade, though a common question relevant to their rapid deployment is, “What should we do about the waste?”. The current disposal plan, decided in the late 1970s and endorsed multiple times since, for nuclear waste is to permanently dispose of the material in a deep geological repository. However, the existing nuclear waste sits in interim storage at approximately 100 locations throughout the United States and the suitability of a potential deep geological repository to effectively sequester nuclear waste from advanced reactors is unclear. Fortunately, technologies, including waste forms, recycling, transmutation, etc., have dramatically evolved and the potential to reassess optimal disposal options is timely. This panel will discuss how potential technological innovations could have significant impact on the viability of various disposal options.
Dr. Bob Ledoux, Program Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA‑E)
Dr. Jenifer Shafer, Program Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA‑E)
Dr. Per Peterson, Professor, U.C. Berkeley
Sylvia Saltzstein, Manager of Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage, Transportation, Security, and Safeguards R&D, Sandia National Laboratory
Jackie Siebens, Director of Policy and External Affairs, Oklo Inc.
Dr. Kris Singh, Chief Executive Officer, Holtec
5:15 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Tech Demo: Analytics Data Hub and the Intelligence Potential of Clarivate’s Global Research & Innovation Data
Clarivate Partner Demo
6:45 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Tech Demo: Compact Diffusion Bonded Printed-Circuit Heat Exchanger Development Using Nickel Superalloys for Highly Power Dense and Efficient Modular Energy Production Systems
Vacuum Process Engineering (VPE) will present progress on the design and manufacturing development of compact diffusion bonded microchannel heat exchangers using high nickel superalloys. Microchannel heat exchangers are constructed from laminating layers of sheet metal together in a solid-state joining process where the sheet metal layers contain small semicircular channels to accommodate fluid flow with alternating flow paths. Typically, microchannel heat exchangers are constructed from stainless steel alloys which limits their operating conditions to ~650 °C at ~20 MPa. The development of alternative channel forming and bonding techniques developed in this project for high nickel alloys such as IN740H allow for the operating envelope of microchannel heat exchangers to be extended to 800 °C at 28 MPa. A prototype 5-kW heat exchanger constructed from IN740H and operated at temperatures above 800 °C will be presented.
7:30 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.
Tech Demo: AERIALIST – 2nd generation motor for lArge ElectRIc Aircraft propuLsIon SysTems
Team: Wright Electric
5:00 p.m. – 6:45 p.m.
ARPA-E: The Team Transforming Energy
ARPA-E has a history of making a difference – not just in the way the United States uses energy, but also in the lives and careers of those who join the ARPA-E team. The Program Director, T2M Advisor, and Fellow positions can play a decisive role in a career both by providing the opportunity to revolutionize the energy sector and positioning team members for future prospects that may have otherwise been out of reach or unimagined. These positions are term limited to drive a consistent influx of new ideas and perspectives into the agency and grow its alumni network throughout the energy innovation community. Join new ARPA-E Director Dr. Evelyn Wang as she sits with a panel of ARPA-E team members and alumni to discuss their experience working at the agency, how they decided that a role at ARPA-E was the right fit for them, and how ARPA-E served as a pivotal point in their career trajectory.
Evelyn Wang, Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA‑E)
Susan Babinec, Program Lead, Stationary Storage, Argonne National Laboratory
Dr. Bob Ledoux, Program Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA‑E)
Ashwin Salvi, Chief Operating Officer, Atmoszero