Advancing Manufacturing for Our Clean Energy Future: 2023 in Review

Happy New Year! The Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) is heading into 2024 with a resolution to build on the momentum of last year's achievements. AMMTO has much to celebrate as we reflect on the successes of 2023. We really appreciated hearing directly from you—our integral stakeholders—during our spring peer review. The feedback provided was foundational as we look to 2024 and beyond. We wouldn’t be able to accomplish nearly as much important work without your input and partnership and we greatly look forward to further cultivating a strong advanced manufacturing community.

By the numbers, AMMTO’s inaugural year was one for the record books. We’ve invested in five groundbreaking funding opportunities, launched four prize competitions, and renewed three Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institutes and the Critical Materials Innovation Hub. Our teams have been busy ensuring that America is poised to meet its crucial manufacturing moment and we’d love to share some 2023 highlights with you.

Supporting the Clean Energy Transition and a Competitive U.S. Manufacturing Sector

Program Manager Huijuan Dai and the Next Generation Materials and Processes team have been hard at work this year and have:

• Invested in 14 projects across 10 states to receive a total of $45 million in federal funding: 
  • $15 million to a team led by GE Research for a project to develop, build, and refine manufacturing practices of large-scale machinery to manufacture wind and hydropower technology using 3D printing.
  • A combined $30 million for 13 projects committed to advancing innovative practices that will reshape the design, materials, and sustainability of manufacturing for wind turbine equipment.
• Renewed the Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII) for an initial $6 million with potential additional funding across four subsequent fiscal years to further advance the widespread adoption of smart manufacturing, a technology that remains crucial for the domestic competitiveness of clean energy manufacturing and to accelerate the nation’s transition to a net-zero carbon economy.  
• Renewed the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI) for an initial $6 million and potential funding across four subsequent fiscal years to further technological R&D and accelerate commercialization in the domestic composites manufacturing sector.
• Announced a $4.7 million request for proposals through the Cybersecurity Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CyManII) to fortify the cybersecurity landscape within American manufacturing. 

Investing in Manufacturing Technologies, the Manufacturing Workforce, and Innovation Ecosystems

Led by Acting Program Manager Tina Kaarsberg, the Energy Technology and Manufacturing and Workforce team has successfully:

• Renewed DOE’s first Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institute, PowerAmerica, for an initial $8 million, with potential funding across four subsequent fiscal years, to continue advancing domestic manufacturing of next-generation wide bandgap semiconductors for power electronics to aid economy-wide decarbonization and electrification.
• Selected eight projects for a total of $2 million, to drive innovation in lithium-ion battery rejuvenation, recycling, and reuse. Additionally, AMMTO awarded eight $75,000 prizes through Phase I of the Microbattery Design Prize, aimed at accelerating the commercialization of innovative microbattery designs and their integration into existing technologies needed for clean energy manufacturing. 
• Secured 61 pledges and counting across leading private industry, national labs, and academia to get the semiconductor industry back on the path of doubling energy efficiency every two years to increase the economic competitiveness of American semiconductor manufacturers and strengthen domestic clean energy supply chains through our Energy Efficiency Scaling for 2 Decades (EES2) national initiative. We’re also awarding funds through the Community Energy Innovation Prize, soliciting submissions for the prize’s Manufacturing Ecosystem Track.
• Announced 2023’s cohort of 21 Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP) innovators to develop next-generation technologies that will help power a clean energy future that benefits all Americans, as well as opened applications for the coming year’s cohort. This new batch of innovators will now spend two years embedded within four of DOE’s national energy labs working as fellows at either West Gate at National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), Cyclotron Road at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL), Chain Reaction Innovations at Argonne National Lab (ANL), or Innovation Crossroads At Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL).

De-Risking Critical Materials and Strengthening Supply Chains

Program Manager Kate Peretti and the Secure and Sustainable Materials team have led several game-changing announcements including having:

• Published a historic DOE Critical Materials Assessment and corresponding list of Critical Materials to inform our government-wide approach to these essential elements of clean energy technologies, including research into alternatives, substitutes, and recycling.  
• Launched a Critical Materials Collaborative to integrate critical materials applied research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) across DOE, government, industry, and academia, to accelerate the development of domestic critical material supply chains for the nation. 
  • Coinciding with the CMC launch, AMMTO announced a FOA to fund up to $10 million to establish a Critical Materials Accelerator. The Accelerator will advance early-stage science and technology solutions research toward commercialization. These critical minerals and materials solutions will help the manufacturing sector deliver the clean energy technologies needed to reach the DOE and the Biden-Harris Administration’s ambitious net-zero goals.
• Rebranded and renewed the Critical Materials Innovation Hub (formerly the Critical Materials Institute) for $30 million in the first year with potential additional funding across the subsequent four fiscal years to accelerate innovative scientific and technological solutions to develop resilient and secure supply chains for materials critical to the manufacturing of clean energy technologies. 
• Launched the Re-X Before Recycling clean energy prize, which will award a total of $5.6 million to teams that develop innovative ways to extend the lifetimes of products or parts via re-using, repairing, refurbishing, remanufacturing, or repurposing (“Re-X”) before recycling.  

AMMTO values innovation ecosystems. We work with all of you to envision and actualize our collective energy and manufacturing future through mission-focused strategic coordination and collaboration across government, industry, academia, national labs, institutes, and communities.

Now that we've reminded you of all the great accomplishments of 2023, we can't wait to share our resolutions for 2024! AMMTO will launch a series of strategies and roadmaps that will lay out materials and manufacturing advances to guide us towards the clean energy future. During this process, we’ll be looking for your ideas and input. We encourage you to stay tuned for opportunities to work together on the clean energy transition to ensure a healthier future for all Americans!