7 Winning Projects Selected for Semi-Finalists of the CABLE Conductor Manufacturing Prize
 

Today, as part of Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Earth Day celebration, the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) announced the winners for Stage 2 of the Conductivity-enhanced materials for Affordable, Breakthrough Leapfrog Electric and thermal applications (CABLE) Conductor Manufacturing Prize. This three-stage competition is awarding up to $4.5 million to accelerate the development of affordable, manufacturable materials that conduct electricity more efficiently to outfit America’s manufacturing and transportation infrastructures, in advancement of the clean energy economy.

As electrification grows worldwide, so too will demand for affordable conductivity-enhanced materials and applications, particularly those with increased enhancement at elevated industrial process temperatures. Increasing electrical conductivity, even incrementally, will directly advance our nation’s progress toward achieving the Biden-Harris Administration’s goals of carbon-pollution-free electricity by 2035 and net-zero carbon emissions, economy-wide, by 2050.

In Stage 1 of the CABLE Prize, teams submitted breakthrough concepts for more conductive materials that could be used for both electrical and thermal energy applications. Stage 2 required teams to produce a sample of their material for evaluation by CABLE Prize-approved testing labs.

The seven winning projects selected for Stage 2 will receive a collective $1.4 million and $700,000 in vouchers and will now advance to the third and final stage of the competition, wherein they will develop detailed commercialization plan for their designs and manufacture a larger sample of their materials for additional testing. Up to four teams will split a total prize pool of at least $2 million in Stage 3.

Click here for a list of selected projects.

The CABLE Conductivity Manufacturing Prize is funded by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) and administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) through DOE’s American Made Challenges Program.