Workshop Report on Increasing National Labs’ Capacity to Support Clean Energy Deployment

The United States is currently experiencing a new industrial revolution: a revolution to decarbonize the industrial sector while massively expanding domestic clean energy manufacturing and supply chains. In the last three years, private companies have announced over $400 billion in clean energy manufacturing investments, buoyed by supportive federal incentives via the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. As a result, over 500 communities are seeing new or expanded manufacturing facilities come to town, bringing high-quality jobs and unprecedented community benefits with them. These investments are providing American industries and manufacturers a competitive advantage in the race to lead the world in low and net-zero emissions.

To support this historic level of commercial-scale investment and deployment, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) created the Office of the Under Secretary for Infrastructure. With this expanded mission, there is an important opportunity to leverage and expand the National Laboratories’ capabilities for greatest impact.

For decades, the National Laboratories have led the world in accelerating transformational research and development (R&D) breakthroughs. In April, DOE’s Office of Infrastructure brought leaders from DOE’s Office of the Under Secretary for Science and Innovation, the National Laboratories, and industry together to ask: what if the National Laboratories could do more to accelerate clean energy deployment and industrial decarbonization?

A group of 75 leaders from across the National Laboratory system, DOE, and private industry met to discuss the key National Laboratory capabilities needed to meet new and increased demands for demonstration and deployment (D&D) support.

Workshop participants affirmed the National Laboratories’ abilities to expand their support for a range of first-of-a-kind demonstrations and deployment-scale efforts and expressed enthusiasm to continue these discussions across the National Laboratory network.

Read the report for participants’ long-term vision of a nimble, collaborative National Laboratory network whose expanded D&D capabilities could build upon the Laboratories’ significant existing strengths.