Late last month, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) selected five private-sector partners to conduct field validation of clean, efficient technologies in real-world industrial environments. These Industrial Technology Validation (ITV) projects will accelerate the adoption of cost-effective, emerging technologies that can help decarbonize the manufacturing sector. Each of the partners will receive approximately $300,000 worth of DOE technical assistance
The industrial sector contributed 23% of all greenhouse gas emissions in 2019, and decarbonizing U.S. industries is a key step toward meeting President Biden’s goal of a carbon-neutral economy by 2050.
“To achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, we must rapidly scale-up the development and deployment of clean-energy technologies by American manufacturers,” said Kelly Speakes-Backman, Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). “By bringing these emerging technologies out of the laboratory and onto the factory floor, DOE’s Industrial Technology Validation program moves us one step closer to commercializing the innovations that will make our clean energy future possible.”
The selected testbeds will evaluate innovative energy and water-treatment technologies in facilities operated by the following DOE Better Plants partners:
- Ahlstrom-Munksjo, Mosinee, WI: A leading company for sustainable and innovative fiber-based solutions for products like tea bags, coffee filters, food packaging, and face masks.
- Cleveland Cliffs, Cleveland, OH: The largest flat-rolled steel company and largest iron ore pellet producer in North America.
- Nissan North America, Canton, MS: Vehicle production plant with annual production capacity of 450,000 vehicles.
- Schneider Electric, Seneca, SC: Plant makes motor control centers used in applications ranging from production lines to wastewater treatment plants.
- Toyota North America, Blue Spring, MS: Vehicle production plant that produces the Toyota Corolla.
For each selected technology, a team of experts led by DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory will develop a measurement and verification plan, conduct on-site data collection and testing, analyze performance, and draft a field-validation report. These reports will be made publicly available to help inform future initiatives in industrial energy and water conservation.
DOE administers the ITV Pilot in collaboration with its Better Plants partners, a group of more than 240 leading manufacturers with ambitious energy productivity and sustainability goals. As part of this voluntary leadership program, these partners share tools and resources, technical assistance, peer-to-peer networking, and technology solutions.
As part of the announcement, the ITV Pilot officially issued a new Request for Proposals (RFP). The new RFP seeks additional technologies that can cost-effectively transform the operational efficiency of American industry and meet the following criteria:
- Improves industrial decarbonization, energy efficiency, and/or performance efforts
- Reduces water use, wastewater effluent, or waste creation
- Qualifies as “emerging/innovative” as defined in the RFP
- Potential to lead to demonstrable performance improvement due to wide-scale replicability.
This RFP is open to both vendors already teamed with a host site and individual technology vendors who have not yet identified a host site.
DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office invests in manufacturers, not-for-profit entities, research organizations, and institutions of higher education to identify challenges, catalyze innovations, and develop the cutting-edge material, process, and information technologies needed for an efficient and competitive domestic manufacturing sector.
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