Input Stories

The Energy Department has unveiled blueprints showing industry and policymakers how to bring three new clean-energy technologies from the lab to market and scale them up, according to E&E News’ ENERGYWIRE (subscription). The cost of the initiatives could surpass $200 billion by 2030.

What’s going on: The reports, developed partly for private-sector investors, “are the first in a larger series dubbed the ‘Pathways to Commercial Liftoff’ reports, which will focus on how a broad range of energy technologies can become ‘a largely self-sustaining market.’”

• Advanced nuclear, clean hydrogen and long-duration storage will require investments of at least $129 billion and possibly more than $260 billion. (To date, roughly $40 billion in public and private investment has been poured into these sectors.) 

Betting on nuclear: “Advanced nuclear could become a major contributor to net-zero goals in 2050, accounting for around 200 gigawatts of the firm power capacity necessary to meet the midcentury target, according to DOE.”

• “But the department said that within the next few years, at least one specific nuclear design needs to emerge as a clear leader by winning contracts to build anywhere from five to 10 reactors.”

The big picture: The Biden administration’s goal of 100% carbon-free electricity by 2035 and net-zero emissions across the economy by 2050 “will hinge partly on commercializing the three technologies,” the reports say.