When recently impeached US President* Donald Trump tapped an auto industry lobbyist to lead the US Department of Energy last fall, eyes rolled back into heads. Well, it looks like the wrong eyes rolled. Despite the Commander-in-Chief’s oft-repeated promise to save coal jobs, coal power plants are still closing and the latest energy storage news from the Department of Energy practically guarantees the death of coal for industrial use in the US.
Energy Storage & Advanced Manufacturing
The energy storage news was wrapped into a newly announced $187 million round of funding that aims to “strengthen U.S. manufacturing competitiveness.” Apparently that’s a different way of spelling n-o-m-o-r-e-c-o-a-l.
Fifty-five R&D projects in 25 states won awards under the initiative. As a group, they steer the US manufacturing sector toward high-efficiency processes that reduce the use of energy overall.
Heating and drying account for 70% of energy used in manufacturing processes, so that’s one key area of focus with $28.7 million in funding.
Projects relating to energy recycling, and onsite electricity and heat generation, get a $33.5 million chunk of the funding.
Projects related to energy storage get the lion’s share, with $124 million dedicated to 36 university and private-sector research efforts.
The Energy Department anticipates that these projects will “catalyze domestic battery manufacturing, phase-change storage materials for heating and cooling applications, and the development of innovative materials for harsh service conditions.”
As energy storage is the key that unlocks the full potential of wind and solar, the effect will be to admit more renewables into industrial processes.
The renewable energy trend is already beginning to take shape in the steel industry as well as aluminum production and other industrial sectors.
Not for nothing, but none of this is good new for natural gas, either.
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