Progress in Hydrogen and Fuel Cells

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO) leads research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies across sectors—enabling innovation, a strong domestic economy, and a secure, resilient, and equitable clean energy future. HFTO’s activities are part of a broad portfolio of government and industry investment driving progress and enabling jobs across the United States. …

Advanced Microgrid Optimization Using Price-Elastic Demand Response and Greedy Rat Swarm Optimization for Economic and Environmental Efficiency

In this paper, a comprehensive energy management framework for microgrids that incorporates price-based demand response programs (DRPs) and leverages an advanced optimization method—Greedy Rat Swarm Optimizer (GRSO) is proposed. The primary objective is to minimize the generation cost and environmental impact of microgrid systems by effectively scheduling distributed energy resources (DERs), including renewable energy sources (RES) such as solar and wind, alongside fossil-fuel-based generators.

Four distinct demand response models—exponential, hyperbolic, logarithmic, and critical peak pricing (CPP)—are developed, each reflecting a different price elasticity of demand. These models are integrated with a flexible elasticity matrix to assess the dynamic consumer response …

Chemistry in Transition: Charting Solutions for a Low-Emissions Chemical Industry

The chemical industry is a paradox – while it is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, it is also critical to enabling emissions reduction solutions across sectors and providing materials for modern life.

Chemicals and materials systems are integral to daily life, underpinning 96% of all manufactured goods. They are also expected to play a pivotal role in climate action, chemicals will play a role in driving 75% of global energy transition technologies like solar PV cells and EV batteries and components. Despite this potential, the chemical industry remains one of the largest industrial emitters of GHGs, …

Global Solar: Four Things to Look for in 2025

The global solar market continued its growth trend in 2024, reaching 495 GWdc of installed capacity – a 14% increase on the previous year. Will that trend continue in 2025? Power demand will continue to rise across regions due to the proliferation of data centres and growing electrification trends. But could policy uncertainty, protectionist measures and interconnection and transmission bottlenecks halt the annual growth trend of solar buildout?

Drawing on insight from Lens Power, the authors set out their view of the factors that will shape the year ahead – and beyond – in Global Solar: Four Things to Look …

Financing the Energy Transition: Meeting a Rapidly Evolving Electricity Demand

To align the energy sector with net-zero emissions by 2050, annual investment must increase from $2 trillion today to ~$4.5 trillion. This report argues for a targeted, standardized approach to reducing the cost of financing and mitigating the risks of energy transition projects. Collaboration between investors, industry executives, policy-makers and financial institutions is essential.

Challenges facing investment in energy transition technologies include high upfront costs, increased risks, inflation, supply chain constraints and high interest rates. Each region faces unique barriers, particularly developing economies, which receive just 15% of global energy transition investment.

This white paper advocates addressing the following key …

Powering the Future: Overcoming Battery Supply-Chain Challenges with Circularity

Electric vehicle battery supply chains are marked by geographic concentration in mining and manufacturing, combined with a globalized distribution of materials. This model increases emissions, weakens resilience, and risks harming developing economies through unregulated cross-border transfers of used batteries. Meanwhile, first-life battery design focuses heavily on performance metrics like cost, range and safety, often neglecting end-of-life considerations such as repairability, recyclability and reuse potential. The lack of effective tracking systems for battery materials hinders responsible sourcing and informed decision-making across the life cycle.

This paper, written in partnership with the Global Battery Alliance and RMI, examines these challenges, highlighting the …

Distributed Energy Resource Interconnection Roadmap

The Distributed Energy Resource (DER) Interconnection Roadmap (PDF) identifies solutions to address challenges in the interconnection of clean energy resources to the distribution and sub-transmission grids. The roadmap was produced by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange (i2X)—led by the DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) and Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO)—and published in January 2025. It provides the diverse group of interconnection stakeholders with strategies to improve interconnection processes to meet the growing demand for distributed energy resources.

The U.S. electricity system is changing rapidly. An important driver of this change is the growing deployment of …

As US Northeast Green Energy Grows, Hybrid Solar Niche Poised to Expand

The US Northeast, including New York and the six states that make up New England, features support for the key revenue streams that underpin solar-plus-storage investment, including organized capacity markets, renewable energy credit markets and procurement goals for battery storage specifically. While these factors drive a forecast of stable revenues at reasonable confidence, they do not by themselves ensure successful investments under forecast market conditions. Capacity revenues to battery storage facilities are subject to some uncertainty, and the presence of competitive hydroelectric generation in the region, including pumped storage, constrains growth in arbitrage revenues evident in other markets. In comparing …

Manufacturing and Energy: Advancing Productivity, Prosperity, and the Environment

A resurgence in U.S. manufacturing is in the offing, propelled by private investment and reinforced through public policies and incentives. Manufacturing makes large contributions to incomes, employment, and tax bases at national, state, and local community levels. Domestic manufacturing is crucial to economic competitiveness and to the resilience and security of supply chains for critical products and materials. However, manufacturing also consumes large amounts of energy and can contribute to adverse environmental impacts, including pollution and climate-altering emissions.

There are significant opportunities, many readily available, to improve manufacturing energy and environmental performance while enhancing productivity and competitiveness. State and Territory …

Equitable Resilience: Opportunities to Advance Solar Paired with Battery Storage in Historically Marginalized Communities

The number of solar and battery storage installations nationwide is increasing year-over-year. Yet, these technologies remain largely inaccessible to historically marginalized communities, including low-income communities, communities of color, and environmental justice communities. As power outages continue to increase in occurrence and severity – due, primarily, to more extreme weather events and the failure of outdated fossil-fuel polluting energy infrastructure – the economic, reliability, and resilience benefits of battery storage will be more important than ever.  

This report by Clean Energy Group (CEG) presents findings resulting from the Resilience, Storage and Grid Benefits Community of Practice, an effort through the Equitable …