The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) announced $150 million in funding will be provided through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to support site-wide infrastructure and laboratory modernization upgrades at all three of NETL’s research sites.

The IRA of 2022 makes the single largest investment in climate and energy in American history, enabling America to tackle the climate crisis, advancing environmental justice, securing America’s position as a world leader in domestic clean energy manufacturing, and putting the United States on a pathway to achieving the administration’s climate goals, including a net-zero economy by 2050.

The IRA investment will be used to enhance core strengths at NETL’s three complexes in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Morgantown, West Virginia; and Albany, Oregon, including:

• Alloy Development — Investments in Albany’s Advanced Alloy Development Center will be used to formulate even more cost-effective, durable metal alloys to develop cutting-edge energy-producing processes and facilities that can generate affordable clean energy and support growth in emerging U.S. industries, such as hydrogen transport and use.
• Computation, Data and Visualization — Investments will be used across all three NETL sites for improvements to ESNet, DOE’s high-performance, unclassified network built to support scientific research. The funds will provide resources for the Geological, Environmental & Materials Computational & Visualization Laboratory to apply artificial intelligence and machine learning to visualize and monitor the movement of carbon dioxide stored underground to address potential challenges. Investments also will supplement existing funding for the Computational Science and Engineering Center to build a new facility in Morgantown. The new facility will include innovative collaboration space for the next level of high-performance computing to accelerate breakthroughs in more abundant, affordable, and reliable clean energy solutions such as clean hydrogen and carbon dioxide removal technologies.
• Process Development — Investments in NETL’s Carbon Conversion R&D and Critical Materials R&D programs will support modernization of laboratory facilities in Morgantown and Pittsburgh to build in flexibility for these emerging and mission-critical areas of research and development.

The remaining investment will be used for site-wide infrastructure upgrades.

“This investment makes significant strides in enhancing NETL’s world-class scientific and technological capabilities, which are driving innovations essential to achieving the nation’s critical decarbonization goals,” said NETL Director Brian Anderson, Ph.D. “This funding authorized by the IRA will enable NETL scientists and engineers to accelerate their work toward delivering solutions for our nation’s sustainable energy future.”

NETL is a DOE national laboratory that drives innovation and delivers technological solutions for an environmentally sustainable and prosperous energy future. By leveraging its world-class talent and research facilities, NETL is ensuring affordable, abundant and reliable energy that drives a robust economy and national security, while developing technologies to manage carbon across the full life cycle, enabling environmental sustainability for all Americans.