[GWSG] DOE loans; DOE grants; DOE's Sunshot; DOE's Earthshot; new goals needed for iron air battery

[Tilley, Al]

1. The Department of Energy’s loan program is meant to support projects which are not attracting private capital but show promise of reducing our carbon emissions. Best known for the bankrupt Solyndra (thanks to Republican propaganda), the loans supported Tesla in the early days. The program has been a remarkable money-maker and carbon killer. It is being revived. https://grist.org/accountability/tesla-vs-solyndra-what-really-happened-to-the-governments-green-loans/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily

2. The Department of Energy also provides direct support. Five small solar business have just been awarded $1 million apiece to pursue their development. https://cleantechnica.com/2021/07/20/u-s-energy-department-awards-over-5-million-to-small-solar-businesses/

3. An example of a successful Department of Energy program was the 2011 Sunshot Initiative, which had the goal of reducing the cost of grid-scale solar energy generation from $.28 to $.06 per kilowatt-hour. That price was reached in 2017, in part due to the Sunshot program led by energy secretary Steven Chu. The program’s goal is now $.03 per kilowatt-hour of grid solar by 2030. https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/sunshot-initiative

4. The Department of Energy has set a goal of reducing the cost of long-term grid-scale energy storage 90% by the end of the decade. The goal is a part of the Earthshot program. The general goal is 100% clean electricity by 2035.  https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/news/doe-announces-goal-to-cut-costs-of-long-duration-energy-storage-by-90/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=rew_weekly_newsletter&utm_campaign=2021-07-21

5. The Department of Energy may need new goals for grid storage, and even for completion of the energy transition. Form Energy’s iron air battery cuts the cost of battery materials by a factor of ten. The linked Wall Street Journal article reports that it is expected to be deployed in 2023, cutting the cost of grid-scale power storage to beneath $20 per kilowatt-hour. That should do in the remaining fossil fuel competitors to renewables plus storage. “Form Energy’s iron-air battery breathes in oxygen and converts iron to rust, then turns the rust back into iron and breathes out oxygen, discharging and charging the battery in the process.” The battery is now in the pilot stage.  https://climatecrocks.com/2021/07/22/has-this-start-up-solved-grid-storage/

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