The US Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a request for information (RFI) on the development and implementation of a domestic critical materials supply chain, including rare-earth elements used in wind turbines and solar panels.
The US $675m (€654.5m) Critical Materials Research, Development, Demonstration, and Commercialisation Program is funded by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,
It aims to address vulnerabilities in the domestic critical materials supply chain, which are both an economic disadvantage and an impediment to the clean energy transition.
Critical materials, which include rare-earth elements lithium, nickel, and cobalt, are required for manufacturing many clean energy technologies, including batteries, electric vehicles, wind turbines, and solar panels.
The programme also intends to advance domestic sourcing and production, strengthening America’s position as a global manufacturing leader.
US Secretary of Energy Jennifer M Granholm said: “We can follow through on President Biden’s clean energy commitments and make our nation more secure by increasing our ability to source, process, and manufacture critical materials right here at home.
“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is supporting DOE’s effort to invest in the building blocks of clean energy technologies, which will revitalize America’s manufacturing leadership and bring along the benefits of good paying jobs.”
Global demand for critical materials is expected to increase by 400-600% over the next several decades.
For certain materials, such as lithium and graphite used in electric-vehicle batteries, demand is expected to increase by as much as 4,000%.
Established through the Energy Act of 2020 and expanded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, DOE’s Critical Materials Program will develop materials, components and technologies, promote efficient production and use, circular economy approaches, and ensure a long-term, diverse, secure, and sustainable supply of critical materials.
It will also expand on DOE’s decade-long history of investment in critical materials supply chains, which includes fundamental research on materials science, separation science, and geoscience; public-private partnerships, such as the Critical Materials Institute; and efforts to validate and commercialize new technologies through demonstration projects.
The Critical Materials Research Program RFI solicits feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, state and local coalitions, labor unions, tribes, community-based organizations, and others, on the structure of these programs, timing and distribution of funds, and selection criteria.