The US Department of Energy (DOE) has announced plans to invest up to $366million in establishing three new Energy Innovation Hubs, which are described as the ultimate transport solution, finally giving solar fuels the significant financial investment they need.
The Hubs will be catering three main areas of solar energy, including developing an effective solar energy to chemical fuel conversion system.
Each hub will be given a fund of almost $122million, over a period of five years. In order to do this, a team of researchers will work together to speed up the scientific discovery to technological development process.
The DOE admits that a lot of work still has to be done, regarding the design of solar fuel generation systems with the required efficiency and sustainability for economic viability.
Basically, a solar fuels system needs to be designed that can operate with greater efficiency and produce fuel with sufficient energy content to enable practical application.
However, there are certain critical issues that still remain unresolved such as:
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Understanding and designing of catalytic complexes or solids that generate chemical fuel from CO2 and water;
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Integration of all essential elements from light capture to fuel formation;
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Evaluation of the solar fuel system under development;
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Improving energy efficient building systems design;
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Computer modeling and simulation for the development of advanced nuclear reactors.
It is expected that the DOE will provide $22million during the first year for the establishment of each Hub, and give $25million per year for each of the following four years to support operations.
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