U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

26–874 WASHINGTON : 2019

S. HRG. 115–484 

FOSTERING INNOVATION: CONTRIBUTIONS 

OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY’S 

NATIONAL LABORATORIES 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON 

ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

SEPTEMBER 12, 2017 

( 

Printed for the use of the 

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov 
(II) 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES 

LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska, Chairman 

JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming 

JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho 

MIKE LEE, Utah 

JEFF FLAKE, Arizona 

STEVE DAINES, Montana 

CORY GARDNER, Colorado 

LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee 

JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota 

BILL CASSIDY, Louisiana 

ROB PORTMAN, Ohio 

LUTHER STRANGE, Alabama 

MARIA CANTWELL, Washington 

RON WYDEN, Oregon 

BERNARD SANDERS, Vermont 

DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan 

AL FRANKEN, Minnesota 

JOE MANCHIN III, West Virginia 

MARTIN HEINRICH, New Mexico 

MAZIE K. HIRONO, Hawaii 

ANGUS S. KING, JR., Maine 

TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois 

CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO, Nevada 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY

CORY GARDNER, Chairman 

JAMES E. RISCH 

JEFF FLAKE 

STEVE DAINES 

LAMAR ALEXANDER 

JOHN HOEVEN 

BILL CASSIDY 

ROB PORTMAN 

LUTHER STRANGE 

JOE MANCHIN III 

RON WYDEN 

BERNARD SANDERS 

AL FRANKEN 

MARTIN HEINRICH 

ANGUS S. KING, JR. 

TAMMY DUCKWORTH 

CATHERINE CORTEZ MASTO 

COLIN HAYES, Staff Director 

PATRICK J. MCCORMICK III, Chief Counsel 

BRIANNE MILLER, Senior Professional Staff Member and Energy Policy Advisor 

ANGELA BECKER-DIPPMANN, Democratic Staff Director 

SAM E. FOWLER, Democratic Chief Counsel 

SCOTT MCKEE, Democratic Professional Staff Member 
(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

OPENING STATEMENTS 

Page 

Gardner, Hon. Cory, Subcommittee Chairman and a U.S. Senator from Colorado ....................................................................................................................... 1 

Manchin III, Hon. Joe, Subcommittee Ranking Member and a U.S. Senator 

from West Virginia ............................................................................................... 2 

Duckworth, Hon. Tammy, a U.S. Senator from Illinois ....................................... 4 

WITNESSES 

Tumas, Dr. Bill, Associate Lab Director, Materials and Chemical Science 

and Technology, National Renewable Energy Laboratory ................................ 5 

Ratnayake, Anuja, Director, Emerging Technology Strategy, Duke Energy 

Corporation ........................................................................................................... 16 

Kearns, Dr. Paul, Interim Laboratory Director, Argonne National Laboratory ........................................................................................................................ 25

Anderson, Dr. Brian J., Director of the WVU Energy Institute, West Virginia 

University ............................................................................................................. 32 

ALPHABETICAL LISTING AND APPENDIX MATERIAL SUBMITTED 

Anderson, Dr. Brian J.: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 32 

Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 35 

Responses to Questions for the Record ........................................................... 71 

Duckworth, Hon. Tammy: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 4 

Gardner, Hon. Cory: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 1 

‘‘75 Breakthroughs’’ by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Laboratories .............................................................................................................. 39 

Kearns, Dr. Paul: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 25 

Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 28 

Manchin III, Hon. Joe: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 2 

Ratnayake, Anuja: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 16 

Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 18 

Responses to Questions for the Record ........................................................... 68 

Tumas, Dr. Bill: 

Opening Statement ........................................................................................... 5 

Written Testimony ............................................................................................ 8 

Responses to Questions for the Record ........................................................... 63 

(1) 

FOSTERING INNOVATION: CONTRIBUTIONS 

OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY’S 

NATIONAL LABORATORIES 

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2017 

U.S. SENATE, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY, 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES, 

Washington, DC. 

The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 3:06 p.m. in Room 

SD–366, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Cory Gardner, 

Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. CORY GARDNER, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM COLORADO 

Senator GARDNER [presiding]. The Committee will come to order. 

Good afternoon everyone, and thank you for your patience as we 

had to delay the hearing start. 

Today the Subcommittee on Energy will hold its second hearing 

in the 115th Congress. I enjoy the opportunity, always, to work 

with the Ranking Member, Senator Manchin, to address these key 

topics in Energy. 

During today’s hearing we will take a deeper look into the Department of Energy’s National Laboratory system. In 2015, the 

Council to Review the Effectiveness of the National Energy Laboratories stated that the 17 labs of the DOE ‘‘are national assets that 

have contributed profoundly to the nation’s security, scientific leadership, and economic competitiveness.’’ I am excited to hear much 

more about these outcomes today. 

The constellation of national labs was born from our desire to 

harness nuclear energy. Through today’s discussion, I suspect our 

witnesses will enlighten us on the dramatic transformations that 

the lab system has taken over the last 70 years to continually address our nation’s biggest challenges and leaders, and as you are 

leaders, on the global stage. 

The U.S. has been the leader in research and development for 

years, but China is close at our heels in research spending. How 

we choose to invest in our national labs and support the scientists 

within them is critical going forward. 

Today I hope to hear more about what has been accomplished 

with the world-leading unique facilities we have developed so far 

and insights into how our laboratories incubate creative experts responsible for life-changing outcomes. 
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If I remember right from chemistry class, and according to my 

grades I may not have always remembered right, a catalyst is 

something that promotes or accelerates a reaction or outcome that 

would not normally happen. I believe our national labs are catalysts that have accelerated or made possible many innovations. 

Our national labs harness nuclear power. They have shown us 

how to draw energy from the sun and the wind. Medical imaging 

was made possible by national lab materials discoveries. They have 

continued to push the limits of computational power and software 

tools to analyze the most difficult problems to keep us all safe, both 

from nuclear weapons and even in the car as we drive. 

The national labs are truly a catalyst. The ability of national labs 

to encourage innovation, foster collaboration and accelerate outcomes results in significant value and impact. 

I expect our witnesses today can probably teach us a thing or two 

about catalysis science. Beyond that, I definitely look forward to 

hearing them elaborate on the discovery environment within the 

labs and examples of results providing societal value. I believe the 

national labs have demonstrated a great ability to our delivery on 

science over several generations and Administrations and will continue to enhance the lives of millions of Americans. 

I would like to welcome our four witnesses: Dr. Brian Anderson, 

Dr. Kearns, Ms. Ratnayake, if I got it right, and Dr. Tumas; but 

I will start first with turning to Senator Manchin for comments 

and introduction. 

STATEMENT OF HON. JOE MANCHIN III, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM WEST VIRGINIA 

Senator MANCHIN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank 

you for scheduling this hearing and for your work and support of 

our country’s national lab system. 

Between the National Energy Technology Lab in Morgantown, 

West Virginia, and the National Renewable Energy Lab that calls 

Colorado home, Senator Gardner and I have a firsthand understanding and appreciation for the critical work that is done by the 

good men and women who make our national lab systems. 

I was happy to work with Senator Capito on the Appropriations 

Committee to ensure that NETL is funded at $72.66 million for 

NETL research and development and at $58.68 million for NETL 

infrastructure and operations for the Fiscal Year 2018 Energy and 

Water bill. 

I also want to thank Senator Heinrich for his leadership on the 

Energy Technology Maturation Act of 2017. This bill is a commonsense approach to ensuring that the Department of Energy can 

incentivize small businesses and private sector interest to partner 

with the national laboratories to advance the growth of lab-based 

technologies into commercial markets. I am happy to be a co-sponsor also with him. 

And last, but not least, I appreciate that our witnesses are joining us today for this very timely discussion. In particular, I want 

to recognize Dr. Brian Anderson who leads the West Virginia University Energy Institute. I have worked with Brian for some time, 

and I am glad he is here today to give us the University Partner’s 
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perspective on the importance of the work being done in Morgantown at the National Energy Technology Lab. 

The network of 17 national labs have developed over a long history with many originating during the time of the Manhattan 

Project. The national labs focus on energy innovation, scientific research, national security and environmental stewardship. The national labs work at the forefront of basic science and fundamental 

research, and the work that our national labs do has led to some 

of the most significant innovations of the last century. Just a couple examples include making digital recording technology a reality 

and x-ray vision. It was actually the national labs who discovered 

the difference between good and bad cholesterol. 

Over the past year, the national laboratories provided expertise 

and support for the joint comprehensive plan of action which, as we 

know, is the Iran Nuclear Agreement and addressing and evaluating the impact of the leak at the Aliso Canyon Underground Natural Gas Storage Facility. 

Another unique but important aspect of our lab systems are user 

facilities. The labs have unique and leading-edge user facilities 

such as x-ray and neutron sources, advanced accelerators and laser 

facilities, and nanomaterials facilities that benefit the research of 

over 33,000 researchers from academia, research institutions and 

private industries, annually. 

The lab that I hold near and dear to my heart is the National 

Energy Technology Lab (NETL) which is headquartered in Pittsburgh. The NETL is the only government-owned, government-operated, GOGO lab, in the national lab system. Housed under the Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy, it celebrated its 100th 

anniversary several years ago in recognition of a history of research stations dating back to 1910. 

NETL implements a broad range of energy and environmental 

research and development programs that include enabling domestic 

coal, natural gas and oil to economically power our nation’s homes, 

businesses and transportation in an efficient, environmentally sustainable way. 

With a sprawling complex in Morgantown, West Virginia, that 

employs approximately 612 people, NETL has delivered some of 

our most important energy innovations in recent decades. NETL 

has expertise in coal, oil and gas technologies as well as energy 

systems and international energy issues. For example, its work regarding the extraction of rare earth elements (REE) from coal byproducts is a testament to NETL’s ability to think creatively to 

solve our nation’s energy security and supply chain challenges. 

I was happy to help secure funding for the REE research in the 

Fiscal Year 2018 Energy and Water bill and look forward to working with WVU and NETL further as we work to redevelop a domestic energy industry for rare earth elements. 

And as Dr. Anderson will tell us today, NETL’s partnerships, cooperative research and development agreements, financial assistance and contractual arrangements with universities and the private sector have led to extraordinary collaboration amongst the 

world’s leading minds in energy innovation. 

West Virginia has a history of producing energy for the rest of 

the country and NETL has played a big role in ensuring that we 
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are striving to do it in cleaner, more efficient and more cost-effective ways. That has contributed greatly to West Virginia’s role as 

a net energy exporter. 

In conclusion, the national labs are the lifeblood of our innovation. The collaborative nature of this lab system makes our lab system dramatically important to the future of science and energy innovation in this country; therefore, the proposed budget cuts to our 

national lab system are concerning to say the least. The Fiscal 

2018 proposed budget would cut $1.25 billion in funding from the 

national labs which could eliminate about 7,000 jobs. That is obviously going to result in a brain drain that will cause major disruption to the ongoing work at these facilities, at our universities and 

in the private sector. 

I look forward to working with Chairman Gardner and my colleagues to ensure our nation’s labs are given the resources they 

need to continue their vital work. 

Thank you all for being here. 

Senator GARDNER. Thank you, Senator Manchin, and thank you 

for the introduction of Dr. Anderson, one of our witnesses today. 

Senator Duckworth, I know, has an introduction as well. 

STATEMENT OF HON. TAMMY DUCKWORTH, 

U.S. SENATOR FROM ILLINOIS 

Senator DUCKWORTH. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

It is a real pleasure to introduce Dr. Paul Kearns, Acting Director at Argonne National Laboratory, which is in my home State of 

Illinois. 

I was warned by my staff not to make this claim because we do 

not actually have the hard data for it, but I am going to claim it 

anyway—I think, with our two national labs, we have more particle 

physicists per capita than any other state in the nation and I dare 

anyone to come up with the data to prove me wrong. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator GARDNER. I am going to have to look into that. 

Senator DUCKWORTH. Go for it. Go for it. 

Senator FRANKEN. I am on it too. 

Senator DUCKWORTH. There you go, there you go. 

[Laughter.] 

Dr. Kearns heads up one of those critical, critical, crown jewels 

of scientific innovation in Illinois. We also have the privilege of 

having the first national lab in the country, Argonne. 

Dr. Kearns has a long and decorated career as a scientist having 

served across the country at several national labs. His experiences 

are especially relevant to this hearing on innovation. 

At Argonne, Dr. Kearns guides the development and implementation of the laboratory’s strategic vision. He is leading Argonne in 

its efforts to continue delivering world class performance in science 

and technology, operations, employee health and safety and environmental protections. 

Dr. Kearns promotes a culture of innovation and collaboration 

within the laboratory which will serve it well as it enters into its 

75th year, and he also promised to put in a good word for 

Fermilab, our other national laboratory as well. So I am incredibly 
5 

happy that Dr. Kearns was able to join us for this very important 

conversation. 

Thank you for being here and welcome. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator GARDNER. Thank you, Senator Duckworth. 

We will begin with the lab that just happens to be located in the 

great State of Colorado, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Dr. William Tumas, Associate Laboratory Director, Materials 

and Chemical Science and Technology. 

Dr. Tumas is responsible for overall leadership, management, 

technical direction and workforce development of the materials and 

chemical science and technology capabilities at NREL, spanning 

fundamental and applied research and development for renewable 

energy and energy efficiency. 

Dr. Tumas received his undergrad degree in chemistry from 

Ithaca College, his Ph.D. from Stanford and then did his post-doctoral research at Caltech. I hope you have paid your student loans. 

[Laughter.] 

With that, I look forward to hearing your testimony. Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF DR. BILL TUMAS, ASSOCIATE LAB DIRECTOR, 

MATERIALS AND CHEMICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 

NATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY LABORATORY 

Dr. TUMAS. Thank you, Senator Gardner, thank you, Ranking 

Member Manchin and the rest of the Subcommittee for the opportunity to talk about the value of the national laboratories today. 

As Senator Gardner said, I’m the Associate Lab Director for Materials and Chemistry at the National Renewable Energy Lab, commonly called NREL. I lead programs in material science, nanoscience, chemistry, energy storage, solar energy, hydrogen and fuel 

cells. I also lead an Energy Frontier Research Center in Materials 

by Design. 

I started my career at DuPont Central Research and six years 

later I moved to the Los Alamos National Laboratory and in 2010 

I moved to NREL. 

What attracted me to the national labs, as we heard from our 

Chair and the Ranking Member, is the ability to really address big 

science challenges, complex problems and to work in a real teeming 

science environment with superb colleagues and excellent facilities. 

As we heard already, the national labs have contributed significantly to our national security, our energy security, our economic 

prosperity and our scientific leadership. 

Other examples include optical disc recording to explosive detection, many examples we heard from our everyday lives can track 

their origin to national laboratories, strengthening the metal on 

aircraft, 22 elements were discovered at the national laboratories, 

everything from lead-free solder to nuclear deterrents to airport security. 

Another thing that I’d like to point out is the national labs really 

are one of the only groups that you can pull together, essentially, 

on a moment’s notice to create very large, multi-disciplinary teams 

to tackle really pressing needs, whether it’s disaster forecast, disaster recovery or other things that are even classified that we can’t 

discuss in this arena, there are many examples today. 
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The national labs, as we heard, have a scientific use, set a specialized science user facilities. They also have a pool of highlytalented individuals and researchers, and that really forms the 

backbone of a national lab system that I would purport really is a 

huge engine for maintaining and developing our country’s science 

and technology capability. 

In addition to allowing access to tens of thousands of scientists 

from universities and industry to the user facilities, the lab serves 

as a magnet and, I would argue, a training ground for our next 

generation of scientists and engineers. 

There are a number of examples where we’ve seen significant impact in energy as well. Cost-efficient shale gas can trace its way 

back to national lab work. We’ll hear about carbon capture and 

storage, perhaps, from NETL and the University of West Virginia. 

Photovoltaics, near and dear to my heart, from our own laboratory, 

and I’m sure we’ll hear about advanced battery technologies from 

our colleague from Argonne. 

NREL work encompasses fundamental science but also applied 

science and engineering, technical analysis and assessment and 

systems integration. And we’re proud to have made significant contributions in partnership with many others to a number of areas. 

Thin film solar cells are made by a U.S. company and create tens 

of gigawatts of clean power. Multi-junction, high-efficiency solar 

cells power satellites and are finding increasing use by the U.S. 

military for energy. 

The U.S. industry, solar industry, employs over 370,000 employees today. The wind industry employs 100,000 and is on track for 

a quarter million employees in the U.S. by 2020. 

NREL has contributed significantly to power variable power 

strategies and pitch control that are used in almost every turbine 

in many, many states in our country. 

Making energy more affordable and domestically available, of 

course, also makes U.S. industry more competitive. In addition to 

working on affordability, NREL works a lot on resiliency. Through 

our energy systems integration facility, we work with other laboratories, you’ll hear examples from Duke Energy today, on trying to 

make the grid more stable, more reliable and more secure. And we 

have a co-lead of 14 lab consortium that aims to modernize our grid 

and also guard it against both manmade and natural threats. 

Despite all these great advances, we live in a world of great opportunity and a world of great challenge. Supercomputers coupled 

with experiment can help us discover materials; but in the future, 

it can also help us design entirely new processing concepts that 

could lead to advanced manufacturing. Understanding the Earth 

subsurface is critical for fossil fuel extraction, for nuclear waste disposal and for maintaining and assuring high-quality water resources across our country. 

From a catalysis science standpoint, Senator Gardner, I’m fascinated by what we can do in the future of taking carbon dioxide 

and not thinking of it as a waste product, but actually converting 

it to materials and to products of commerce. 

In energy, we aren’t done yet. There’s still much to be done on 

cost, on efficiency, on accelerating the deployment and on getting 
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more energy on to the grid, a true above all strategy. As we’ll hear 

from our colleagues, likely, energy storage is critical as well. 

Through the energy materials networks we’ve seen that laboratories now can work on big data, computation and experiment and 

partnership with industry and companies and address a myriad of 

challenges, like lightweight materials, electrocatalysis for hydrogen 

production and for fuel cells, caloric materials for refrigeration and 

one that I like that we lead with NREL with three other labs, looking at photovoltaic materials for photovoltaic modules. So we certainly aren’t done yet. Continued innovation is critical. 

I think it’s unrealistic to expect the private sector, though, to 

pick up the massive R&D void that significant curtailment in our 

federal R&D budgets could cause. In fact, I would argue that the 

Bell Labs, Westinghouse Labs and, as of last year, my own former 

employer, DuPont Central Research, don’t even exist anymore. 

Our current ecosystem really depends much more on publicprivate partnerships between national laboratories and industry 

and companies, and that’s what’s needed to turn scientific discoveries into beneficial use. 

Success comes not only from fundamental research on materials 

discovery, as we’ve seen in solar and batteries, but also laboratory 

engagement with partners on devices, prototypes, testing, reliability and durability, the entire technology development spectrum. 

We’re not the only country making major investments. As you 

know, other countries are making massive investments, as Senator 

Gardner told us. 

Cutting-edge science is going to be critical to the future of America and it’s going to be critical to maintain our competitive edge. 

And I would argue if we fail to take advantage of the science assets 

and the prior investments already made, we risk depending on others for the ideas, knowledge and the innovation we surely will need 

in the future. 

So I’d just like to close by telling you that, in summary, national 

labs bring an unmatched expertise, I think, in science, but also a 

very strong and very key link to connecting science to the technological advances that we require. 

With that, I want to thank you for the opportunity to talk to you 

and thank you for your leadership. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Tumas follows:] 
8 

Prepared Statement of Dr. Bill Tumas 

Associate Lab Director 

Materials and Chemical Science and Technology 

U.S. Department of Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory 

For the Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources 

Subcommittee on Energy Hearing on 

"Fostering Innovation: Contributions of the Department of Energy's 

National Laboratories." 

September 12,2017 

Chairman Gardner, Ranking Member Man chin, members of the Subcommittee, thank 

you for this opportunity to discuss the importance of the Department of Energy's 

National Laboratories, and the value they provide to our country's security, 

economic prosperity, and science leadership. 

My name is Bill Tumas, and I am the Associate Laboratory Director for Materials and 

Chemical Science and Technology at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory 

(NREL), in Golden, Colorado. Most of my career has been devoted to understanding 

and controlling chemical reactions and the properties of materials for sustainable 

products, energy conversion, and energy storage, as well as the safe disposal of 

chemical weapons. I have been associated with the federal research and national 

laboratory system for 24 years. 

At the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), I directed the Applied Energy 

Programs and held leadership positions in basic and applied chemistry and 

materials, as well as energy storage. Currently, at NREL, I lead programs on solar 

energy conversion; materials discovery, synthesis and development; hydrogen 

production and storage; and fuel cells. At both LANL and NREL, I have led multi-lab 

consortia that included other national laboratories, university researchers, and 

industry. Today I also direct the Energy Department's Energy Frontier Research 

Center focused on Next Generation of Materials by Design. 

My career began in the private sector at DuPont Central Research as a research 

scientist and project leader working on catalysis and environmental chemistry. My 

research activities have resulted in multiple patents and publications. This 

combination of industrial and national laboratory experience has helped me gain 

perspective on the challenges and impacts associated with scientific discoveries and 

how they may be transitioned into marketable products of value to society. 

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Labs Use Science To Benefit the Nation 

A strong national laboratory system is a vital component of our country's future. 

Every day our national laboratories work collaboratively with industry and our 

country's top academics to find solutions to advance basic science and applied 

technology, addressing many of our nation's most critical challenges in the areas of 

national security, economic competitiveness, and advanced energy. Wherever we 

may look, the fruits of decades of innovation from our national labs abound. 

In science, the labs have led the world in physics, chemical, biological and computer 

sciences, and increasing our understanding of the fundamental interactions of the 

physical environment. National labs have revolutionized materials with widespread 

applications in energy, transportation, and manufacturing. For national security, our 

national labs have ensured that the U.S. nuclear deterrent is maintained and 

remains safe, while undertaking global initiatives to curb the proliferation of 

weapons of mass destruction. Technologies for security at airports can be traced 

back to research at our national labs. In transportation, national laboratories 

created computer modeling and materials that has made cars and planes safer, 

stronger, and more efficient. Other computational models now reliability predict 

natural disasters and infrastructure recovery. 

So that our nation continues to benefit from our wealth of domestic energy 

resources, national laboratories are researching advancements in virtually all 

energy technologies. Examples include carbon capture and storage work performed 

by a team under the leadership of the National Energy Technology Laboratory, the 

advanced battery technologies from Argonne National Laboratory and others, and 

the solar photovoltaic technologies produced by my laboratory, NREL. Our 

discoveries have and will continue to pave the way for growing industries in the 

United States. 

We are able to accomplish goals such as these because the nation has invested in our 

national labs to build and maintain a collaborative constellation of scientific and 

engineering facilities that are unmatched by any other nation. Our deep scientific 

strengths come with having teams composed of many of the world's very best 

researchers, across all relevant disciplines, coupled with a built-in expectation of 

inter-lab cooperation. My personal experience building scientific teams has resulted 

in collaborative research projects with 10 different national laboratories. 

Collaborations tap the scientific strengths of each participating laboratory while 

bringing efficiency to the national lab system. 

Labs' Unparalleled Capabilities Drive U.S. Innovation 

The combination of capabilities and expertise at national labs has served our Nation 

well. They provide a huge engine for developing and maintaining the nation's 

science and technology capability. This is a major reason the United States has long 

led the world in technological innovation, which we've learned is a driving force in 

our nation's vital economic competitiveness. Highly specialized scientific and 

engineering facilities form the backbone of the national lab system. These facilities, 

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coupled with a pool of exceptionally talented individuals, give the labs capabilities 

found nowhere else. 

These facilities are of course essential to the research and development (R&D) 

conducted by the labs themselves, and those designated as "user facilities" also 

serve as singularly capable tools to conduct the science undertaken independently 

by universities and the private sector. They also provide a training ground for the 

next generation of scientists and engineers, providing access to cutting-edge 

research capabilities for tens of thousands of industry and university scientists. 

For example, a research group may schedule time to use the SLAC Linear 

Accelerator Laboratory's Linac Coherent Light Source, which operates as the most 

powerful x-ray laser in the world. In our Energy Frontier Research Center, we 

collaborate with SLAC to study the "dance" between electrons and vibrations in a 

series of experiments to better understand, improve, and synthesize new 

semiconductor materials. 

National labs also provide high-performance computing systems including the 

National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Lawrence 

Berkeley National Laboratory and the Leadership Computing Facilities 

supercomputers at Argonne and Oak Ridge, which have enabled a variety of 

advances for both leading scientific and industry users. The Argonne, Lawrence 

Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, and Sandia national 

laboratories are also leading the Exascale Computing Project, which aims to develop 

supercomputers that run SO times faster than today's leading supercomputers 

within the next six years. 

NREL Research for Advanced Energy Solutions 

At my own Lab, NREL, we designed and built the Energy Systems Integration Facility 

(ESIF)-a DOE user facility uniquely dedicated to developing and testing the new 

technologies and systems we need to modernize our entire electricity grid. The 

challenges of incorporating our all-of-the-above energy strategy into the grid, while 

maximizing affordability and resiliency, are great. America's electric utilities need to 

reduce the risk of incorporating high levels of variable generation sources, and 

research underway at ESIF is doing just that. 

Employing time-series modeling, big data, and visualization tools that are only 

feasible through use of a high-performance computer, ESIF's researchers this year 

completed the Eastern Renewable Generation Integration Study, or "ERG IS," which 

is providing grid operators with the kind of real-time supply and demand modeling 

capabilities heretofore unavailable anywhere. Duke Energy is also using ESIF's 

capabilities to test new equipment and how it pairs with software used for grid 

operations. 

ESIF is also home to the Consolidated Utility Base Energy project, or "CUBE," which 

was developed for the U.S. Army's forward operating bases. The CUBE helps to 

3 
11 

integrate solar and battery power systems with these bases' diesel generators, 

providing reliable energy to remote outposts while using up to 30 percent less fuel. 

CUBE will save money and reduce the troop fatalities that have been associated with 

fuel transportation. 

ESIF teams are similarly at work solving the challenges we face from an increasingly 

autonomous complex grid that, and the complexities of incorporating rooftop solar 

power systems, smart meters, and internet-connected appliances into the existing 

infrastructure. New control systems are needed for home power systems, the 

distribution grids they feed into, and the larger transmission grid, possibly leading 

to a "self-healing" or autonomous grid that responds to changing loads and 

generation sources without the need for grid operators to step in. As an example of 

multi-lab collaboration, NREL co-leads the Grid Modernization Laboratory 

Consortium, a collaboration of 14 national laboratories, developing the systems 

needed to provide resilient, reliable, secure and affordable electricity for decades to 

come. 

NREL efforts encompass fundamental science, applied science and engineering, 

technical analysis and assessment, and systems integration. NREL's efforts, and 

those of the national lab system, have helped changed the energy landscape 

significantly: 

• Over the last two decades we have seen significant increase in the 

performance of solar cells and a reduction in the cost. The costs now rival 

traditional electricity generation, with deployment of more than 60 gigawatts 

of solar globally last year alone (the equivalent of roughly 60 nuclear 

reactors). Solar now constitutes an $84 billion U.S. industry. 

• Wind energy has moved from an engineering curiosity to a common sight 

across many states with an average contracted sales price of approximately 2 

cents per kilowatt-hour, for projects that signed agreements in 2016 and the 

first half of 2017. 

• Wind energy provides a steady source of income for farmers and ranchers 

across the nation, primarily in America's heartland, and also provides the 

fastest-growing job in the United States: wind turbine technician. 

• America's heartland is one of the world's largest biomass resources for 

domestically sourced biofuels, bio-based products, and jobs. 

• The all-of-the-above energy strategy includes renewable resources that have 

provided more than half of all new power generation capacity since 2008. 

Cumulative U.S. renewable capacity now totals 232 gigawatts, or more than 

20 percent ofthe nation's generating capacity. 

In addition to making energy more affordable and domestically available, these and 

other advances will continue to make U.S. industry more competitive. From a 

resiliency standpoint, our understanding of the electric grid has improved markedly 

so that we are better able to endure transient conditions-like extreme demand or 

production shortfalls-with reduced disruption. 

4 
12 

The resulting transformation of our nation's energy system is creating opportunities 

for hundreds of thousands of new domestic jobs. An estimated 6.4 million U.S. 

workers are employed in the design, installation, and manufacture of energy 

products and services. Advanced energy technological breakthroughs are fueling 

this growth and bolstering American competitiveness. The pathway from laboratory 

to commercial product viability is rarely smooth, nor as short as investors might 

like, but it is useful to note how far we have come in terms of U.S. jobs: 

• Jobs in the solar industry last year grew at a rate 12 times faster than 

overall job growth in the United States, with more than 373,000 domestic 

jobs. In 2016, one of every 50 new jobs in the United States was in the 

solar power industry. 

• Today the U.S. wind industry supports more than 101,000 domestic jobs 

spread across all states, and nearly 250,000 jobs are expected to be 

needed to support the U.S. wind industry by 2020. 

• In 2016, more than 112,500 Americans were employed in the biomass 

electricity generation and in the biofuels and bioproducts industries. 

NREL has helped spur these advances through a number research impacts 

stemming from integrating fundamental and applied science: 

• NREL researchers have worked with US industry to develop solar cells where 

the thin-film active layers are less than one-tenth the diameter of a human 

hair. Thin-film solar cells now produce tens of gigawatts of reliable, clean 

power at extremely low costs. 

• NREL scientists developed multi-junction solar cells that power satellites and 

are being increasingly used for U.S. military applications. 

• The National Wind Technology Center led innovations including airfoil 

designs, pitch control, and variable speed strategies, resulting in broad wind 

industry adoption. 

• NREL's work on microbes and enzymes helped reduce costs and improved 

process technologies for cellulosic ethanol plants. 

• NREL and scientists from the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis 

(Caltech, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab) engineered and synthesized 

multi-layer semiconductor devices that directly convert sunlight to hydrogen 

by splitting water at efficiencies greater than 15%. 

• NREL energy systems integration expertise successfully advanced a 

microgrid system for the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar that draws on 

batteries and solar photovoltaic energy for its power. 

Lab R&D Necessary To Meet Future Challenges 

Innovation is the hallmark of the national laboratory complex. Reducing costs, 

increasing efficiencies, and improving performance for solar, wind, bioenergy, 

energy storage, grid modernization, and other energy technologies will require 

pushing the fundamental limits of current materials and technologies as well as 

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13 

creating the new materials, processes, and concepts for next-generation 

technologies. 

For solar, NREL and other labs are working to increase efficiencies and bring costs 

down to or less than current wholesale electricity costs. NREL and others are 

exploring new materials such as perovskites that already exhibit high efficiencies 

and can compete with current technologies on price, can provide coatings that could 

greatly enhance the efficiency of current technologies, and could lead to printing of 

high-efficiency, low-cost solar cells, much the way we print newspapers today. For 

much broader deployment, we will also need to expand solar R&D to include more 

work on innovative energy storage and power electronics, while ensuring the 

resiliency, security, and reliability of the grid. 

Nanoscale materials such as the quantum dots that now light up high-definition 

televisions can impact new batteries for energy storage as well as solar windows. 

For wind energy, we need to develop higher elevation turbines to access wind 

across more of the country. We need to model large-scale wind farms for design, 

performance, and predictability, as well as developing innovative control systems. 

Lastly, as we go to larger turbines we need to develop on-site manufacturing using 

new composite materials, such as those being examined in the University of 

Tennessee-led Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Institute, a publicprivate partnership. 

We also need to harness innovative bioprocesses for new materials, products, and 

feedstocks. NREL leads the Renewable Carbon Fiber Consortium, comprised of 

national lab, academic, and industrial partners to demonstrate the cost-effective 

production of domestic supplies of renewable carbon fiber from cellulosic biomassderived acrylonitrile for vehicles, wind blades, and products. 

The national labs have helped us understand photosynthesis and we are moving 

forward with universities to advance artificial photosynthesis concepts to convert 

sunlight directly into fuels. We can also combine advances in carbon with cheap 

electricity and advances in electrochemistry, materials, catalysis, and synthetic 

biology to convert carbon dioxide into valuable products and feedstocks. 

Harnessing the labs' powerful supercomputers and their interplay with advanced 

experimental tools will allow us to not only discover new materials more rapidly, 

but will also help us design and control new processing concepts for advanced 

manufacturing. 

U.S. Innovation Requires Public Sector-Private Sector Partnerships 

Innovation is a continuing spectrum and one cannot expect success if any portion of 

the basic-research-to-product pipeline is ignored. We need to accept that funding 

R&D is a risk, and while I am not arguing for any relaxation in selection criteria, we 

need to be realistic-if we are not funding cutting-edge science, with all of its risk, 

6 
14 

we are not investing in our collective future. 

While the role of private industry is indisputably paramount-nationallabs after all 

do not produce finished products-it is simply unrealistic to believe that the private 

sector can or would fill the R&D void that would be created if federally sponsored 

research were curtailed. Everyone may talk, and rightfully so, about the discoveries 

that emerged from Bell Labs-the transistor, lasers, cell phone communication and, 

my favorite, solar cells. But they don't often add that Bell Labs, as it was then 

conceived, no longer exists. The truth is that Lockheed's Skunk Works, the notable 

Westinghouse labs, and my former employer, DuPont's Central Research and 

Development-corporate research centers responsible for the science that 

underpins myriad products today-are a thing of the past. The truth is: These R&D 

centers are not operating today, or are skeletons of what they once were. 

Despite significant reductions in long-term industrial research, the United States 

still has a vital innovation ecosystem that stems from partnerships between national 

labs universities and industry at all phases of the science-to-product ecosystem and 

are critical for successfully moving scientific discoveries into beneficial use. National 

labs continue to play a critical role in accelerating innovation. Our industry partners 

look to the national laboratories for larger-scale and higher-risk fundamental and 

applied research would not be accomplished in the private sector. 

For example, the remarkable success in solar power and energy storage-areas 

where national labs continue to work closely with industry and with universitiesstems from national labs not only discovering new materials but also from 

foundational research on devices, components, and prototypes, as well as testing, 

understanding, and controlling reliability and durability. Fundamental to this 

ecosystem is the critical role-played by private entrepreneurs and small businesses 

across the nation. There are now a number of innovative mechanisms that give 

start-up companies access to the national lab capabilities and scientific 

infrastructure. At NREL, we work to be as innovative in how we connect with the 

marketplace, and partner with companies, as we are in developing new technology. 

NREL's Industry Growth Forum connects newly established technology companies 

with private sector capital. More than $5 billion has been raised by startup 

companies presenting at the Forum over the last ten years. Working with the U.S. 

Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, NREL 

pioneered the Small Business Voucher program, which funds lab work with 

innovative clean energy businesses. A recent program that helps clean energy startups mature and demonstrate their technology in a commercial setting is a 

partnership between NREL and the Wells Fargo Foundation. Twenty companies are 

in this program and another 30 will be selected in the near future. 

Global Competition for Scientific Supremacy 

We are not the only country with excellent scientific and engineering capabilities 

and an interest in innovation. Over the past 30 years, I have been fortunate enough 

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15 

to visit, lecture, or conduct research in foreign universities and labs in the 

Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Brazil, Japan, Germany, Italy, and India. I 

have found smart, capable, and motivated scientists and engineers everywhere I 

have been. The United States holds a position of leadership in many, but not all, 

areas of science, but I assure you from my personal experience that other countries 

are investing and growing their scientific capabilities. This is in many respects a race 

and if we falter, the competition is not far behind. 

It is no secret that one of the biggest challenges confronting us is how we as a nation 

can maintain our competitive edge. Our continued leadership in science and 

innovation is in no way guaranteed-the rest of world is fervently working to 

capture the innovation flag. The headlines are full of examples of how nations 

including China, South Korea, and India are investing significant sums to wrest our 

competitive advantage for themselves. 

Dividends From A Renewed U.S. Commitment To Science 

If we fail to both take advantage of our current science assets and capitalize on our 

prior investments, we run a growing risk that we will become dependent on others 

for knowledge, for ideas, and ultimately for products. Think for a moment about the 

tax revenue, the jobs, indeed, entire industries that have grown up around the 

science discoveries mentioned here. All arose from our historic commitment to 

early-stage research. For these reasons, America will significantly benefit from 

continued investment in university and national lab scientific advancements. These 

investments will continue to pay dividends in increased employment, exports, and 

progress. 

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, along with our partner laboratories 

across the Department of Energy complex, will continue to help our country succeed 

in an increasingly competitive global economy-if and only if our lifeblood of federal 

support continues. Our country, indeed our planet, needs the progress science can 

deliver. 

Thank you again for the opportunity to testify today, and thank you as well for the 

leadership this Subcommittee has shown in supporting the federal research 

portfolio. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. 

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16 

Senator GARDNER. Thank you, Dr. Tumas. 

Our next witness, Ms. Ratnayake, who is joining us today, is the 

Director of Emerging Technology Strategy for Duke Energy. The 

Emerging Technology organization is responsible for monitoring 

technology-driven megatrends, identifying and developing utility 

technologies, and informing Duke Energy’s long-term strategy. 

Ms. Ratnayake has over a decade of experience in the energy industry as she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Berea College and holds a Master’s degree in both 

Business Administration and Diplomacy and International Commerce from the University of Kentucky. 

A native of Sri Lanka, Ms. Ratnayake and her husband have two 

sons. 

Thank you for joining us today. 

STATEMENT OF ANUJA RATNAYAKE, DIRECTOR, EMERGING 

TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY, DUKE ENERGY CORPORATION 

Ms. RATNAYAKE. Thank you, Senator. 

Good afternoon, Chairman Gardner, Ranking Member Manchin 

and members of the Subcommittee. My name, as I was introduced, 

is Anuja Ratnayake. I’m the Director of Emerging Technology 

Strategy at Duke. 

Our team, as Senator Gardner mentioned, we are the front end 

of Duke Energy, where we lead emerging technology pilot projects, 

including a focus on energy storage, microgrids and renewable energy integration and we continuously work with a number of national labs. 

If I may, I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge Duke Energy’s customers and employees, who have been affected by Hurricane Irma which has caused widespread devastating damage across 

Florida, as well as damage and outages in the Carolinas. 

In the storm’s aftermath personnel safety continues to be the 

most important focus as we work as quickly as possible to restore 

power to critical infrastructure and all of our customers. 

Today, I appreciate the opportunity to provide the Subcommittee 

with the perspective of regulated electric utility on the value that 

the Department of Energy’s national labs provide to the electric 

power sector and our customers. 

Duke Energy is one of the largest energy companies in the U.S., 

serving a population of about 24 million people with electric and 

gas services. We operate under a regulatory model that prioritizes 

lowest cost for customers which is met through prudent commercialized technology. This regulatory structure does not incentivize 

utilities to undertake research, development and early adoption of 

new and emerging solutions due to the inherent technology risk 

during the early stages of their commercialization. This creates significant challenges as potentially transformational but nascent solutions are unable to prove their abilities without extensive testing. 

This is exactly the gap the DOE research programs and ARPA-E 

fill, serving a vital role for the entire energy sector. 

New technologies that are meant to operate on their own can 

take years of R&D in lab settings before they become scientifically 

viable and then more R&D in field settings before they’re economically competitive. 
17 

The energy grid is the largest and most complex machine in the 

world, comprised of many millions of subcomponents, all working 

seamlessly together to keep your lights on. Adding a single, new 

subcomponent, not only requires years of R&D by itself, but it must 

also prove it can work with the millions of existing components, as 

well as other future requirements driven by parallel technology developments. 

This is not the kind of R&D even the most well-funded, sophisticated company should do on its own. For if a technology doesn’t 

work, it could literally turn out we’re dark. This is why we strongly 

believe the true transformative potential of today’s emerging technologies cannot be realized without partners like the national labs. 

They have expertise with this complex system as well as the 

unique tools necessary to test and validate emerging tech capabilities. 

In my written testimony, I have described specific project examples on increasing efficiency in fossil generation, expanding grid resiliency and enabling seamless renewable integration. The fundamental point of these projects is to position our industry to embrace 

the changing energy future and evolving customer expectations. 

To highlight one of these examples our collaborative partnership 

with Pacific Northwest National Lab looked at impacts of integrating solar PV on the grid. The lessons learned from this study 

have proven essential for understanding intermittency and maintaining reliability while we add more solar to our system. 

With PNNL we further evaluated leveraging energy storage, 

smart inverters and demand site management to effectively and 

economically integrate the increasing levels of solar generation. 

This work was an essential building block for us to rethink how to 

plan a smart energy future for our customers. 

Our mandate as electric utilities is to provide safe, reliable and 

affordable energy for our customers. Your support and investments 

in the national labs enable us to leverage new technologies, to modernize the power grid and stimulate economic growth while we continue to meet this mandate. 

The capabilities offered by the national labs are unattainable 

anywhere else in the industry and are critical to the industry’s 

ability to understand how to better operate and plan our system for 

the future. This ultimately ensures customers and our communities 

have the lowest cost, most reliable, resilient and advanced clean 

energy system in the world. 

Thank you for the opportunity to be here today, and I look forward to your questions. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Ratnayake follows:] 
18 

Statement of Anuja Ratnayake 

Director, Emerging Technology Strategy 

Duke Energy Corporation 

Before the 

Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

Subcommittee on Energy 

U.S. Senate 

On "Fostering Innovation: Contributions of the Department of Energy's 

National Laboratories" 

Sept. 12,2017 

Good morning, Chairman Gardner, Ranking Member Manchin and members of the 

subcommittee. My name is Anuja Ratnayake, and I serve as Director of Emerging Technology 

Strategy for Duke Energy. Our team leads emerging technology pilot projects, including energy 

storage, microgrids and renewable energy integration and work with the National Laboratories. 

I appreciate the opportunity to provide the subcommittee with the perspective of a regulated 

electric utility on the value the Department of Energy's National Laboratories provide to the 

electric power sector and our customers. 

To provide some context for my comments, Duke Energy is one of the largest energy providers 

in the nation, serving approximately 7. 5 million retail electric customers in seven states in the 

Southeastern and Midwestern regions of the country. We are also one of the largest natural gas 

distributors in the country, serving approximately 1.6 million customers in the Carolinas, Ohio, 

Kentucky and Tennessee. Our energy grid, the largest in the United States, is a critical part of our 

nation's infrastructure. We are investing $25 billion over 10 years to create a smarter, more 

modern grid that delivers the services our customers expect. Today, the grid stands as a one-way 

road. In the future, it must become a multilane highway, sending energy and information in both 

directions. We serve a population of24 million people, relying on a balanced energy mix that 

includes natural gas, nuclear, coal, hydropower, solar and wind energy. Our Commercial 

Renewable Energy business unit operates a large and growing portfolio of solar and wind 

facilities in 14 states across the United States. We are one of the top five renewable energy 

companies in the country, having invested more than $5 billion in renewables over the last 

decade. 

As a vertically integrated utility responsible for the full energy spectrum from generation to 

delivery to the customer, Duke Energy operates under a regulatory model that prioritizes lowest 

cost for customers and traditionally proven technologies. The current utility regulatory structure 

does not incentivize research and development (R&D) due to the inherent risks associated with 
19 

new technologies, which generally result in higher costs compared to mature, proven 

technologies. This limits our ability to test new technologies and operational methods- and is 

exactly the reason the National Laboratories and programs such as ARP A-E serve such a vital 

role for the power sector. Although Duke Energy invests tens of millions annually on R&D (we 

spent over $30 million last year), it is important to remember that utilities are not R&D tech 

companies in the Silicon Valley sense. We are integrators and optimizers of proven, 

commercialized technology- and we're highly regulated in our scope of business.; 

Most utilities rely on universities, product manufacturers, consortia, and the federal government 

to sponsor and pursue innovation that benefits our customers. The Department of Energy (DOE) 

and the National Labs provide focused research on behalf of the utility industry sector. When 

new technologies emerge, they can take years of R&D before they become viable both 

scientifically and economically to utilities, as demonstrated by the "Hype Curve" below.;; The 

transformative potential of these new technologies cannot be realized without the National 

Laboratories. 

Trough of OlsiUusionmemt 

time 

Source- Hype Cycle from Gartner fur IT leaders Todk!t, Amended by Duke Energy 

Stop• of Enlightenment Plateau of 

Productivity 

The Gartner Hype Cycle can be leveraged to help stakeholders understand where technologies arc in their 

life cycle, and to temper expectations on highly hyped opportunities. 

The recent scope of other consortia has become narrow, focusing on the short term. Indeed, the 

National Labs are critical in developing high-impact technologies with long life cycles, such as 

advanced combustion technologies that are utilized in our power plants, as they have the unique 

ability to initiate technology transfer from other industries and sectors (such as aerospace and 

defense) in a way that few other research organizations can.;;; The National Labs support public 

and private partnerships that when combined can more effectively transfer emerging 

2 
20 

technologies to the industry. Often, the R&D that leads to these transformational innovations is 

simply too complex for any single private enterprise to undertake, which is why we look to the 

federal government to recognize the importance to help advance technologies to the point where 

businesses and entrepreneurs can adopt the technologies. For example, DOE estimates that the 

$4.1 billion investment in solar photovoltaic (PV) technology R&D from 1975 through 2008 

accelerated the cost reduction progress by an estimated 12 years, while providing a net economic 

benefit of$16.5 billion. 1 Some technologies would otherwise be unable to reach 

commercialization without the participation of the National Labs, particularly if they are left to 

be developed in the private sector where returns are expected within short time windows. ;v This 

is particularly important given the increasing rate of change in the energy industry that is being 

driven by technology advancements and evolving customer expectations. 

Finally, laboratories are uniquely positioned to handle complex, sensitive and/or classified issues 

of critical importance to the utility industry, such as cybersecurity and resiliency. The research 

outcomes that the National Labs produce is open sourced to allow utilities to modify and adapt 

the results. 

Today l will highlight three examples of innovation born out of collaboration with the National 

Labs that has helped Duke Energy ensure our customers have reliable, affordable and 

increasingly clean energy. These projects have spanned (1) seamlessly integrating renewables, 

(2) increasing grid resiliency in a distributed energy resource rich future, and (3) increasing the 

efficiency offossil generation. While T will talk specifically about these three examples, there are 

many more contributions from the National Labs that benefit our customers and will help us 

build a smarter energy future. 

Leveraging National Lab Capabilities to Seamlessly Integrate Renewables 

With the increasing role that renewables have on the energy grid, Duke Energy recognized a 

need to improve system planning and operations to seamlessly integrate these intermittent 

resources and maintain the electric reliability our customers count on. We found our solution by 

initiating a collaborative partnership with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) 

beginning in 2012. We conducted four studies with PNNL to understand and manage potential 

operational and cost impacts of increasing percentages of solar PV production. 

The first study simulated the impacts of high rates of solar PV on the grid so that we could 

operate system infrastructure and particularly our generation portfolio reliably and at the lowest 

cost to customers. 2 While the project informed system planning and impact on customer rates 

from increased levels of intermittent renewables, it also helped us to understand how the system 

would operate in the future so we could revise operational guidelines and identify opportunities 

1 U.S. Department of Energy. Revolution... Techno/ogies-20!5 

Update. November 2015. Available at: !J1tii1§1L.llllll.&illlli£l£!rillil.1§.§ill!Clli11Jl!!;Jifl1!12il!.l.!i:lL!S£l2l!!JlQ!~!illl: 

! ll32015.pdf 

2 The result of this collaboration was published in 2014 as the Duke Energy Photovoltaic Integration Study: 

Carolinas Service Areas. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Report No. PNNL-23226. Available at: 

hup://www.pnucc.org/sitcs/dcfault/filcs/Dukc%20Encrgv%20PV%20Jntegration%20Studv%2020 l-l04.pdf 

3 
21 

to improve. We dug deeper in a second study with PNNL to evaluate leveraging emerging 

technologies such as energy storage, smart inverters, and demand side management to most 

effectively integrate new assets and increase solar generation. This work opened the door for us 

to rethink how to plan a smarter energy future for our customers. 

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) further supplemented our understanding of 

system planning and operational impacts through its Eastern Renewable Generation Integration 

Study (ERGIS) of the Eastern Interconnection one of the largest power systems in the world, 

which spans from central Canada (excluding Quebec) eastward to the Atlantic coast, south to 

Florida and west to the foot of the Rockies (excluding most of Texas). Because of the complexity 

of the Eastern Interconnection, the unique capabilities ofNREL's High Performance Computer 

(HPC) were critical to this study. The cost of maintaining a HPC for system planning and 

operations purposes is well outside of even the largest utility's ability. Individual utilities, even 

partnerships among utilities, would be hard pressed to complete an evaluation this complex both 

from skill as well as resource availability perspectives. Using high-performance computing and 

innovative visualization tools, NREL shows the power grid of the eastern United States has the 

potential to accommodate upward of30 percent wind and solar/ PV power. These studies are 

essential to plan for incorporating new technologies and planning the energy grid of tomorrow. 

Further, it is important for such work to be conducted by unbiased third parties, such as the 

National Labs, that do not have a commercial interest in the resulting investment portfolio. 

Increasing Grid Resiliency with Flexible Distributed Energy Resources 

In addition to accommodating greater percentages of intermittent resources like solar, changing 

weather patterns introduce a new resiliency paradigm for the energy industry. Superstorm Sandy 

and Hurricane Harvey are providing our industry with real-life indications of how our 

infrastructure planning will need to evolve in the future. Distributed energy resources (DER) and 

microgrids will increasingly provide resiliency services during catastrophic events. 

Indeed, the electric power industry will continue to evolve as DER and intelligent customer 

devices are more widely deployed. We must overcome the challenges with today's centralized 

energy grid, including limitations associated with human monitoring and control of grid 

resources and aging analog devices, which hamper our ability to integrate high penetrations of 

renewable energy. Our industry is committed to enhancing grid resiliency and leveraging DER 

technologies. At Duke Energy, we currently have a proposal under consideration with the Grid 

Modernization Laboratory Consortium's most recent lab call 3 The objective of this project is to 

accelerate the deployment of resilient and secure distribution systems that leverage our 

traditional distribution assets as well as new DERs and microgrids. While more advanced 

distribution management solutions are emerging with increasing capabilities, we continue to 

identify gaps as we work to optimally manage our grid. In the future, it will be critical for the 

centralized system to be able to coordinate with those decentralized DERs and microgrids that 

3 "Increasing Distribution System Resiliency using Flexible DER and Microgrid Assets Enabled by OpenFMB'' 

partners include PNNL. NREL. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, GE Grid Solutions. UNC Charlotte. University of 

Tennessee. Smart Electric Power Alliance and Duke Energy with advisors from Entergy. A vista and North 

American Energy Standards Board. 

4 
22 

are located at the edge of the grid- what we call "grid edge" technologies. Duke Energy is 

committing $1.2 million over three years to this project, and our hope is to work with the 

National Labs to deploy "distributed intelligence" that will provide for grid security and 

interoperability. 4 The results of this project would be applicable to a wide range of technology 

combinations and all regions of the country. For Duke Energy, this project will inform our grid 

modernization planning as we work to provide an increasingly reliable and resilient grid to 

power the lives of our customers. 

Improving the efficiency- and affordability- of natural gas generation 

Natural gas generation serves a vital role in the power system as dispatchable, flexible capacity 

to meet electric demand and help manage the intermittency ofrenewables. Natural gas 

combined-cycle power plants rely on advanced combustion turbine technology. Today' s state-ofthe-art "J-class" combustion turbines have an average efficiency of 62.6 percent, but a current 

project with NETL aims to further improve turbine efficiencies and thus reduce the amount of 

fuel needed to produce power. Because fuel savings are passed on dollar for dollar back to 

electric customers, these projects can lead to a direct benefit of lowering customers' energy bills. 

The Aerojet Rocketdyne Rotating Detonation Engine (ROE) program, led by NETL, is a perfect 

example of the need for National Labs to be engaged in long lead-time technologies that support 

our country's energy future. The program advances combustion turbine technology for 

combined-cycle applications by integrating a rotating detonation engine (RDE), pressure gain 

combustion system with an air-breathing power-generating turbine system to reduce energy 

losses and achieve combined-cycle efficiency up to 68.3 percent. Duke Energy is contributing 

$150K over three years to demonstrate the technology. A promising early indication is that the 

advanced turbine design of ongoing operating and maintenance costs are similar to current 

designs, which would indicate the levelized cost of energy for the RDE plant will be lower than 

current state-of-the-art combined cycle plants. It is important to note that even high-tech, diverse 

companies such as Aerojet Rocketdyne are unable to develop these technologies without the 

commitment of the National Labs. 

The Role of the National Labs in Our Energy Future 

Our mandate as electric utilities is to provide safe, reliable and affordable energy for customers. 

Investments in the National Labs enable us to leverage new technologies to modernize the power 

grid and stimulate economic growth while continuing to meet this mandate. As a result of the 

National Labs' work, all electric customers benefit from the R&D that advances electric power 

infrastructure, cleaner energy solutions and more efficient technologies. However, if we were to 

privatize energy R&D, then technology development will be driven by a singular goal or 

financial return, and the end result is unlikely to benefit all citizens. 

4 Distributed Intelligence (DI) is an architecture that supports building layered intelligence on the grid to enable a 

multiftmction and integrated distributed grid management systems. With the ability to enhance utilities' capability to 

monitor and control the flow of electricity. to scamlcssly integrate with DERs. and to easily scale to handle millions 

(and potentially billions) of discrete data points in a secure, timely and cost-effective mmmer, DI offers great 

promise to aid the electric utility industry to meet the safety, efficiency. reliability and environmental requirements 

of the 21st century. 

5 
23 

Reliable and affordable energy access has become a customer expectation in the United States -

and it is the engine for economic development. The energy grid is the highway that delivers that 

energy to our communities, and we must continue to invest in that highway infrastructure to keep 

our economy moving. The National Labs and publicly funded research ensures that electric 

customers will benefit from the modernization of our energy infrastructure. 

The energy sector is going through an exciting and important transformation. We're seeing a 

powerful convergence of trends in energy technologies, telecom & IT, coupled with changing 

customer expectations, public policies and business models. To secure a stronger energy future 

for our customers and communities, we must anticipate and adapt to these changes. As we look 

to the future, we believe the National Labs and the public-private collaborations through DOE, 

ARP A-E and other partnerships are critical. The suite of capabilities offered by the National 

Labs are unattainable anywhere else in the industry and are critical to the industry's ability to 

understand how to better operate and plan our system for the future. This ultimately ensures 

electric customers and our communities have the lowest cost, most reliable, resilient, and 

advanced clean energy system in the world. 

Thank you for the opportunity to be here today and I look forward to your questions. 

'At Duke Energy, our emerging teclmology team spends time monitoring trends and industry activity to track 

technology developments and consider the best time to adopt and deploy new technologies. We focus on: 

Maturation: We work hard to ensure technology moves into a lab test or pilot and ultimately into our 

operations at the right time in their technology maturation process. 

Utility-scale: Sometimes a teclmology may be commercially ready, and there's more than one unit out 

there, but we're still monitoring market acceptance. We really want a technology to be utility grade: that's 

when we're ready to take it to scale and deploy across our system. 

Customer need: Finally, the most important criterion '"e evaluate when deploying a new tcclmology is 

simple- it must deliver value to the customer. Otherwise, it's just teclmolom• for technology's sake. 

"New technologies pass through several stages on the path to commercializ.ation: 

I. Innovation Trigger: A breakthrough. public demonstration, technology/product launch. or some other event 

generates press and industry interest in a technology illl1ovation. These itmovations and discoveries are 

simply too complex and have too large an inherent risk for any single private enterprise to tmdertake. The 

National Labs are often engaged in these breakthroughs. with utilities serving as advisors. 

2. Peak oflnflated Expectations: A wave of "buzz" builds and the expectations for this new technology rise 

above the current reality of its capabilities. In some cases. an investment bubble forms. The National Labs 

continue to work on these efforts. Startups will begin to emerge that look to capitalize on the excitement. 

Emerging Teclmolom· teams. like ours at Duke Enerm·. begin early testing to confinn or refute the 

technological claims. 

3. Trough of Disillusionment: Inevitably, impatience for results begins to replace the origilllll excitement 

about potential value. Problems with performance. slower-than-expected adoption or a failure to deliver 

financial returns in the time anticipated all lead to missed e:-c-pectations, and disillusio1U11ent sets in. The 

private sector, VCs, and those early startups will divest and move on to other promising teclmologies. We 

must rely on DOE, National Labs and ARPA-E to continue to advance promising technologies tlrrough this 

challenging period. Utilities will look to partner with these organizations to better understand the 

capabilities and possibilities for the future. 

4. Slope of Enlightenment: Some early adopters overcome the initial hurdles, begin to experience benefits and 

recommit efforts to move fonvard. Drawing on the experience of the early adopters. understanding grows 

about where and how tl1e technology can be used and, just as importantly, where it delivers little or no 

value. Utilities may begin developing pilots and conducting pre-scale deployments as we evaluate the bestuse cases and applications for new technologies t11at bring the most value to our customers. 

6 
24 

5. Plateau of Productivity: Wilh the real-world benefits of the technology demonstrated and accepted. 

growing numbers of organizations feel comfortable with the now greatly reduced levels of risk. A sharp 

uptick in adoption begins, and penetration accelerates rapidly as a result of productive and useful value. 

This is when you really see the utility industry start adopting- once the product and financial risk has been 

mitigated. there arc clear nse cases for adoption and demonstrated value for the customer. 

"' Drastic reductions in the cost of wind energy are, in part, a result of the $2.4 billion invested by the DOE in wind 

R&D between 1976 and 2014. which has enabled many key innovations such as the taller turbines. longer blades. 

and improved electronics. Public-private partnerships R&D investments have also been critical in bringing down 

costs for LED lighting by 90 percent since 2008. 

" Historically. cleantech companies have been more likely to fail and offer lower returns relative to software 

companies. Since 2007. only 13 American series A cleantech finns exited at over $500M valuations. 

7 
25 

Senator GARDNER. Thank you, Ms. Ratnayake. 

Dr. Kearns, as introduced by Senator Duckworth, the Interim Director at the Argonne National Laboratory. 

Thank you. 

STATEMENT OF DR. PAUL KEARNS, INTERIM LABORATORY 

DIRECTOR, ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY 

Dr. KEARNS. Chairman Gardner, Ranking Member Manchin and 

members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. 

I am Paul Kearns, the Interim Director of Argonne National Laboratory which is located in Lemont, Illinois. For nearly three decades I’ve held senior management positions in the Department of 

Energy’s national laboratories. I am passionate about securing our 

nation and encouraging breakthrough discoveries in science and 

technology. 

For more than 70 years the U.S. Department of Energy and its 

national laboratories have been delivering scientific discovery and 

innovation focused on understanding nature’s deepest secrets, improving the way our nation generates, distributes and uses energy, 

and enhancing global, national and our homeland security. Time 

and again the laboratories have been called upon to overcome the 

world’s greatest scientific challenges, from answering urgent questions about outbreaks of Ebola to mitigating weather-related risk 

with innovative detailed computer models. 

The Department of Energy operates five light sources, including 

our Advanced Photon Source at Argonne. Each offers a different 

way of characterizing materials at the atomic and molecular level 

so that we may understand, predict and ultimately control material 

properties. 

From these facilities come life-changing discoveries. Drugs used 

to treat and halt the progression of conditions, including advanced 

kidney cancer, malignant and inoperable skin cancer, a common 

type of leukemia and HIV all got their start at Argonne’s Advanced 

Photon Source. Research there has also led to greater understanding of diseases ranging from autism to osteoporosis. 

This ability to view matter in great detail has led to many other 

inventions as well. The intense x-rays of the Argonne Advanced 

Photon source has helped us design the technology that’s used in 

the battery cell that powers the Chevy Volt. It has also led to insights about how to improve the reliability of additive manufacturing, the efficiency of the internal combustion engines and the 

possibility of hypersonic flight. These insights flow from open and 

productive partnerships with a range of industries including pharmaceuticals, oil and gas and transportation. 

As we upgrade Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source, researchers 

will be able to peer deeper in near real time and develop, for example, next generation quantum materials with extraordinary properties and create 3-D images of the human brain. In other words, 

the ultimate 3-D microscope is within the nation’s grasp. 

More than 30 of the 500 fastest supercomputers in the world can 

be found at DOE laboratories. At Argonne, we’ve helped industry 

perform simulations in support of more efficient jet engines and 

wind turbines and help doctors arrive at prognosis and treatment 
26 

plans designed specifically for individual cancer patients. Scientists 

also use these resources to enhance the creation of nanocircuits to 

usher in the next generation of electronic circuitry. 

We design, build and operate distinctive scientific instrumentation and facilities making supercomputing, imaging and other resources available to the wider research community. This multiplies 

the value the national laboratories deliver through collaboration 

with more than 30,000 users of our facilities from academia and industry. 

With our unique talent and tools, national laboratories play a 

critical role in large-scale, long-term research and development 

that compliments the pursuits of universities and industry to discover new knowledge and better human lives. 

Argonne’s material science and chemistry research has yielded a 

spectrum of innovations ranging from some of the toughest ceramic 

ever produced—perfect for energy and transportation applications—to innovations that demonstrate the doubling of the carrying 

capacity of the best commercial superconductors. 

DOE laboratories and universities mutually benefit from developing strategic partnerships. These partnerships capitalize on the 

different strengths of their respective organizations and bring 

unique solutions to regional and broad national challenges. 

As an example, the Institute for Molecular Engineering created, 

as a partnership between Argonne and its parent organization, the 

University of Chicago, looks to impact major society issues with innovative technologies achieved through molecular scale, design and 

manipulation. 

The Argonne Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, JCESR, 

DOE’s battery and energy storage hub, is an example of a successful public-private partnership, bringing together collaborators from 

universities, industry, and other national laboratories. The hub’s 

mission is to look beyond lithium ion, today’s technology, to create 

next generation battery technologies that will transform the transportation sector and the electrical grid, the way today’s lithium ion 

batteries have transformed personal electronics. 

In addition to energy storage, national laboratories are working 

to create a more reliable and resilient power infrastructure for U.S. 

energy and economic security, as has been mentioned already 

today. The laboratories increase the mobility of our citizens with 

new transportation systems through diversified fuel sources and increased efficiency. 

We integrate combustion, fuels and lightweight materials research to improve internal combustion engine efficiency. We explore the possibility of cost-effective and durable hydrogen storage 

materials for fuel cells and develop and deploy new energy storage 

technologies for electric and hybrid electric vehicles. 

Specialists in backgrounds in engine and combustion system development, as well as high-octane and bio-derived fuel chemistries 

collaborate with our leading experts in advanced engine simulations allowing for comprehensive assessment of alternative fuels to 

optimize fuel economy gains for a range of applications. 

National laboratories make us more secure by advancing nuclear 

materials management, detection, and forensic capabilities to protect the nation. They also enhance the safety, security and reli-
27 

ability of the nation’s nuclear deterrent. We provide the targeted, 

sophisticated data collection and lightning-paced parsing necessary 

to inform national security decision-making, and create an advantage with energy and power solutions specifically designed to fulfill 

national security missions. 

The success of the national laboratories is being noticed by other 

countries. They are looking at our model to replicate its unique 

interdisciplinary nature. We must continue to invest in this system 

to remain at the forefront of research and development as we overcome the greatest scientific challenges. 

Thank you for your time and interest in how the national laboratories bring greater security, health, and prosperity to Americans. 

I welcome any questions that you might have. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Kearns follows:] 
28 

Written Testimony of Dr. Paul Kearns 

Interim Laboratory Director, Argonne National Laboratory 

before the 

Subcommittee on Energy of the 

U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources 

September 12, 2017 

Chairman Gardner and Ranking Member Manchin, and members of the subcommittee, thank you 

for the opportunity to appear before you today. 

I am Paul Kearns, interim director of Argonne National Laboratory, one of America's first and 

largest multipurpose science and engineering laboratories, located in Lemont, Illinois. Before 

becoming Argonne's interim director in January 2017, I served as Argonne's Chief Operations 

Officer and prior to Argonne, I held leadership positions at Battelle Global Laboratory 

Operations, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, and Pacific Northwest 

National Laboratory. I also served as a visiting professor in engineering and physical sciences at 

the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom. 

As you can see, I have devoted much of my career to expanding the national laboratories' unique 

mission of securing our nation and encouraging break-through discoveries in science and 

technology. It was the special mission of the laboratories that attracted me to the national 

laboratory system and it is the opportunity to work with such dedicated and talented people, on 

things that matter, that has kept me involved with the national laboratories. 

For more than 70 years, the U.S. Department of Energy and its national laboratories have 

improved the way our nation generates, distributes, and uses energy. Time and again, the 

laboratories have been called upon to overcome the world's greatest scientific challenges. 

Working together to solve national challenges, the national laboratories bring to bear decades of 

expertise from researchers in physics, materials and chemistry, math and computer science, life 

sciences, nuclear energy and more. 

This network of 17 national laboratories is a vital component of the science and innovation 

ecosystem of the United States with major continuing impact. It encompasses multipurpose 

science and security laboratories, as well as single purpose laboratories related to specific science 

and technology aims. Focusing on the core missions, dynamic programs and rapid response 

needs of the country allows the system to address major science programs and respond to needs 

such as answering urgent questions about outbreaks ofEbola in Africa and mitigating weatherrelated risks with innovative, detailed computer models. 

For example, the DOE operates five light sources- the Advanced Light Source at Lawrence 

Berkeley National Laboratory, the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National 

Laboratory, the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource and Linac Coherent Light Source at 

the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, and the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National 

Laboratory. Each offers a different way of characterizing materials at the atomic and molecular 

level so that we may understand, predict, and ultimately control materials properties. These 

facilities generate both hard X-rays that penetrate nearly any surface to reveal the inner workings 

of materials and technologies as well as soft X-rays that are less intrusive. 
29 

Similarly, DOE also operates five nanoscale science research centers, strategically located within 

national laboratories across the country. Each center has particular expertise and capabilities in 

selected theme areas, with the goal of understanding, predicting, and ultimately controlling 

matter and energy at the atomic scale. This research provides the foundation for future new 

technologies and supports the DOE mission in energy, environment, and national security. 

From these facilities come life-changing discoveries. Drugs used to treat and halt the progression 

of conditions including advanced kidney cancer, malignant and inoperable skin cancer, a 

common type of leukemia, and HIV all got their start at Argonne's Advanced Photon Source. 

Research there also has led to greater understanding of diseases ranging from autism to 

osteoporosis. 

This ability to view matter in great detail has led to other innovations as well-the intense X-rays 

of the Advanced Photon Source helped Argonne design the technology used in the battery cell 

that powers the Chevy Volt. It has also led to insights about how to improve the reliability of 

additive manufacturing, the efficiency of internal combustion engines, and the possibility of 

hypersonic flight. These insights flow from open and productive partnerships with a range of 

industries, including pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, and transportation. 

As we update Argonne's Advanced Photon Source, researchers will be able to peer deeper and 

develop, for example, 3-D images of the entire human brain, building upon current neuroscience 

research that has developed models of a mouse's brain. In other words, the ultimate 3-D 

microscope is within Argonne's grasp. 

Breakthroughs such as this highlight many other strengths of the laboratories as well. For 

example, Argonne's interdisciplinary culture combines the imaging of the Advanced Photon 

Source with deep and broad materials science expertise and modeling capabilities of the Argonne 

Leadership Computing Facility. 

More than 30 of the 500 fastest supercomputers in the world can be found at DOE laboratories. 

Like our light sources, these high-performance computing facilities offer an unparalleled 

combination of resources, which is helping scientists accelerate their research in many fields, 

enabling high-impact scientific discoveries, and making a transformative impact on society. At 

Argonne we have helped industry perform simulations in pursuit of more efficient jet engines 

and wind turbines, and now we are working to combine new capabilities in machine learning 

with novel data acquisition and analysis techniques and simulations to help doctors arrive at 

prognosis and treatment plans designed specifically for individual cancer patients. Scientists are 

also using these resources to enhance the creation of nanocircuits to usher in the next generation 

of electronic circuitry. 

The national laboratories make these large-scale, powerful facilities and their specialists 

available to a community of more than 30,000 researchers from all 50 states annually from 

industry, academia, and other national laboratories. 

2 
30 

None of what the national laboratories accomplish would be possible without highly skilled and 

visionary researchers. World-class researchers who work at the national laboratories keep our 

nation secure and economically competitive. 

We design, build, and operate distinctive scientific instrumentation and facilities, making 

supercomputing, imaging, and other resources available to the wider research community. This 

impact multiplies as we collaborate with more than 30,000 users of our facilities, combined with 

nearly 60,000 scientists, engineers, and employees across the Department ofEnergy's national 

laboratory complex. With our unique talent and tools, national laboratories play a critical role in 

large-scale, long-term research and development that complements the pursuits of universities 

and industry to discover new knowledge and better human lives. 

Argonne's materials science and chemistry research has yielded a spectrum of innovations 

ranging from some of the toughest ceramic ever produced-perfect for energy and transportation 

applications-to smart, highly insulated windows that could save 5 percent of the nation's 

energy budget. 

Elevating our accomplishments is the constellation of relationships the national laboratories have 

with other researchers. Partnerships mutually benefit the DOE laboratories and universitiesfrom single collaborations between principal investigators to long-term, interdisciplinary 

scientific programs leveraging multiple resources in talent, facilities, and ideas. These 

partnerships capitalize on the different strengths of the respective organizations and bring unique 

solutions to regional and broad national challenges. As an example, the Institute for Molecular 

Engineering, created as partnership between Argonne and its parent organization, the University 

of Chicago, looks to impact major society issues with innovative technologies achieved through 

molecular-scale design and manipulation. 

Universities make up a third of the partner organizations in the Argonne-led Joint Center for 

Energy Storage Research (JCESR), DOE's battery and energy storage hub, with many others 

serving as affiliates and collaborators. The hub's mission is to create next-generation battery 

technologies that will transform the transportation sector and the electric grid the way lithiumion batteries transformed personal electronics. JCESR is an example of a successful publicprivate partnership, bringing together collaborators trom universities, industry, and other national 

laboratories. 

In addition to energy storage, national laboratories are working to create a more reliable and 

resilient power infrastructure for U.S. energy and economic security. We are using such solutions 

as grid-scale storage to take full advantage of intermittent resources and we are empowering 

consumers to manage more of their consumption via smart appliances, smart meters, and 

transparent pricing. In collaboration with local utilities and first responders, national laboratories 

have developed technologies such as self-healing frameworks to mitigate the consequences of 

cyber-attacks and advanced sensor technologies to aid in physical security of the electric grid and 

our infrastructure. 

Our breakthrough science and engineering accomplishments are rolling back the frontiers of 

discovery in many areas. 

3 
31 

The laboratories increase the mobility of our citizens with new transportation systems to 

diversify fuel sources and increase efficiency. We integrate combustion, fuels, and lightweight 

materials research and development to improve internal combustion engine efficiency, and 

develop and deploy new energy storage technologies for electric and hybrid-electric vehicles. 

National laboratories make us all more secure by advancing nuclear materials management, 

detection, and forensics capabilities to protect the nation. They also enhance the safety, security, 

and reliability of the nation's nuclear deterrent. We provide the targeted, sophisticated data 

collection and lightning-paced parsing necessary to inform national security decision-making, 

and create an advantage with energy and power solutions specially designed to fulfill national 

security missions. 

Our researchers contribute to the greater health of our nation by increasing the understanding of 

diseases in order to fight them more effectively. Argonne scientists were part of a team that 

determined the 3-D atomic structures of more than 1,000 proteins and deposited their findings 

into World-Wide Protein Data Bank. National laboratories are melding medical research and 

high-performance computing to create precise therapy options based on genetics. 

Underpinning all these goals is the fact that the national laboratories are equipped like none other 

to expand our fundamental understanding of matter, materials, and their properties. With worldleading X-ray sources, particle accelerators, supercomputers, nanoscale science centers, and 

other facilities, we conduct basic research across the spectrum from the large-scale structure of 

our universe to the microscopic nature of matter at subatomic levels. We discover new materials 

and chemical assemblies and apply their novel structures, functions, and properties to new ways 

of generating, distributing, and using energy. 

The success of the national laboratory system is being noticed by other countries that are looking 

at our model to replicate its unique interdisciplinary culture. We must continue to invest in this 

system to remain at the forefront of research and development as we overcome the greatest 

scientific challenges. 

Thank you for your time and your interest in how the national laboratories bring greater security, 

health, and prosperity to Americans. The decades of time national laboratories have invested, 

combined with our world-class talent and one-of-a-kind tools, enables us to excel in large-scale, 

research and development challenges that complement those of universities and industry, to 

explore new frontiers of knowledge and elevate the well-being of society. I welcome any 

questions that you might have. 

4 
32 

Senator GARDNER. Thank you, Dr. Kearns. 

Dr. Anderson, introduced by Senator Manchin, the Director of 

the West Virginia Energy Institute. 

Thank you, Dr. Anderson. 

STATEMENT OF DR. BRIAN J. ANDERSON, DIRECTOR OF THE 

WVU ENERGY INSTITUTE, WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY 

Dr. ANDERSON. Chair Gardner and the rest of the Committee, I 

thank you very much for your attention today. And I do, certainly, 

thank Senator Manchin for his kind introduction. 

As he mentioned, I am the Director of the WVU Energy Institute 

at West Virginia University. We are the central umbrella organization to help coordinate interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research across our 14 colleges and schools and that includes 167 affiliate faculty members who work in the energy space. 

I am the GE Plastics Materials Engineering Professor of Chemical Engineering and have 17 years of energy research experience, 

primarily in chemical engineering, CO2 sequestration, natural gas 

hydrates, unconventional gas production and geothermal energy. In 

all of these research areas I have personally collaborated with 

NREL, Argonne, Los Alamos, Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore, Idaho National Lab and, of course, NETL. 

West Virginia University is a public, land-grant, research-intensive university. It is one of the Carnegie Classification Research 1 

universities, which is the top 115 universities performing research 

in the country. 

Our Morgantown campus hosts the University Energy Institute, 

the National Research Center for Coal and Energy, the Center for 

Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions which discovered the 

Volkswagen was cheating on their emissions tests last year. 

The University has active and ongoing research related to operating improvements on existing coal-fired power generation, the recovery of rare earth elements from coal wastes, instrumentation 

and sensor development to accurately measure fugitive emissions 

from shale gas wells, analysis of sub-surface geologic structures 

and their applicability to store gas liquids, carbon sequestration or 

to produce natural gas. 

We have also developed sophisticated software systems and algorithms that can model complex fossil fuel combustion systems, as 

well as complex electric transmission grids responding to variable 

generation from intermittent sources like solar and wind. 

In the renewable space, we are a leader in biomass as well as 

geothermal energy and in energy storage to enable renewable energy technologies onto the grid. 

Additionally, the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center 

(CERC) Advanced Coal Technology Consortium is based in the 

WVU Energy Institute at West Virginia University. That consortium is one of five consortia across the country that was created 

through a bi-lateral protocol signed in 2009 between the United 

States Department of Energy and two agencies of the People’s Republic of China, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the 

National Energy Administration. The initial phase of this Center’s 

Protocol spanned five years and in 2015 was extended another five 

years. 
33 

As with most of our major research initiatives at WVU, this 

CERC program involves a number of Department of Energy National Laboratory collaborations. The CERC program has national 

laboratory project partners, such as Lawrence Livermore National 

Laboratory, Los Alamos National Lab, the National Energy Technology Laboratory. And these lab partners are in addition to the 

number of private sector and academic institutions including Duke 

Energy. 

A second project that I would draw your attention to is called the 

Marcellus Shale Energy Environment Laboratory (MSEEL). Again, 

this is a collaboration between the National Energy Technology 

Lab and WVU. 

As we know, much of our power sector is shifting to natural gas 

and a lot of natural gas is being produced from Appalachia. Our 

MSEEL site is the world’s first transparent well in the sense that 

all the data collected in terms of its water footprint, its air footprint, noise, light and the full cycle of the production of natural gas 

from the Marcellus Shale site in Morgantown is open to the public. 

This is one of the most instrumented wells in the world and we 

have a full record of all of the emissions through the cycle with the 

design on reducing emissions during production as well as emissions during transportation and distribution of natural gas. Not 

only is this project funded by the DOE Fossil Program, it does 

heavily involve NETL as a research partner. 

In addition to the partnership between CERC and MSEEL, the 

University has active relationships with the NREL in geothermal, 

biomass and hydroelectric, Brookhaven National Lab, Oak Ridge, 

Pacific Northwest and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, not to 

leave them out, but these are our major research collaborations. 

We have worked with NETL since 1946 supporting their R&D 

activities. In ’46 the research came to Morgantown in the form of 

a synthesis gas branch experiment station, specifically focused on 

coal gasification research at WVU. 

WVU has collaborated with the NETL when it was the Morgantown Energy Center. The Morgantown Energy Technology Center, 

the Federal Energy Technology Center and, of course, now, NETL. 

So for the better part of the last decade we have, through the onsite research contract, been a part of the Regional University Alliance with our partners at Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech and Penn State, where many students have completed their Ph.D. work onsite at the laboratory, including many of my own. Not only does this provide a broad and 

talented research workforce for the laboratory, but it also has resulted in a number of R&D 100 awards that have been awarded 

to RUA researchers. 

So generally, innovation ecosystems often include innovation 

clusters at the scale of metropolitan areas that form a core research group of universities or companies. These innovation clusters are typically driven by the interaction of early stage technology 

ideas or firms with financing and related companies in a geographically concentrated area that has an enabling environment. 

Geographic proximity often encourages rapid commercialization; 

however, the DOE national laboratories act not only as a convening 
34 

party, but that catalyst in a hub for innovation ecosystems across 

the United States. 

I do sincerely thank the Committee for your time and attention 

today and for allowing me to speak about West Virginia University 

and our partnerships with the many national laboratories. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Dr. Anderson follows:] 
35 

Brian J. Anderson, Director of the WVU Energy Institute, West Virginia University 

Written Testimony of Brian J. Anderson to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources' 

Subcommittee on Energy 

September 12, 2017 

Chair Gardner, Ranking Member Manchin and members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the 

opportunity to offer relevant testimony and to answer your questions in my areas of experience and 

expertise. 

I am the Director of the WVU Energy Institute at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. 

The WVU Energy Institute is the central organization on the West Virginia University campus with a 

mission to coordinate cross- and multi-disciplinary research across our 14 schools and colleges in energy 

as well as working with the state of West Virginia to stimulate economic development while utilizing our 

energy resources responsibly. The West Virginia University Energy Institute has 167 affiliate faculty 

members across many different areas of research in the university. In addition to my role as director, I am 

the GE Plastics Materials Engineering Professor of Chemical Engineering and have 17 years of energy 

research experience primarily in chemical engineering and in subsurface science as related to co, 

sequestration, natural gas hydrates, unconventional gas production, and geothermal energy. 

West Virginia University is a public, land-grant, research-intensive university founded in 1867. It is 

designated an "R1" Research University (Very High Research Activity) by the Carnegie Foundation for the 

Advancement of Teaching; funding for sponsored research programs exceeds $170 million. The 

Morgantown campus houses the West Virginia University Energy Institute, the National Research Center 

for Coal and Energy, and the Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions which discovered the 

Volkswagen diesel engine emissions software installation that allowed its diesel engines, in test mode, to 

meet emissions compliance standards, but to operate out of compliance when not in test mode. 

The university has active and ongoing research related to operating improvements on existing coal-fired 

power generation, the recovery of rare earth elements from coal wastes, instrumentation and sensor 

development to accurately measure fugitive emissions from shale gas wells, analysis of sub-surface 

geological structures and their applicability to store gas liquids, store carbon or produce gas. The 

university also has developed sophisticated software and algorithms that can model complex fossil fuel 

combustion systems, as well as complex electric transmission grids responding to variable generation 

from intermittent sources like solar and wind. In the renewable space, we are a leader in biomass as well 

as geothermal and in energy storage to enable renewable energy technologies into the grid. 

Additionally, the U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center Advanced Coal Technology Consortium (CERCACTC) is based in the WVU Energy Institute at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. The 

consortium is one offive consortia that were created through a bi-lateral Protocol signed in 2009 between 

the United States Department of Energy and two agencies of the People's Republic of China: the Ministry 

of Science and Technology and the National Energy Administration. The initial phase of Center's Protocol 

spanned five years (2011-2015) and in 2015 was extended an additional five years (2016-2020) under the 

direction of Jim Wood. 

Most of our major research initiatives at WVU involve U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory 

collaborations. The CERC-ACTC has as national laboratory project partners Lawrence Livermore National 
36 

Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the National Energy Technology Laboratory. These lab 

partners are in addition to a number of private sector and academic institutions in the U.S. 

A second project that I do want to draw attention to is called the Marcellus Shale Energy Environment 

Laboratory. As we know, much of our power sector is shifting to natural gas and there's a lot of natural 

gas and natural gas liquids being produced from the region in Appalachia. Our Marcellus Shale Energy 

Environment Laboratory called MSEEL is the world's first transparent well in the sense that all the data 

collected in terms of its water footprint, its air footprint, noise, light and the full cycle of the production 

of natural gas from this Marcellus Shale site in Morgantown is open to the public. This is one of the most 

instrumented wells in the world and we have a full record of all of its emissions through the cycle with the 

design on reducing emissions during production as well as emissions during transportation and 

distribution of natural gas. This project is not only funded by the DOE Fossil Energy Program, but the 

National Energy Technology Laboratory is an active research partner. 

In addition to the partnership on CERC-ACTC that includes the National Energy Technology Laboratory, 

Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, WVU has active 

relationships with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (geothermal, biomass, hydroelectric), 

Brookhaven (catalysis and chemistry), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (manufacturing and materials), 

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (gas hydrates, catalysis, materials, and reaction chemistry), and 

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (gas hydrates, geothermal, and geosciences). 

West Virginia University has worked with NETL or its precursor laboratories since 1946 supporting NETL's 

R&D efforts. In 1946, research came to Morgantown in the form of the Synthesis Gas Branch Experiment 

Station, exploring coal-gasification research at WVU. WVU has collaborated with the NETL as the 

Morgantown Energy Center, the Morgantown Energy Technology Center, the Federal Energy Technology 

Center, and since 1999, the National Energy Technology Center. West Virginia University is currently 

supporting all five core competency research directorates: Computational Science and Engineering, 

Energy Conversion Engineering, Materials Engineering and Manufacturing, Geological and Environmental 

Systems, and Systems Engineering and Analysis. West Virginia University brings expertise to the LRST in 

many of the programmatic areas including: Rare Earth Elements, Energy Systems, Carbon Capture, Carbon 

Storage, Natural Gas Resources, Methane Hydrates, EOR, and Natural Gas Infrastructure. 

For the better part of the last decade, WVU has, through the on-site Research and Engineering Services 

(RES) contract, been a part of the NETL-Regional University Alliance (RUA). This vehicle provided a formal 

mechanism for direct collaboration on-site between the member universities (West Virginia University, 

University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Penn State University, and Virginia Tech) and the 

NETL. Many of my own students have completed the bulk of their PhD dissertation work at or in direct 

collaboration with the NETL. Not only does this provide a broad and talented research workforce at the 

fingertips of the NETL, but has directly resulted in a number of R&D 100 awards and commercial 

technologies. 

Generally, innovation ecosystems often include innovation clusters at the scale of a metropolitan area 

from a core group of research universities or companies. These innovation clusters are typically driven by 

the interaction of early stage technology ideas or firms with financing and related companies in a 

geographically concentrated area that has an enabling environment (e.g. supportive state policies and 

market pull). Geographic proximity encourages rapid commercialization through increased 

2 
37 

communication and collaboration among the organizations. The DOE National Laboratories act as not 

only a convening party but a catalyst and a hub for innovation ecosystems across the United States. 

I sincerely thank the committee for their time and attention today and for allowing me to speak about 

West Virginia University's experience with the National Laboratories and their role in fostering innovation. 

Brian J. Anderson 

Director, WVU Energy Institute 

GE Plastics Materials Engineering Professor of Chemical Engineering 

West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 

304-293-6631 

3 
38 

Senator GARDNER. Thank you, Dr. Anderson, and thanks to all 

of you for being here, again, today. 

I think this panel is a great representation of what our national 

labs stand for and how research and development in this country 

really works because we have not only the scientists from our great 

laboratories across the country, but we have the private sector involvement, we have our universities and research institutions that 

are all at the table to talk about innovations in research science 

and how we are going to maintain, in this country, the leading 

edge of innovation. 

I encourage everybody who is listening or a part of this on the 

dais to check out this ‘‘Breakthroughs’’ by America’s national laboratories, 75 breakthroughs, the highlights in 2017. 

[The information referred to follows:] 
39 
40 

Fermilab 

.1-\ 

Los Alamos 

Sandia 

National 

laboratories 
41 

of millions of people for more than 75 years. Born 

at a time when laboratories came together to advance science, 

safeguard the nation and protect our freedoms for generations to come. This network of Department 

Laboratories has grown into 

As this list of breakthroughs attests, 

saved lives, generated new products, fired the im<•gi11ation 

the universe. Rooted in the need to serve the 

the National Laboratories have put an American stamp on the last 

ingenuity and tenacity, they are now engaged in innovating the future. 

**** 

high performance 

computing resources 

available, including 

32 of the 500 fastest supercomputers in the world. 

These systems, working at quadrillions of operations 

per second, model and simulate complex, dynamic 

systems- such as the nuclear deterrent- that 

would be too expensive, impractical or impossible to 

physically demonstrate. Supercomputers are changing 

the way scientists explore the evolution of our 

universe, climate change, biological systems, weather 

forecasting and even renewable energy. 

Decoded DNA 

In 1990, the National labs joined with the National 

Institutes of Health and other laboratories to kick 

off the Human Genome Project, an international 

collaboration to identify and map all of the genes of 

the human genome. 

Brought the web to 

the United States 

National Lab scientists, 

seeking to share 

particle physics 

information, were first 

to install a web server 

in North America, 

kick~starting the development of the worldwide 

web as we know it. 

Put eyes in the sky 

Vela satellites, first launched in 1963 to detect 

potential nuclear detonations, transformed the 

nascent U.S. space program. The satellites featured 

optical sensors and data processing, logic and power 

subsystems designed and created by National Labs. 

Revolutionized 

medical diagnostics 

and treatment 

Researchers at the 

National Labs helped 

to develop the field 
42 

of nuclear medicine, producing radioisotopes to 

diagnose and treat disease, designing imaging 

technology to detect cancer and developing software 

to target tumors while sparing healthy tissue. 

Powered NASA spacecraft 

The National labs built the enclosure for the 

radioisotope thermoelectric generators that fuel 

crafts such as Cassini and have begun producing 

plutonium-238 for future NASA missions. 

Harnessed the power of the atom 

National Lab scientists and engineers have led the 

world in developing safe, efficient and emissionsfree nuclear power. Starting with the first nuclear 

reactor to generate electricity, National labs have 

been the innovation engine behind the peaceful 

use of nuclear energy. Today's labs are supporting 

the next generation of nuclear power that will be 

available for the nation and world. 

Brought safe water to millions 

Removing arsenic from drinking water is a global 

priority. A long-lasting particle engineered at a 

National lab can now do exactly that, making 

contaminated water safe to drink. Another technology 

developed at a National lab uses ultraviolet light to 

kill water-borne bacteria that cause dysentery, thus 

reducing child mortality in the developing world. 

Filled the Protein Data Bank 

National lab X-ray facilities have contributed a large 

portion of more than 100,000 protein structures in 

the Protein Data Bank. A protein's structure reveals 

how it functions, helping scientists understand how 

living things work and develop treatments for disease. 

Almost all new medications that hit the market start 

with these data bank structures. 

Invented new materials 

National Labs provide the theory, tools and 

techniques that offer industry revolutionary materials 

such as strong, lighter-weight metals and alloys that 

save fuel and maintenance costs and enable cleaner, 

more efficient engines. 

found life's 

mystery 

National 

discovered how 

genetic instructions 

are carried to the cell's 

protein manufacturing 

center, where all of life's processes begin. Subsequent 

light source research on the genetic courier, called 

messenger RNA, has revealed how the information is 

transcribed and how mistakes can cause cancer and 

birth defects. 

Mapped the universe- and the dark side of 

the moon 

Credit for producing 3D maps of the sky- and 400 

million celestial objects- goes to National lab 

scientists, who also developed a camera that mapped 

the entire surface of the moon. 

Shed light on photosynthesis 

Ever wonder how plants turn sunlight 

into energy? National lab 

scientists determined the 

path of carbon through 

photosynthesis, and today 

use X-ray laser technology to 

reveal how each step in the process 

is triggered by a single particle of light. 

This work helps scientists explore new ways to get 

sustainable energy from the sun. 

Solved cultural mysteries 

The works of ancient mathematician Archimedes 

written over by medieval monks and lost for millennia 

-were revealed to modern eyes thanks to the 

X-ray vision and light-source technology at National 
43 

labs. These studies also have revealed secrets of 

masterpiece paintings, ancient Greek vases and 

other priceless cultural artifacts. 

Revolutionized accelerators 

A National lab built and operated the first largescale accelerator based on superconducting 

radio frequency technology. This more efficient 

technology now powers research machines for 

exploring the heart of matter, examining the 

properties of materials and providing unique 

information about the building blocks of life. 

Revealed the secrets of matter 

Protons and neutrons were once thought to be 

indivisible. National Lab scientists discovered that 

protons and neutrons were made of even smaller 

parts, called quarks. Over time, experimenters 

identified six kinds of quarks, three types of 

neutrinos and the Higgs particle, changing our 

view of how the material world works. 

Confirmed the Big Bang and discovered 

dark energy 

National Lab detectors aboard a NASA satellite 

revealed the birth of galaxies in the echoes of the 

Big Bang. Dark energy- the mysterious something 

that makes up three-quarters of the universe and 

causes it to expand at an accelerating rate also 

was discovered by National Lab cosmologists. 

Discovered 22 

elements 

The periodic 

table would be 

smaller without 

the National 

labs. To date 

the National 

Labs have discovered: technetium, promethium, 

astatine, neptunium, plutonium, americium, 

curium, berkelium, californium, einsteinium, 

fermium, mendelevium, nobelium, lawrencium, 

rutherfordium, dubnium, seaborgium, f!erovium, 

moscovium, livermorium, tennessine and 

oganesson. 

Made refrigerators cool 

Next-generation refrigerators will likely put the 

freeze on harmful chemical coolants in favor of an 

environmentally friendly alloy, thanks to National 

Lab scientists. 

Got the lead out 

Removing hazardous lead-based solders from the 

environment is a reality thanks to a lead-free alloy 

of tin-silver-copper developed at a National Lab. The 

lead-free solder has been licensed by more than 60 

companies worldwide. 

scientists used a 

nano technique 

to invent a new 

sponge that can 

absorb 90 times 

its own weight in oil from water. It can be wrung 

out to collect the oil and reused hundreds of 

times- and it can collect oil that has sunk below 

the surface, something previous technology 

couldn't do. 

Added the punch to additive manufacturing 

High¥pressure gas atomization processing 

pioneered at a National Lab made possible the 

production of titanium and other meta!~alloy 

powders used in additive manufacturing and 

powder metallurgy. 

Created inexpensive 

Low-cost catalysts are biomass 
44 

refining. National Lab scientists created catalysts that scientists' understanding of matter at extreme 

are inexpensive and stable for biomass conversion. temperatures and densities. 

Created reduce friction 

National ways to reduce wear 

and tear in machines from table fans to car engines 

all the way up to giant wind turbines, such as a 

diamond-like film that rebuilds itself as soon as it 

begins to break down- so that engines last longer 

and need fewer oil additives. 

Put the jolt in 

the Volt 

Chevy's Volt would 

not be able to cruise 

on battery power 

were it not for the 

advanced cathode 

technology that emerged from a National lab. The 

same technology is sparking a revival of America's 

battery manufacturing industry. 

Cemented a new material 

National Lab scientists have developed a novel 

and versatile material that blends properties 

of ceramic and concrete to form a non-porous 

product that can do everything from seal oil wells 

to insulate walls with extra fire protection. It even 

sets in cold weather. 

Pioneered efficient power lines 

to traffic jams. 

National Lab 

scientists 

developed a 

technology that uses the attractive and repulsive 

forces of magnets to levitate and propel trains. 

Maglev trains now ferry commuters in Japan and 

China and will be operational in other countries 

soon. 

efficient burners 

lab researchers developed cleanercom busting oil burners, saving consumers more 

than $25 billion in fuel costs and keeping more 

than 160 megatons of carbon dioxide out of 

Earth's atmosphere. 

Improved automotive steel 

A company with National lab roots is pioneering 

a metal that weighs significantly less than regular 

steel, retains steel's strength and malleability and 

can be fabricated without major modifications to 

the automotive manufacturing infrastructure. 

New kinds of power lines made from superconductors National lab a device that 

can carry electric current with no energy loss. Now 

deployed by National lab scientists, these prototypes 

could usher in a new era of ultra-efficient power 

transmission. 

Made 

National scientists used a collider 

to recreate the primordial soup of subatomic 

building blocks that last existed shortly after 

the Big Bang. The research is expanding 

could identify the contents of suspicious chemical 

and explosive munitions and containers, while 

minimizing risk to the people involved. The 

technology, which quickly identifies the chemical 

makeup of weapons, has been used to verify 

treaties around the world. 

Pioneered nuclear 

National lab scientists 

Reactor Excursion and leak Analysis Program 
45 

(RELAP) to model nuclear reactor coo! ant and Exposed the risk 

core behavior. Today, RELAP is used throughout You can sleep easier thanks 

the world and has been licensed for both nuclear to National Lab research that 

and non~nuc!ear applications, including modeling quantified the health risk 

of jet aircraft engines and fossil-fuel power plant posed by radon gas in parts 

components. of the country. Subsequent 

EPA standards, coupled with 

Identified good and bad cholesterol radon detection and mitigation 

The battle against heart disease received a boost in measures pioneered by a National Lab research team, 

the 1960s when National Lab research unveHed the prevent the naturally occurring gas from seeping into 

good and bad sides of cholesterol. Today, diagnostic basements, saving thousands of lives every year. 

tests that detect both types of cholesterol save lives, 

po<:ke·t-sized DNA sampler 

Unmasked a microbes ln air, water and 

dinosaur killer soil samples is fast becoming a workhorse in public 

Natural history's health, medical and environmental cleanup projects. 

greatest whodunit Developed by Natlonal Lab scientlsts, the credit~cardwas solved in sized device pinpoints diseases that kill coral reefs and 

1980 when a team catalogs airborne bacteria over U.S. cities. It also was 

of National lab used to quickly categorize the oi!~eating bacteria in 

scientists pinned the dinosaurs' abrupt extinction on the plumes of the Deepwater Horizon spill. 

an asteroid collision with Earth. Case dosed. 

Pitted cool roofs against carbon dioxide 

National lab researchers and policy experts led the 

way in analyzing and implementing cool roofing 

materials, which reflect sunlight, !ower surface 

temperature and slash cooling costs. 

Squeezed fuel from microbes 

In a milestone that brings advanced biofuels one step 

closer to America's gas tanks, National lab scientists 

helped develop a microbe that can produce fuel 

directly from biomass. 

with nanoparticles 

To hydrogen must be safely stored 

and easy to use, which has proven elusive. National 

Lab researchers have now designed a new pliable 

material using nanoparticles that can rapidly absorb 

and release hydrogen without il! effects, a major step 

in making fuekell powered cars a commercia! reality. 

Fabricated the smallest machines 

The world's smallest synthetic motors- as well 

as radios, scales and switches that are 100,000 

times finer than a human hair were engineered 

at a National Lab. These and other forays 

into nanotechnology could lead to !ife~saving 

pharmaceuticals and more powerful computers. 

Preserved the sounds 

of yesteryear 

National Lab scientists 

engineered a high~tech way 

to digitally reconstruct aging 

sound recordings that are 

too fragile to play, such as 

Edison wax cylinders from 

the !ate 1800s. Archivists 

estimate that many of the millions of recordings in 

the world's sound archives, including the U.S. Library 

of Congress, could benefit from the technology. 
46 

sized detector developed by 

National Lab scientists can screen for more 

than 30 kinds of explosives in just minutes. The 

detector, called ELITE, requires no power and is 

widely used by the military, law enforcement and 

security personnel. 

Toughened 

airplanes 

A National lab and 

industry technique 

for strengthening 

metal by bombarding 

it with laser pulses 

has saved the aircraft 

industry hundreds of 

millions of dollars in engine and aircraft maintenance 

expenses. 

Simulated reality 

Trains, planes and automobiles and thousands 

of other objects- are safer, stronger and betterdesigned thanks to computer simulation software, 

DYNA 3D, developed by National lab researchers. 

Detected the neutrino 

Starting with the Nobel-Prize winning discovery 

of the neutrino in 1956 by Fred Reines and Clyde 

Cowan Jr., National lab researchers have made 

numerous contributions to neutrino physics and 

astrophysics. 

Discovered gamma ray bursts 

Sensors developed at the National Labs and placed 

aboard Vela satellites were used in the discovery of 

gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) in 1973. GRBs are extremely 

energetic explosions from distant galaxies. Scientists 

believe that most of these bursts consist of a narrow 

beam of intense radiation released when a rapidly 

rotating, high-mass star collapses to form a neutron 

star, a quark star or a black hole. 

Created the first 100-Tesla magnetic field 

National lab scientists achieved a 100.75-Tesla 

magnetic pulse in March 2012, setting a world record. 

The pulse was nearly 2 million times more powerful 

than Earth's magnetic field. The 100-Tesla multi-shot 

magnet can be used over and over again without 

being destroyed by the force of the field it creates, 

and produces the most powerful non-destructive 

magnetic field in the world. 

Froze smoke for 

hot uses 

National Labs 

researchers 

perfected aerogels, 

known as frozen 

smoke. They are 

one of the lightest solids ever made and have the 

highest heat resistance of any material tested. They 

also are fireproof and extraordinarily strong 

able to support more than a thousand times their 

own weight. As a result of their heat resistance, 

aerogels are outstanding candidates for insulation 

in buildings, vehicles, filters and appliances. 

Invented the cell sorter 

During the 1960s, a National Lab physicist invented 

a "cell sorter"- a novel device that works much like 

an ink jet printer, guiding a tiny flow of cell-containing 

droplets so cells of interest can be deflected for 

counting and study. Cell sorters are a vital tool for 

studying the biochemistry behind many diseases, 

including cancer and AIDS. 

Ushered a domestic energy renaissance 

National Lab research jump" started the shale gas 

revolution by pointing the way to key technologies and 

methodologies for cost efficient extraction. An estimated 

$220 million in research and development expenditures 

on unconventional gas R&D from 1976 to 1992 have 

resulted in an estimated $100 billion in annual economic 

activity from shale gas production alone. 
47 

Enabled space 

exploration 

National labs 

invented 

Laser-Induced 

Breakdown 

Spectroscopy 

(LIBS), the 

backbone of the device that allowed the Curiosity 

Rover to analyze material from Mars. Lab researchers 

also found the right combination of materials to 

make high-efficiency solar cells for spacecraft. 

scientists 

introduced some 20 innovative technologies 

such as low nitrogen oxide (NOx) burners, flue 

gas desu!furization (scrubbers) and fluidized 

bed combustion through the Clean Coal 

Technology Development Program that have 

deeply penetrated the marketplace, substantially 

controlled harmful power plant emissions and 

benefited energy production and air quality. 

Made wind power mainstream 

Increasing wind turbine efficiency with high 

efficiency airfoils has reduced the cost of wind 

power by more than 80 percent over the last 30 

years. Now deployed in wind farms nationwide, 

these turbines owe their existence to National Lab 

research. 

En,oinee,ced smart windows 

Lab scientists have created highly 

insulated windows that change color to modulate 

interior temperatures and lighting. If broadly 

installed, they could save about 5 percent of the 

nation's total energy budget. 

Delivered 

troops safely 

National Lab 

researchers have 

developed computer 

models that effectively 

manage the complex 

logistlcal tasks of deploying troops and equipment to 

distant destinations. 

Channeled chips and 

Integrated circuits and hips owe their success 

to a National Lab discovery that revealed how to 

change a material by injecting it with charged atoms, 

called ions. lon channeling is now standard practice in 

industry and science. 

bigger and better 

A manufacturing platform 

developed by a National Lab and an industry 

partner printed 3D components 10 times larger 

and 200 times faster than previous processes. 

So far, the system has produced a 3D-printed 

sports car, SUV, house, excavator and aviation 

components. 

Purified vaccines 

National Lab researchers 

adapted nuclear separations 

technology to develop a 

zonal centrifuge used to 

purify vaccines, which 

reduces or eliminates 

unwanted side effects. 

Commercial centrifuges 

based on the invention produce vaccines for millions 

of people. 

Built a better building 

A National lab has built one of the world's most 

energy efficient office buildings. The facility, 

operating as a living laboratory at a lab site, uses 50 
48 

Improved airport 

percent less energy 

than required by 

commercial codes 

and only consumes 

energy produced by 

renewable power 

on or near the 

building. 

Weapons, explosives, plastic other 

concealed tools of terrorists are easier to detect 

thanks to technology developed at a National lab 

and now installed in airports worldwide. 

Improved grid resiliency 

A National lab created an advanced battery that 

can store large amounts of energy from intermittent 

renewable sources such as wind and solar 

-onto the power grid, while also smoothing 

over temporary disruptions to the grid. Several 

companies have licensed the technology and offer it 

as a commercial product. 

Solved a diesel dilemma 

A National lab insight into how catalysts behave 

paved the way for a new, "lean-burn" diesel engine 

that met emissions standards and improved fuel 

efficiency by 25 percent over conventional engines. 

Harvested energy from air 

A miniature device commercialized by private 

industry after a National Lab breakthroughgenerates enough power from small temperature 

changes to power wireless sensors or radio frequency 

transmitters at remote sites, such as dams, bridges 

and pipelines. 

Gone grid friendly 

Regulating the energy use of household appliances -

especially at peak times- could slash energy demand 

and avoid blackouts. A National Lab appliance-control 

device senses grid stress and responds instantly 

to turn off machines and reduce end-use demand, 

balancing the system so that the power 

stays on. 

Put the digital 

in DVDs 

The optical 

digital recording 

technology behind 

music, video 

and data storage 

originated at a 

National lab nearly 

40 years ago. 

locked nuclear waste in glass 

Disposal of U.S. Cold War waste is safer thanks to 

National lab scientists who developed and deployed 

a process to lock it into glass to keep it from leaching 

into the environment. 

Cleaned up 

anthrax 

Scientists at a 

National lab 

developed a nontoxic foam that 

neutralizes chemical 

and biological 

agents. This foam 

was used to clean up congressional office buildings 

and mail rooms exposed to anthrax in 2001. 

Removed radiation from Fukushima 

seawater 

After a tsunami damaged the Fukushima Daiichi 

nuclear power plant in 2011, massive amounts of 

seawater cooled the reactor. A molecular sieve 

engineered by National lab scientists was used to 

extract radioactive cesium from tens of millions of 

gallons of seawater. 
49 

Sped up Ebola 

detection 

In 2014, 

researchers 

from a National 

lab modeled 

the Liberian 

blood sample transport system and made 

recommendations to diagnose patients quicker. This 

minimized the amount of time people were waiting 

together, reducing the spread of Ebola. 

Prevented unauthorized use of a nuclear 

weapon 

!n 1960, National Lab scientists invented coded 

electromechanical locks for all U.S. nuclear weapons. 

The switch blocks the arming signal until it receives 

the proper presidential authorization code. 

Launched the lED lighting revolution 

!n the 1990s, scientists at a National Lab saw the 

need for energy~efficient solid~ state lighting and 

worked with industry to develop white LEDs. Today, 

white LEDs are about 30 percent efficient, with the 

potential to reach 70 percent to 80 percent efficiency. 

Fluorescent lighting is about 20 percent efficient and 

incandescent bulbs are 5 percent. 

multi~layer semiconductor structures in devices 

that directly convert sunlight to chemical energy in 

hydrogen by splitting water at efficiencies greater 

than 15 percent. This direct conversion of sunlight 

to fuels paves the way for use of solar energy in 

applications beyond the electrical grid. 

Advanced fusion 

fusion test reactor 

to briefly produce 

power at the 

megawatt scale, 

and the world's 

largest and most energetic laser creating extreme 

conditions mimicking the Big Bang, the interiors of 

planets and stars and thermonuclear weapons, to 

the international experiment to generate industrial 

levels of fusion energy from burning plasmas, 

fusion science and applications are advancing 

because of the National labs. 

Made the first 

molecular movie 

National lab scientists 

have used 

ultrafast X-rays to 

capture the first 

molecular movies in 

quadrillionths-of-asecond frames. These 

movies detail the 

intricate structural 

dances of molecules 

as they undergo 

chemical reactions. 
50 
51 

I just thought I would go through a few of these. It is pretty phenomenal. 

Our labs fabricated the smallest machines. The world’s smallest 

synthetic motor, as well as radios, scales and switches that are 

100,000 times finer than a human hair were designed at our national labs. And it is important to talk about, okay, that is great, 

but how do you turn on a radio that is that small? Well, these are 

the forays into nanotechnology that could lead to life-saving pharmaceuticals and more powerful computers. 

We are talking about a national lab discovery on freezing smoke 

and the smoke is actually fireproof which, there is an irony there, 

it is incredible to think about why would you freeze smoke and how 

did we come up with this, but what can it do? Well, it is heatresistant aerogels that are candidates for insulation in buildings, 

vehicles, filters in appliances. These are things that are life-altering, life-changing, life-improving. 

Ms. Ratnayake, in your comments and testimony you stated, 

‘‘There’s this role, an appropriate role, for industry. There is an appropriate role for the national lab system.’’ 

These discoveries and the partnerships you do together in industry, tell me the importance of federally funding and assuring appropriate and full robust funding for our national labs. What does that 

mean to Duke and to private industry? 

Ms. RATNAYAKE. Certainly, Senator. 

You gave some really good examples. They may not necessarily 

be anything specific, but the energy examples are equally transformational. 

We work with a number of national labs to understand how to 

integrate the new technologies that are coming to us. So it’s not 

necessarily fundamental sciences, but the fact of the matter is we 

can’t operate on a system with technology solutions that doesn’t 

have history. 

That’s where the national labs have helped us, particularly 

NREL has helped us immensely. The capability NREL has within 

its campus allowed us to test different components before any of it 

went on our system—we had to operate in real time and our customers would be impacted. 

Most of the studies we’ve done with them has helped us to understand—when I have a large amount of solar, for example, on a 

single circuit, how do I operate it without the end customer being 

impacted because of the variability you see in its production? 

We’ve had multiple opportunities to work with NREL to visualize 

what that future looks like which, within our facilities, we can’t. 

We don’t have those tools. As I mentioned, we don’t have the resources or the incentives as an industry to look at that. 

So our back-up position is to say, you’re an unproven technology, 

I can’t adopt you. In the absence of a lab, that’s all in the absence 

of a lab, then public-private partnerships, that’s really my back-up 

position or I have to wait until somebody else puts a solution on 

our system and hope that I know what I’m doing when I have to 

operate it. This gives us that, sort of, fail-proof approach process 

to experience things before they become reality on my system. 

Hopefully I’m answering your question. 

Senator GARDNER. Thank you. 
52 

Then there are some who might say that our national labs or the 

research labs in the Federal Government are infringing or duplicating the work that is being done by the private sector. But that 

is simply not true because of what you just answered and explained, that you would not be doing what you do without that. 

Ms. RATNAYAKE. Right. 

So you can think of us in, sort of, with two different roles. We, 

as the utility industry, are really the end user of a number of technologies that get developed by various entities. Some of them, I 

would say a very large number of the ultimately commercialized 

technology, would have started in a place like a national lab or in 

a place like an ARPA-E funded program. By the time it comes to 

us, the remaining research and development is all about how do I 

take a scientifically proven component and make it a part of this 

grid that we have to operate with 100 percent reliability every single day if we possibly can. I can’t take the risk of putting that component without knowing how it would interact with 12 other parts. 

None of the equipment manufacturers who deliver individual 

components have that interest. That’s the unique place that national labs help us to bridge the gap. If they did not have the ability, if each individual component wasn’t able to go and become a 

part of these testing facilities and proving, it’s just not going to be 

commercially viable. 

So anybody who says the national labs are infringing upon the 

potential of the private sector perhaps doesn’t understand the complexity of the system we are operating. 

Senator GARDNER. Thanks, Ms. Ratnayake. 

Dr. Tumas, you are off the hook for this round. I am going to 

come back to you though next time. 

We will go to Senator Heinrich. 

Senator HEINRICH. Well, I want to start by thanking the Chair 

for holding today’s hearing and the witnesses have already presented an incredibly strong case for how valuable the Department 

of Energy’s 17 national laboratories are to our energy future and 

to our nation’s economy. 

In New Mexico, we are proud to be home to two of DOE’s largest 

national laboratories, Los Alamos and Sandia. Both labs play critical roles in both national security and development of advanced 

energy technologies. 

For a number of years now I have worked here in Congress and 

with our two national labs in New Mexico to improve the process 

to transfer those innovative technologies from the labs into the private sector. Technology transfer and partnering with the private 

sector is a critical part of a laboratory’s mission and key to increasing the economic impact of federal research dollars. 

Our national labs produce a steady stream of advanced technologies that we have heard about a little bit today that can yield 

big dividends in commercial markets. To improve the rate of transition of laboratory-developed energy technologies into commercial 

development, I believe we need to strengthen DOE’s programs to 

promote stronger, direct partnerships with that private sector. 

To do that, today I am proud to say I am introducing a bill with 

Senator Gardner, the Energy Technology Maturation Act, which 

authorizes a program at DOE to provide dedicated funding to help 
53 

bridge the gap between lab research and development and a commercial product the private sector can produce and market. 

I am also pleased to say that, in addition to Senator Gardner and 

I, Senators Bennett, Durbin, Manchin and Harris are original cosponsors on that bipartisan bill and we are looking forward to 

hearing from Senator Franken, why he is not on that list. 

[Laughter.] 

Tech transfer is a major job creation opportunity that we cannot 

afford to miss, even in Minnesota—— 

Senator GARDNER. He is still—— 

Senator HEINRICH. ——and our bill will create an environment 

that strengthens our economy while encouraging future innovations. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator FRANKEN. I have never been blindsided like this. 

Senator HEINRICH. So I want to thank all of you for joining us 

today, and I am going to yield for a moment because I think my 

colleague from Minnesota is a little upset with me. 

Senator FRANKEN. I have never been blindsided like that, Senator, and I resent it. I am joking, I don’t. 

Senator HEINRICH. Okay. 

Senator FRANKEN. It looks good. I will look at the bill. If you 

guys are doing it, it sounds good. 

Senator HEINRICH. Great. 

[Laughter.] 

Back to our witnesses. 

I want to thank our lab witnesses and just ask your thoughts, 

from the perspective of the labs. What is working in the world of 

tech transfer? What are you seeing that is enabling that to happen 

more effectively? And what isn’t? And what can we do about it? 

Do any of you want to share your thoughts on that? We will start 

with Dr. Kearns. 

Dr. KEARNS. Yes, let me jump right in because this is an area, 

as I said, I’m pretty passionate about and excited to be able to answer the question or at least start the discussion. 

I think there are two things that I would cite as working well. 

And one is really thinking beyond the transactional relationships 

with industry to, really, more strategic relationships with industry. 

No offense to our panelists here, but we have recently struck a 

long-term agreement to provide science and technology and strategic planning support for Exelon, one of the larger utilities in the 

U.S. So we’re pretty excited about that. It’s fairly open and it’s a 

cooperative research and development agreement which allows us 

to have a great deal of flexibility and really allows us to pursue 

many different avenues of potential interest that Exelon may have 

in thinking about their own research and development activities. 

As has been commented on, they’ve turned—utilities today in a 

regulatory, regulated environment, have great difficulty in conducting research and development activities. So they’ve turned to 

not only Argonne National Laboratory, but they’ve turned to MIT 

and Northwestern with similar kinds of arrangements, really, to 

pull the laboratories and those universities in to their thinking in 

terms of what the future might look like, how they might best posi-
54 

tion themselves for the future and what new technologies they 

should explore. So that’s one. 

A second is a new activity at Argonne we call chain reaction innovations which is sponsored by the DOE’s Office of Advanced 

Manufacturing. It kind of turns things around in terms of how we 

do tech transfer and that actually invites innovators and entrepreneurs, they turn out to be fairly young for the most part, to the 

laboratory to actually use our facilities and to work with our researchers, side by side. 

It’s done through a competitive process and we are just launching the second cohort, if you will, where we can actually have 

young, fresh minds just out of college, or perhaps they’ve just finished their postdocs, really present their ideas. They’re selected 

through a competitive process. As I said, we team them with researchers at the laboratory, as well as a business mentor to really 

help create a winning environment for them so they can really be 

successful in terms of what they do. And it really spans the field 

of interest, the ones we have, all the way from basic fundamental 

science to new ideas in chemistry, to all the way to looking at advances in nuclear energy technologies. So it’s really been well received in those regards. 

So those are two things that I would cite as that are working 

very well. 

Senator GARDNER. Since we gobbled up a little bit of your time, 

Senator Heinrich, if you would like to ask a little bit more, you can. 

Senator HEINRICH. Actually, I would, if either of our other witnesses from either NREL or West Virginia want to chime in, I am 

more than—— 

Dr. TUMAS. Yes, thank you, Senator. 

At NREL we think we need to be as innovative in reaching out 

to partners as we are in our research. And clearly, I think that true 

partnership is important. I like to tell my international colleagues 

in some of our collaborations that collaboration is much like American football. It’s a contact sport. 

And access to the labs for small companies—there are many innovative mechanisms that have been developed over the years for 

that. 

I joined Los Alamos about the time in 1993 that craters started 

to become very important. I spent 17 years there. One of our energy frontier research centers is led by Los Alamos, but NREL is 

an active participant. And you may know that some of the quantum dot technologies developed there are actually in spin-off companies in Los Alamos County today. 

Senator HEINRICH. Right, absolutely. 

Dr. TUMAS. It’s very clear that innovative mechanisms are important. 

We’ve developed some partnerships. One is with the Wells Fargo 

Foundation where we have 20 startup companies that have access 

to national lab capabilities for testing, proof of concept, and de-risking. Wells Fargo has just elected, the foundation has just elected 

to go select another 30 companies to participate there. Very different mechanisms. 

We have energy material networks that were just set up that I 

talked about. One is DuraMAT. It focuses on materials for photo-
55 

voltaic modules. It’s led by NREL, but it has three other labs: 

Sandia, the Stanford Linear Accelerator and Lawrence Berkley lab. 

Each has a role in big data, materials reliability, materials modeling, but there’s an industry board of active photovoltaic companies as well as along the supply chain with companies that sit on 

that board, help guide the research, but it’s a mechanism to actually provide ready, as needed, access to laboratory capabilities. And 

so, they’re there when they’re needed. 

Senator HEINRICH. Great. 

Senator GARDNER. Thank you, Senator. 

I am grateful to be a co-sponsor of the legislation which links the 

two together, meaning the kind of value stream that we need when 

it comes to those investments, getting them commercialized. So I 

appreciate your leadership in this area, Senator Heinrich. 

Senator Franken. 

Senator FRANKEN. Thank you. 

It is like football, you were saying? What were your degrees from 

what schools? 

Dr. TUMAS. I had the pleasure of watching John Elway for three 

years at Stanford, Sir. 

Senator FRANKEN. No, no, no. 

[Laughter.] 

Oh, you were at Stanford? 

Senator GARDNER. Great answer, thank you. 

Senator FRANKEN. Okay, but I thought I heard Caltech and MIT, 

whose football programs rival Yeshiva’s. 

[Laughter.] 

I am concerned about the budget cuts that President Trump is 

making in research, funding for research and development across 

the government which, I think, puts at risk our international competitiveness and innovative edge, not to mention jobs, is especially 

pronounced at the Department of Energy. 

The budget slashes energy science and research programs by $3.1 billion, including cutting renewable energy and energy efficiency research by 70 percent, and it completely ends ARPA-E. 

These cuts would have serious impacts on our national labs 

which, truly, are the envy of the world. The Administration justifies these cuts by expecting the private sector to pick up the slack, 

stating that the budget, ‘‘reflects an increased reliance on the private sector to fund later stage research, development and commercialization of energy technologies.’’ 

It seems like the Administration is buying into, kind of, the Heritage Foundation fantasy that ignores the long-standing research 

model that has been so effective in the United States and are now 

subscribing to, really, a dangerous approach and, I think, a naive 

one, that innovative technologies do not need assistance to transition from the lab and that there is no federal role through publicprivate partnerships and other types of support. They are rejecting 

the model that played a critical role in the development of the 

internet, for just one example. 

Also, Mr. Tumas, you talked about getting oil and gas from 

shale, that kind of partnership. 

Ms. Ratnayake, you work in the private sector. Is Duke Energy 

planning on substantially increasing its investment in energy re-
56 

search and development in lieu of those proposed DOE cuts? Are 

any industry consortiums contemplating the next Bell Labs, say, 

for energy innovation? 

Ms. RATNAYAKE. We are not, Senator Franken. 

Senator FRANKEN. And I would like to hear from the rest of the 

panel. 

If these cuts go through, how will that impact the lab’s ability 

to create and retain top talent? 

Dr. ANDERSON. I know from a university perspective it would 

have a dramatic effect on the next generation of innovators, the 

next generation of scientists, who are funded through the Department of Energy programs at our universities and through our national laboratories. 

And while I have the mic, Senator Franken, as you alluded to 

earlier, in terms of our national competitiveness, I can speak frankly with our U.S./China Clean Energy Research Center Advanced 

Coal Technology Consortium, that through that partnership, 

through that bilateral partnership, we get to see firsthand the innovation engine that exists in China. And so, cuts to our scientific 

endeavors in the United States, both at the basic level as well as 

applied and tech transfer, there is a vast economy that is ready to 

take our place. 

Senator FRANKEN. So if we pass the President’s budget, we are 

ceding our leadership to China and to other countries, in your opinion? 

Dr. ANDERSON. It makes it very difficult for us to maintain our 

foothold, yes. 

Senator FRANKEN. That is what I believe. 

I am going to turn to energy storage because, Ms. Ratnayake, 

you were talking about solar energy and the problem you have with 

it being intermittent and how to deal with that. 

I believe that energy storage is a key to facilitate widespread deployment of renewable energy. It can also be used to improve grid 

reliability and resilience or to avoid more expensive upgrades. Do 

you agree with that? 

Ms. RATNAYAKE. Yes, Senator Franken. Energy storage has multiple characteristics that could help across our entire value chain. 

And I would perhaps say all the components you recognize, that 

there are many different ways to solve them. Energy storage definitely has a role to play there. 

Senator FRANKEN. Thank you. 

May I just continue on this path here? 

Mr. Kearns, can you talk about some of the recent advances in 

energy storage that are coming out of Argonne National Lab as 

part of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research? 

Dr. KEARNS. Yes. 

We have a very active program in energy storage research. Working with today’s technology, as well as what we call beyond lithium 

ion, there’s been a real significant investment by the Department 

of Energy, certainly with support of Congress, in the Joint Center 

for Energy Storage Research over the last four years. 

Great progress has been made in looking at transportation, energy storage technologies through transportation applications, but 

also grid storage applications which has been the focus. 
57 

New materials, a great deal of fundamental, scientific research 

has been done as well to help us understand those materials and 

how they would perform, if you will, in terms of deployment at a 

battery cell whether it be for a vehicle or in the electric grid. 

So, very good news, really, lots of promising development. We’re 

not done. We have work yet to do. We have some fundamental 

science questions that need to be answered before we can actually 

move to, really, deployment of those technologies to industry. But 

great, significant work has been accomplished. 

Senator FRANKEN. What can this Committee do to support you 

as you develop more reliable, efficient, and cost-effective advanced 

energy storage? 

Dr. KEARNS. Certainly, continued investment, continued funding 

is really essential. I think support of active partnerships, which 

we’ve talked about a great deal today. The Joint Center for Energy 

Storage Research includes five national laboratories and four 

prominent universities, as well as four industrial partners. And so, 

that collaboration across the full spectrum of interest and capabilities is really needed. 

Industry participation involvement has really helped us keep the 

eye on the target, if you will, and really understand some of the 

challenges that they foresee in terms of actually manufacturing 

materials and moving those materials into the marketplace. So 

that full spectrum of partnership support is really needed as well 

in engagement. 

Senator FRANKEN. Yes. 

Thank you for letting me run over. Thank you to all of our witnesses. You are all terrific. 

I just want to emphasize that I really think that we disinvest in 

this research at our peril and that the Administration has budgeted Draconian cuts, as far as I am concerned, to our labs and to 

the advanced research that we do there and that we would be 

ceding leadership to China and probably other countries as well, 

that if anything, at this time when we know that we are in a period of, we are seeing the results of climate change around the 

world and we know that it is happening. And whether you believe 

it is manmade or not, which 97 percent of peer-reviewed scientists 

believe it is changing and there is something we can do about it, 

and just from the standpoint of it is cheaper to do wind. 

You know that in Colorado, my goodness. 

Senator GARDNER. And in Congress. 

[Laughter.] 

Senator FRANKEN. Yes. 

It is cheaper to do solar and—China is choking on its fumes, and 

we want the business. I want the business coming from New Mexico and Colorado and from Minnesota. 

If we don’t invest in our labs, in our research, it is really so counterproductive for our country’s future. I just cannot emphasize that 

enough. 

I want to thank you all, again, for your work and your testimony. 

Senator GARDNER. Thank you, Senator Franken. 

We will go another round if you would like. Is that alright with 

you, to go a little bit more? 

Senator HEINRICH. Yes. Absolutely. 
58 

Senator GARDNER. Dr. Tumas, Senator Franken mentioned battery storage. Did you want to talk a little bit about some of the 

storage work you are doing at NREL as well? 

Dr. TUMAS. Sure. Sure, I would. 

I think there’s really—Dr. Kearns did a great job and Argonne’s 

been actively engaged for a long time. 

I think what we’re going to see in energy storage is we’re going 

to have to couple energy storage with energy generation. We’re 

going to see systems integration be important. 

I like to think of our work at NREL and among the national labs 

as, kind of, systems-driven and analysis-based research. We both 

have to look at what are the fundamental limitations of current 

technologies but we have to develop the future, next generation 

concepts as well. And we know some of those limits. 

The other thing that I think is really important is, as a chemist 

I’m fascinated by, not only what we can do by putting electrons 

into electrodes, but what can we do by putting electrons into chemical bonds? 

And so, we know how to electrolyze water to make hydrogen and 

oxygen and we know how to take hydrogen and oxygen back to 

electricity. We know some of the limits of those, but we know that 

those can help very much with grid integration at large scale. 

As we think about energy on very different—what we do for the 

car might be very different than what we do for the grid, long-term. 

So thinking about how to interconvert electrical and chemical energy is a grand challenge that all the labs and a number of universities need to address, how to make those efficient. 

The other one—it’s really important and we’ve done this in solar 

for a long time and now, I think, we’re going to have to do it in 

PV battery systems. And that’s the, not just understanding, but actually predicting lifetimes, predicting reliability, predicting durability. All the kind of de-risking that our colleague from Duke Energy talked about to really make technologies viable. 

And we can’t just try to predict 30 years by studying something, 

testing it for 30 years and then moving forward. We have to understand degradation mechanisms. There’s fundamental science there, 

but there’s plenty of applied science as well. 

Senator GARDNER. Yes, thank you. 

I am sorry, go ahead. I didn’t mean to interrupt, I am sorry, did 

I interrupt you? 

Dr. TUMAS. No, that’s fine, sir. 

Senator GARDNER. Thank you. 

Dr. Tumas, just looking at your background, you went through 

industry, research and development. You went through two national laboratories and we have talked about other nations that are 

copying the successes that we have had in our national laboratory 

system, other nations that are ramping up significantly their investments, the concern I have with the reduced funding for our national lab system. 

But I also worry about the fact that, you know, if there is this 

uncertainty in our national lab system, does it continue to draw the 

brightest minds? Does it continue to be the magnet for the best and 

the brightest in innovation and research and science? 
59 

So tell me a little bit about mission-driven science, the system of 

engineering that DOE has that brought you and kept you in the 

national lab system and what it is about that system that draws 

people from within the 50 states, but also from around the world 

to these magnets of innovation? 

Dr. TUMAS. So I think it’s a couple of things. As I talked a little 

bit in my testimony, big challenges that require big solutions. 

I think that one of the cultures you see at national laboratories, 

and you see it much more so even at some of the research institutions across the world, is the idea of teaming. I love storming, informing new teams to go after new challenges. It’s really exciting 

to get a set of awesome scientists who have never worked together, 

working together from different disciplines on a very complicated 

problem. 

We have a lot of postdocs and graduate students in my Energy 

Frontier Research Center. Almost all of them have spent some time 

at the Stanford Linear Accelerator where we can actually look at 

the synthesis of molecules in real time. And so, there’s the kind of 

training and access to these facilities. 

We now live in a world—I grew up in a world that was very discipline-focused. We now live in a world where graduate students 

and postdocs work very multidisciplinary. They spend time talking 

with theorists. They spend time doing advanced experimental 

work. We have many students and postdocs who are interested in 

policy and some of the analytical ramifications and scenarios of 

their research. So I think this ability for the lab system to really 

bring this multidimensional, multidisciplinary approach, in addition to specialized tools that can’t be found anywhere else in the 

world, is really a critical magnet. 

Senator GARDNER. Thank you. 

Senator Heinrich. 

Senator HEINRICH. Storage has been touched on quite a few 

times, and I think I might want to return to that a little bit with 

Dr. Kearns and Dr. Tumas. 

But I wanted to mention, it is worth noting today that the 

DOE—and some of us following open source data have suspected 

this for a number of months—but the DOE has now said that we 

have officially hit our SunShot goals of $1.00 per watt. And we not 

only hit that goal, but we hit it three years early, Dr. Tumas. And 

back in 2011 when that was set, I think the equivalent is about 

$.06 unsubsidized per kilowatt-hour. Is that right, more or less? I 

think we were at $.27 per kilowatt-hour in 2011 for solar, to give 

you a sense of how steeply we are coming down that curve. 

If you were to look out a few years, what in photovoltaics, in 

terms of new designs or new panel technologies, do you see that 

gets you excited, whether it is from the perspective of declining 

costs or increases in efficiency or even just integrated systems? 

What are you excited about that you see out there in the future 

that has not made it into the news just yet? 

Dr. TUMAS. Great. Most of it is probably in the news somewhere 

but maybe it’s not well-known, but I’d be glad to address that. 

Thank you for the question. 

First of all, we, if you look at—so we’re all delighted that the 

SunShot goal has been met and it’s always great to meet your goals 
60 

ahead of time. What’s interesting is we’re meeting it at a time 

where that slope of cost reduction is not yet flattening out. It’s very 

clear, and there are road maps in EERE—the people that run the 

SunShot program have a road map for how to get to $.03 a kilowatt-hour. They suggest by 2030. I would suggest that that could 

be accelerated, potentially. 

There also are major issues, as we talked about, with storage and 

intermittency on how to deal with a more reliable grid, how a twoway grid allows us to get even more solar onto the grid and wind 

and other things. 

But from a material scientist standpoint, from a fundamental research, I think we’re not done yet either. The four absorbers that 

are in commercial PV systems were actually known when I was in 

graduate school watching John Elway play football. And it turns 

out that only recently, there was a material 15 years ago that was 

worked on at IBM, and only about four or five years ago people in 

England and people in Switzerland took these materials, 

perovskites, and showed they could actually be a new solar material. In fact, NREL has an efficiency curve that plots the efficiency 

over time, and this has a slope that’s been unprecedented. 

And so, all of a sudden there’s a whole set of new materials. At 

our own Energy Frontier Research Center we’re trying to understand, as well as others, what is it about these materials that make 

them special? And while we’re doing that we’re also understanding 

that you can actually solution process these. We, and others, can 

actually do roll-to-roll printing of these materials and make 19 percent solar cells that could be printed like newspaper. And so, we 

start to see new form factors. 

What’s interesting about solar panels despite all the cost reduction and all the efficiency increases is they, kind of, still look like 

they did 35 years ago. 

Senator HEINRICH. Very much. 

Dr. TUMAS. And you can imagine building integrated 

photovoltaics, photovoltaics everywhere else, that might bring you 

power for different applications. 

Clearly we, and a number of others, are working with the Department of Defense on how to take very high-efficiency solar, put 

it into flexible form factors. 

So, there’s many—much we can do, not just on materials discovery, but it turns out for solar cells, it’s not just the material that 

matters, but it’s how the materials interact. There’s several layers 

in a solar cell. It’s how those materials interact over time. It’s how 

those materials are manufactured at a large scale and what that 

position looks like held up to a small scale. It really covers this 

whole spectrum from discovery, but then really marching it all the 

way through to a reliable, predictable, potentially new product. 

Senator HEINRICH. Dr. Kearns, same question, but storage in 

terms of either additional chemistries—— 

Dr. KEARNS. Sure. 

Senator HEINRICH. ——about thermal storage which we have not 

touched on, non-lithium ion applications, flow batteries, et cetera. 

What has you excited about the future? 

Dr. KEARNS. Oh, a number of things, really, have us excited 

about the future of energy storage and thinking beyond lithium ion. 
61 

There’s a great deal of interest in multivalent batteries which is, 

you know, part of the challenge associated with any battery is its 

capacity to store energy. By going from lithium ion to multivalent 

ion of some sort, you really increase the ability to store a great deal 

more energy. And so, we’re very excited about that potential. 

It’s a great deal of literature that’s been really created, scientific 

literature, to really, kind of, validate the thought and the idea and 

really begin to move toward some applications in that space. 

I think also, certainly, new materials. If we look at electrolytes 

and cathodes and certainly a high interest in all kinds of different 

materials and new applications. Thoughts about membranes as 

well in this space that could really drive, if you will, greater efficiencies. 

Big challenge, really, for energy storage, not only in terms of 

storage capacity, but also reducing the cost. And you see that real 

time, if you will, in terms of today’s lithium ion technology. 

We’d like to leapfrog, if you will, in terms of thinking about the 

next generation battery in terms of beyond lithium ion. There’s 

something that is cost competitive to start in terms of where we’re 

at today with lithium ion technology and drive it and improve it 

from there. So, a lot of excitement in terms of great promise, great 

potential there. 

Flow batteries, you mentioned, certainly of high interest in terms 

of grid storage. 

Senator HEINRICH. Great. Thank you very much. 

Senator GARDNER. Thank you. 

Well I can certainly tell from the panel the great pride that you 

approach your work with. Of course, the benefit to the country has 

been phenomenal over the past many decades, the work that you 

have all done in research innovation and development beginning 

with an idea of how we were going to win a war to today’s ability 

to grow jobs, economy and remain the world’s superpower of innovation. 

I want to thank you for being here today, and thank all the panelists for your time and testimony today. 

For the information of members, the record of this Committee 

hearing will remain open until Friday for questions for the record. 

This is your homework assignment. I would ask that you respond 

to those questions as quickly as possible. 

With the thanks of this Committee, the Committee is now adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 4:19 p.m. the hearing was adjourned.] 
(62) 

APPENDIX MATERIAL SUBMITTED 
63 

United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

Subcommittee on Energy 

September 12, 2017 Hearing 

Fostering Innovation: Contributions of the Department f~{ Energy's National Laboratories 

Questions for the Record Submitted to Dr. Bill Tumas 

Questions from Senator Bernard Sanders 

Question 1: According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, the blended we rage solar 

PV price has .fallen by more than S5"~mtt since 2009, and solar PV capacity has increased 

dramatically over the same period Can you describe the role that research supported by the 

National Labs in general, and the Photovoltaic Regional Test Centers in particular, has played 

in bringing down the cost of solar PV7 

The price of solar PV has dropped to the point where it is competitive with conventional sources 

of electricity in some markets. The Department of Energy's SunS hot program recently 

announced its 2020 utility-scale goal of $1 per watt, or 6 cents a kilowatt hour, has been 

achieved three years early. This reduction in price is a result of a number of concurrent factors 

around the globe, including the research conducted by National Labs and the PV Regional Test 

Centers (RTCs). 

An example of National Lab contributions is the ongoing work by NREL and the largest U.S. 

solar module manufacturer, First Solar. The company adopted technology based on cadmium 

telluride born in NREL labs, and in the last decade has been the industry leader in steady cost 

reduction. Over the years NREL has collaborated with First Solar with a wide range of 

foundational research in PV materials, devices, and systems to better understand how to improve 

both performance and reliability. First Solar has stated publicly that they would not be where 

they are today without their collaboration with NREL. This work includes recent fundamental 

studies on materials required to increase their efficiency (published in the journal Nature Energy 

last year), which translates directly to increased competitiveness and performance for the 

technology. 

Another example of how the National Labs are helping bring down the cost of solar PV is 

through grid integration research. Working both independently and in collaboration with 

industry leaders-Solar City/Tesla, First Solar, Google, numerous utilities (HECO, Duke, SCE, 

PREP A, APS, SDG&E, eta\.), Enphase, the Hawaii PUC, the Electric Reliability Council of 

Texas, the California Independent System Operator and many others-NREL and other labs 

have contributed to many advances in PV to grid integration that have already increased solar 

jobs in the US and lowered costs across the value chain. For example: 

Accelerating interconnection reviews through streamlined processes and advanced 

modeling 

Developing algorithms and techniques that allow solar PV to benefit the grid by 

providing reliability services historically provided by central thermal generators. 

Foundational research on advanced algorithms to optimally utilize storage, smart grid 

controls, and other emerging technologies to enhance techno-economic operations of the 

power system. 
64 

United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

Subcommittee on Energy 

September 12, 2017 Hearing 

Fostering Innovation: Contributions of the Department a_{ Energy's National Laboratories 

Questions for the Record Submitted to Dr. Bill Tumas 

A relevant example of an important project by the Photovoltaic RTCs is the testing of technology 

for use in Tesla' s solar roofs product development effort in a trusted, neutral setting and across 

multiple solar regimes. Tesla says this work will revolutionize how we think about installing 

solar on buildings. In addition to partnering with major solar firms Tesla and First Solar, the 

RTCs also strive to support smaller companies, especially those with innovative, yet still 

unproven concepts. Not all of these can be expected to reach commercial success, but this work 

too has pushed the envelope toward lower cost and greater efficiency in PV modules. 

Overall, the RTCs have enabled U.S. manufacturers to demonstrate a strong track record of 

performance and reliability. In one project, U.S. microchip manufacturer Maxim Integrated 

turned to the RTCs to prove the functionality of their smart PV module (with their embedded 

power electronics), which can increase system energy output by up to 20 percent, relative to 

similar modules without the embedded power electronics. Based on the reliability and 

performance data compiled by the RTCs, U.S. manufacturer TenKSolar was able to contract with 

NRG Energy and MGM Resorts to win a contract and complete installation of one of the nation's 

largest rooftop solar arrays. 

Question 2: How will solar energy innovation he affected if public sector research and 

development, particularly the National Laboratories and the Regional Test Centers, is 

significantly curtailed? l> the private sector capable and willing to conduct the R&D necessary 

to move forward aggressively on renewable energy deployment throughout the count1y? 

Around the world, advanced energy solutions are expanding at unprecedented rates. Other 

countries are making significant government investments across the R&D spectrum in solar and 

renewable energy technology development. Federal investment in solar PV R&D is essential if 

the U.S. is to retain technical leadership in this growing industry. 

Despite remarkable advances in the cost, performance and deployment for solar energy, there is 

much room for innovation at many levels. The DOE Sunshot Initiative has a compelling 2030 

Strategy and FY 18-22 Multi-Year Program Plan. Solar eneq,'Y research is underpinned by 

fundamental research funded by the DOE Office of Science on materials discovery, solar 

photochemistry, condensed matter physics, computational materials science, and materials 

chemistry, all which is critical to understanding current materials and developing next generation 

concepts. The Department of Defense funds research that leverages national laboratory 

capabilities to develop high performance photovoltaics to reduce risks and costs associated with 

remote fuel supply. 

The national laboratories offer unique capabilities and expertise that private industry alone 

cannot match. Industry excels at R&D that incrementally improves their manufacturing 

processes, their products, and interconnection practices, but the private sector's need for near 

term return on investment precludes spending on the foundational science that is needed to 

produce new game-changing technologies. Federally funded collaborative R&D among national 

2 
65 

United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natm·al Resources 

Subcommittee on Energy 

September 12, 2017 Hearing 

Fostering Innovation: Contributions of the Department of Energy's National Laboratories 

Questions for the Record Submitted to Dr. Bill Tumas 

laboratories, universities and industry can continue to provide the needed innovation for solar 

energy to: 1) approach the fundamental limits of current technologies, 2) accelerate emerging 

technologies and 3) develop next generation concepts and technologies. 

New concepts to materials processing could lead to lower cost, less capital-intensive 

manufacturing processes. For example, in the last few years have we seen the advent of a new 

class ofPV materials-hybrid perovskites. These materials lead to high efficiency PV solar cells 

that could compete with current technologies on price. They could provide novel coatings that 

could greatly enhance the efficiency of current technologies and could also lead to novel US-led 

manufacturing involving printing of high-efficiency, low-cost solar cells. 

The RTCs are also significant drivers of technical innovation in the US: they provide a platform 

for evaluating new, potentially game-changing, technologies, collecting data that--along with 

performance analysis by the national labs--is essential to 1) providing early feedback to 

manufacturers to help refine their products; 2) bolstering investor and customer confidence in 

emerging technologies; and 3) growing and strengthening the US solar industry by validating 

and showcasing innovation. 

As a nation, we will not remain ahead of the potential grid challenges of high penetration PV 

without the forward-looking, potentially disruptive innovations provided by national labs and 

RTCs. Broader deployment of solar will require expanding R&D on innovative energy storage, 

power electronics, PV systems, PV reliability, advanced algorithms, and energy systems 

integration including assuring resiliency, security, and reliability of the electric grid. Novel 

technologies such as Maxim's embedded power electronics, grid services from advanced 

inverters, and SolarWorld's bifacial photovoltaics require custom evaluation procedures, which 

have been developed in part at the National Labs and deployed at the Regional Test Centers. In 

contrast, existing third-party testing labs generally can only offer more routine test procedures 

best suited for the most conventional PV and inverter technologies. Advanced inverter control 

technologies already provide a pathway forward to managing voltage and providing disturbance 

ride-through to maintain and enhance grid reliability. Looking ahead recent algorithmic 

advances, such as distributed controls, synthetic inertia and harmonic-oscillator-based controls, 

show promise to support reliable grid operations with extremely high-penetrations of inverterbased technologies and to enhance grid resilience to natural and human threats. The national 

laboratories are also a source of reputable and unbiased data and analysis. 

Question 3: While there are no DOE National Laboratories in my state of Vermont, or 

anywhere in New Englandfor that matter, the Photovoltaic Regional Test Center (RTC) in 

Williston, Vermont provides critically important research and performance verification of 

innovative solar technologies and energy storage devices in a ve1y cold and wet climate. {l 

federalfimdingfor the RTCs in Vermont and around the count1y is reduced or eliminated, who 

will provide impartial pe1jormance verification of solar technologies? Can you speak to the role 

these RTCsplay in developing aflordable and effective solar technology for all US. markets? 

3 
66 

United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

Subcommittee on Energy 

September 12, 2017 Hearing 

Fostering Innovation: Contributions of the Department of Energy's National Laboratories 

Questions for the Record Submitted to Dr. Bill Tumas 

The Regional Test Centers fill a valuable role in the independent and credible validation of U.S 

manufacturers' products. That is especially true for the most novel and promising of 

technologies. The infrastructure and procedures already deployed at the Regional Test Centers, 

coupled with the capabilities of the managing National Labs, are ideally suited for performance 

validation of innovative PV equipment. The Vermont Regional Test Center in particular has 

established itself with commercial firms because of its location and climate, and its record of 

successful partnerships with local, Vermont-based firms including All-Earth Renewables, 

Renewable NRG, and Norwich Technologies. The Vennont RTC is also actively working with 

Vermont Technical College to develop a curriculum utilizing the RTC as a classroom, a 

curriculum that can be leveraged by other university partners at other RTCs. 

The Vermont RTC, with its severe winters, offers fielded performance-validation of new 

technologies not only in a region that consistently sees cold temperatures and significant 

snowfall but in a region (the Northeast) that is seeing some of the nation's fastest growth in PV 

per capita. As a result, the Vermont RTC site is the most popular with industry partners (greatest 

number of partners, largest number of kilowatts, and greatest diversity of technologies). The 

companies represented at the Vennont RTC have no other source of objective, independent longterm performance data for this region, data that are needed to build customer confidence in new 

lower-cost technologies and expand market share. 

Questions from Senator Catherine Cortez Masto 

Ouestion 1: Through the Department's research into geothermal energy through the 

Geothermal Technologies Qffice (GTO) and investment into energy projects with the Loan 

Guarantee Program. Nevada has been able to create multiple job producing clean energy power 

plants. Geothermal energy is one of the b'~'OWing industries in Nevada. In2013, there were 29 

geothermal power plants operating in nine of Nevada's seventeen counties. Furthermore. the 

Sandia National Laboratories in Fallon is one of the twofinalistsjor the Department(){ Energy's 

FORGE Lab. Can you tell me how the GJO 's work with the National Labs is creating an 

environment for geothermal energy to continue its growth.7 

The Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) works in partnership with DOE's National Labs, 

academia, and industry on research activities that will enable the development of innovative and 

cost-competitive technologies and tools to locate, access, and develop geothermal resources in 

the United States. The U.S. geothermal industry currently has about 4 gigawatts (GW) of 

installed nameplate capacity-and the Geothermal Technologies Office is working with national 

laboratories such as NREL and Sandia, as well as other key stakeholders, to develop approaches 

to increase the U.S. generating capacity to 100 GW of geothermal power. 

4 
67 

United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natm·al Resources 

Subcommittee on Energy 

September 12, 2017 Hearing 

Fostering Innovation: Contributions of the Department of Energy's National Laboratories 

Questions for the Record Submitted to Dr. Bill Tumas 

The federal geothermal program's research and development activities are primarily focused on 

four areas: enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), hydrothermal resources, low temperature and 

coproduced resources, and systems analysis. FORGE is one of the program's key research 

initiatives. It will create a dedicated site and experimental research platform where scientists and 

engineers from the National Labs will join with university and industry colleagues to develop, 

validate, and accelerate breakthroughs in EGS technologies, and thus significantly increase the 

generating capacity of geothermal power of the United States. FORGE is just one example of 

how the Geothermal Technology program works with multiple National Labs so geothermal 

energy can continue to grow in many states across America. 

Question 2: The interim report of the Secret my~~ Energy Advisory Board (,SEAB) National 

Laboratmy Task recommended that each DOE National Laboratory should adopt a "personnel 

pathway that permits a limited number of staff to take entrepreneurial leave for a designated 

period" and many such entrepreneurial/eave policies have begun to be implemented. At this 

early stage process, have you seen any evidence that these policies have improved the success 

for technology transfer at the laboratories? lf so, how could they be strengthened in thefitture? 

DOE has not implemented new policies in this area, but rather is encouraging labs to create their 

own entrepreneurial programs consistent with each lab's mission and research environment. 

Thirteen labs now have entrepreneurial programs in place or are in the process of implementing 

new programs. In addition, there are a number of examples of innovative programs across the 

national lab complex designed to advance technology transfer. DOE's Energy 1-Corps program 

(funded by DOE's office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and administered by 

NREL) is having a positive effect. This program provides training and preparation for lab staff 

from across the complex who are interested in seeing their technologies commercialized. NREL 

created The Wells Fargo Incubation Innovator (IN') is a five-year, $10 million program funded 

by the Wells Fargo Foundation and co-administered by NREL. It is designed to facilitate earlystage technologies providing scalable solutions to reduce the energy impact of commercial 

buildings. Participating IN' start-up companies have access to NREL's world-class facilities and 

researchers, who will test, validate, and incubate the companies' technologies to help them meet 

critical validation milestones on their path to the commercial marketplace. 

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68 

United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

Subcommittee on Energy 

September 12, 2017, Hearing 

Fostering Innovation: Contributions of the Department of Energy's National Laboratories 

Question for the Record Submitted to Ms. Anuja Ratnayake 

Question from Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto 

Question: In June 2015, the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) National Laboratory Task Force 

submitted comments to the secretary of energy on the effectiveness of the National Laboratories. These 

comments included a number of observations on the "effectiveness, morale, and management of these 

vital national technical centers," including a recommendation that DOE "embrace the technology 

transfer mission." In your experience, what barriers have you identified which inhibit the establishment 

of working public-private partnerships at the National Laboratories? 

Response: Thank you for your question. As I had testified, Duke Energy maintains very strong 

relationships with a number of National Laboratories and benefits from their research leadership 

regularly. However, in any working relationship there is always space for improvement. Here are the top 

three areas we'd recommend improvement: 

1. Identifying technological needs 

2. Administrative and contracting processes 

3. Commercializing developed technologies 

1. Identifying technological needs 

The Department of Energy establishes the research priorities of the National Labs. As demonstrated by 

our project engagement, frequently there is overlap with Duke Energy priorities. As an industry, we are 

interested in deploying advanced technologies; however, our industry does not adopt technologies 

individually. We integrate technologies to the utility system to enhance customer value from the whole 

system. To achieve this goal, it is important that DOE sets holistic goals and priorities for National Labs 

research that keep the impact to the customer and taxpayer in mind. It can appear that the National 

Labs are focused on researching a particular hypothesis or technology of interest, instead of addressing 

ultimate customer needs. Having a closer relationship with technology adopters, such as the utility 

industry, during the goal-setting period could overcome this weakness. 

1 
69 

United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

Subcommittee on Energy 

September 12, 2017, Hearing 

Fostering Innovation: Contributions of the Department of Energy's National Laboratories 

Question for the Record Submitted to Ms. Anuja Ratnayake 

Due to the long lead time of new technologies, extensive reporting, and effort required for large 

multiyear projects, the National labs are clearly targeting anticipated future needs instead of near-term 

opportunities. As technology advancements occur more rapidly across all sectors, there should be a 

mechanism to ensure multiyear projects remain relevant. Having closer industry engagement and 

promoting a culture of agility could help improve the value of multiyear R&D projects. 

To better ensure alignment, it would be helpful to have a structure that formally connects industry with 

the National labs and facilitates communication. In this structure, industry can share key research 

priorities and the labs can communicate their expertise. This will assist in aligning relationships and 

representatives as well as ultimately facilitating technology transfer when the opportunity arises. 

2. Administrative and contracting processes 

There is an administrative burden when working with DOE-funded grants due to the extensive reporting 

requirements. The grant process generally has very long lead times, and the current process to contract 

with a National lab is lengthy. 

It is also cumbersome to engage National labs in privately funded, geographically specific research due 

to federal contracting requirements, which results in both schedule and cost inflexibility. This can lead 

the industry to have to look to other parties to bridge the gap between National lab research and actual 

technology adoption. 

3. Commercializing developed technologies 

At the National labs, the technology transfer effort often seems to stop at the creation of white papers 

and technical reports. Tools and expertise are of limited supply to enable transfer of the excellent 

technology that has been developed. These valuable technology advancements discovered by the 

National labs become freely available resources to industry, but because of limited National lab 

technology transfer efforts, the industry is not aware of their availability and as a result the technology 

may not be widely leveraged. ARPA-E, on the other hand, has a well-supported 'Technology to Market' 

team that helps connect researchers to private industry and facilitate the commercialization process. A 

similar skill set focused on technology transfer efforts would further strengthen the value of National 

lab innovations. 

In our experience, we have found that targeted communication of project findings, lessons learned and 

innovations is limited to project participants, even though they are generally relevant to much of the 

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70 

United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

Subcommittee on Energy 

September 12, 2017, Hearing 

Fostering Innovation: Contributions of the Department of Energy's National Laboratories 

Question for the Record Submitted to Ms. Anuja Ratnayake 

sector. One relatively simple avenue to expand tech transfer capability is to proactively communicate 

project key learnings and findings across a broader swath of the energy industry. 

3 
71 

United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

Subcommittee on Energy 

September 12,2017 Hearing 

Fostering Innovation: Contributions of the Department of Energy's National Laboratories 

Questions for the Record Submitted to Dr. Brian Anderson 

Questions from Senator Joe Man chin III 

Questions: I am working with a bipartisan group of elected officials on the concept of 

developing an Appalachian Storage Hub for natural gas liquids. When you consider the tri-state 

area of West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania, it is hard to avoid noticing the abundance of 

natural gas and natural gas liquids, expanding energy infrastructure and the naturally occurring 

geologic storage primed for storing these products. These factors would make our tri-state area 

even more attractive to additional manufacturing investment. According to the Mid-Atlantic 

Technology Research & Innovation Center, about 20% of the value in the Marcellus Shale alone 

is ethane, propane and butane. So, the Hub would attract manufacturers that need reliable 

affordable access to these products. With safety and the environment top of mind, I'd like to see 

a Storage Hub move forward and that's why I introduced a bill making a storage hub eligible for 

the loan program at DOE. 

What, in your opinion, could the development of a natural gas storage hub in a state, such as 

West Virginia, have in the area? 

Response: With over half of the North American plastics converter market within 500 miles of 

Appalachia, the need for redundant transport is minimized while maximizing the value creation 

from the American resource. According to the American Chemistry Council analysis on the 

number of penn anent jobs created in the Appalachian petrochemicals hub that may result from 

the construction of a natural gas liquids storage and subsequent trading hub would be 101,000, 

including 26,000 chemical and plastics manufacturing jobs, 43,000 in supplier industries, and 

32,000 payroll-induced jobs and communities where workers spend their wages. 

petrochemlcals1 chemicals + plastic federal tax 

resins and resins $3.0billion revenue annually 

derivatives 43,042 indirect (supply chain) indirect (supply 

$5.4 billion in plastics jobs chain) $1.2 billion in 

$3.4 billion in compounding+ state and local tax 

plastic products plastics products 32,112 "payroll-induced" jobs in $l.Sbillion revenue annually 

local communities where workers payroll-induced 

spend their wages 

TOTAL: TOTAL: TOTAL: 

$35.8billion $28.4 billion 100,818 jobs $6.2billion $2.9billion 
72 

United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

Subcommittee on Energy 

September 12, 2017 Hearing 

Fostering Innovation: Contributions l?fthe Department of Energy's National Laboratories 

Questions for the Record Submitted to Dr. Brian Anderson 

The Appalachian Basin provides ready access to commercial markets for downstream products 

and a competitive pricing advantage due to the abundance of valuable, yet currently underpriced, 

hydrocarbons. Ethane storage capacity is key to the development of a robust Natural Gas Liquids 

(NGL) trading hub that will, in turn, reduce the risk of and further incentivize investments in 

regional chemical manufacturing and related product development industries. The U.S. and 

Appalachia would benefit from infrastructure development to satisfy the feedstock and offtake 

requirements for world scale and distributed manufacturing elements. 

The construction on an NGL storage and trading hub would greatly benefit the Appalachia 

Region; however, the benefit applies further to the whole US economy through the reduction in 

two-way transportation costs destroy the value of our domestic raw materials. There are two 

options to build out the infrastructure necessary to support the Appalachian Basin production of 

natural gas and NGLs. One option is to build sufficient pipeline offtake capacity to transport the 

NGLs to the East Coast, particularly Marcus Hook, PA, or to the Gulf Coast to the NGL market 

at Mont Belvieu. While the option to build offtake capacity may be the easiest option, it is not 

the option that results in the global optimum system for the U.S. economy. 

Transportation costs for transporting ethane via pipe from the Appalachian Basin to Mont 

Belvieu are approximately $0.16, while the cost for rail transportation of propane is $0.30. The 

current Mont Belvieu prices for ethane and propane are $0.21 and $0.43, respectively, indicating 

the inherent discount to in-basin utilization ofNGLs is substantial. This results in the conclusion 

that the global optimum for the U.S. economy and the lowest cost of consumer goods to the U.S. 

consumer will come from a significant petrochemical expansion in the Appalachian Basin. 

Expansion of the petrochemical industry in Appalachia will allow the USGC to shift production 

capacity toward the export markets. In the March 6, 2017 press release announcing 

Exxon Mobil's $20 billion expansion on the USGC they indicate the focus is on the export 

market in high-~:,>rowth nations. The expansion in Appalachia will support the domestic market, 

while the USGC can focus more heavily on export- resulting in a positive shift in the balance of 

trade while simultaneously providing U.S. consumers with lower costs of end goods. 

Question: Do you have any recommendations for policy makers to help guide the successful 

development of the Appalachian Storage Hub? 

Response: Large, free market systems do not always find the global minimum solution and trend 

toward the near-term, lowest barrier solution. When infrastructure development is a result of the 

near-term, local optimum solution, the barrier for correction is too high to overcome. This 

scenario, coupled with today's low hydrocarbon price and therefore low capitalization of 

companies in this sector provide the perfect storm for the system finding its local, not global, 

optimum. Companies in this sector cannot afford major capital outlays on their books. This 

situation calls for public intervention; the global economic optimum is in the greater public good. 

With the increased exports that can be realized and the lower domestic consumer good costs, the 

2 
73 

United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

Subcommittee on Energy 

September 12,2017 Hearing 

Fostering Innovation: Contributions of the Department of Energy's National Laboratories 

Questions for the Record Submitted to Dr. Brian Anderson 

payback to the public sector will be realized through greater productivity, economic expansion, 

tax and tariff receipts. 

This national economic payback, coupled with the economic security of a diversified 

petrochemical manufacturing sector calls for policy makers to ensure that there are federal 

options available for infrastructure development funding, such as the Title XVII DOE Loan 

Guarantee program as well as a clear pathway for permitting and a clear regulatory environment. 

Additionally, to maximize the impact to the economy, assistance to the states for development of 

suitable sites for expansion and revitalization of the Appalachian petrochemical industry. There 

are many brownfield sites in the region, but often these are not large enough to house significant 

petrochemical manufacturing facilities. 

Question from Senator Catherine Cortez Masto 

Question: Universities could be natural partners for the laboratories in the pursuit of regional 

economic development and many laboratories may have existing partnerships with States and 

universities to create centers of economic activity. The economic opportunity these types of 

partnerships could have in the rural areas of Nevada could be profound. How would you 

recommend that centers of higher education such as universities align and/or partner with the 

national laboratories to help multiply these types of partnerships? 

Response: The United States' National Laboratory system is unparalleled in the vast talent pool 

and physical scientific resources. The recent Congressional Commission to Review the 

Effectiveness of the National Energy Laboratories (CRENEL) identified as one of its 

recommendations that the National Laboratories should play a bigger role in in their regional 

economies. However, in rural regions and states the universities, particularly Land Grant 

Institutions, have a much more grass roots connection to rural areas such as those in Nevada and 

West Virginia. At West Virginia University we take our Land Grant Mission very seriously as 

that it is core to our existence that we help elevate the people and the economy of our state. To 

do this we have to be proactive and comprehensive. Universities can serve as a front door both 

for coordinating interaction between the National Laboratories and faculty as well as the 

communities. I would charge the University community to own this role. The National 

Laboratories are large, complex, and highly effective organizations, but must have the assistance 

of the universities as partners in economic development. lt is only natural to create these 

partnerships as these two large and effective types of organizations share common goals. 

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