By the Numbers:  Federal Energy R&D Stagnates

Jul 01 - Mechanical Engineering

 

While wind and solar power reap direct expenditures and , the tax breaks energy source getting the most federal research dollars may be a surprise.

The U.S. Department of Energy is a federal agency that some folks love to hate. The department was cobbled together from several independent bureaus during the energy crisis of the 1970s, and almost immediately critics have targeted the DOE for downsizing or often for closure.

In March, the Energy Information Administration , an arm of the DOE, published a report on federal interventions and subsidies in the energy market, at the behest of two congressmen with oversight of federal energy policy. There are more than 70 federal energy programs that provide direct or indirect assistance, and federal energy subsidies have drawn fire in recent years following the well-publicized bankruptcy of Solyndra. a solar cell manufacturer which closed in 2011 after receiving more than $500 million in federal loan guarantees.

The report may please some budget hawks: Total energy-specific subsidies and support dropped to $29.3 billion in fiscal year 2013, from $38.0 billion in FY 2011.

Those budget savings, however, came at a cost to research and development. In spite of a growing need for clean, efficient, and inexpensive electrical generation, federal energy R&D was flat at $3.5 billion a year.

The mix of that R&D is instructive, especially compared to other forms of intervention. For instance, looking at the direct and tax expenditures, federal support for wind and solar dwarf that for nuclear: more than $5 billion each for wind and solar, versus $1.1 billion for nuclear. But federal money for nuclear research-$406 million in FY 2013-is far larger than that for solar research ( $284 million ) and far outpaces the $49 million for wind power research.

Other fuels and energy technologies received research support greater than wind, but less than nuclear. Biomass R&D accounted for $251 million in FY 2013 spending, coal got $202 million , and a catch-all category for technologies such as batteries and ocean energy got $380 million .

But most of the energy R&D went to developing the distribution and end-use parts of the industry. Programs researching smart grid and transmission technology received $831 million , while research into energy conservation netted $501 million . In fact, the smart grid was one of the only R&D sectors that grew from FY 2011 levels, going up more than 50 percent.

As long as federal energy R&D spending is shadowed by the example of Solyndra, it may be hard to win an argument to raise the levels, no matter how great the need. But the funny thing is. according to reports from late 2014, in spite of the Solyndra losses, the loan program it borrowed from is expected to make a profit over its entire portfolio. ME

$11BILLION + TOTAL SUPPORT FOR WIND & SOLAR ENERGY

FEDERAL ENERGY R&D SUPPORT  $3.5BILLION (2013)

SMART GRID/T&D - $831MILLION

CONSERVATION - $501MILLION

END USE - $466MILLION

NUCLEAR - $406MILLION

BATTERIES/OTHER - $380MILLI0N

SOLAR - $284MILLION

BIOMASS - $251MILLION

COAL -S202MILLION

BIOFUELS - $74MILLI0N

WIND - $49MILLION

GAS/PETROLEUM - $34MILLI0N

HYDRO - $10MILLION

GEOTHERMAL -$2 MILLION

TOTAL ENERGY-SPECIFIC SUBSIDIES

$38 BILLI0N (2011)

$29 .3 BILLI0N (2013)

$1.1 BILLION   TOTAL SUPPORT FOR NUCLEAR ENERGY

 

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