Technologies include geothermal heat pumps and advanced material technologies.
The bulk of the investment will be targeted at heavy industry and energy firms, with $156m earmarked for combined heat and power (CHP) and waste heat recovery projects. The DoE said waste heat recovery systems deployed at both industrial sites had the potential to save 17GW of wasted energy each year, while CHP systems represent a proven technology that can achieve conversion efficiencies of 80 per cent, compared to conventional efficiencies of just 45 per cent.