Department of Energy launches Water Security Grand Challenge

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry recently announced the launch of the Water Security Grand Challenge, a framework initiated by the White House and led by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to foster innovation related to meeting the global need for safe, secure and affordable water.

“Through this Grand Challenge, we will advance technology and innovation to meet the global need for safe, secure and affordable water,” Perry said. “We’ll call on the power of competition to spur innovation, draw on the strengths of our partners and stakeholders, and tap into the expertise and world-class capabilities of DOE’s 17 National Labs.”

The challenge features a suite of prizes, competitions, early-stage research and development funding opportunities, critical partnerships, and other programs. It sets goals for the United States to reach by 2030 including launching cost-competitive desalination technologies; transforming the energy sector’s produced water from a waste to a resource; and reaching near-zero water impact for new thermoelectric power plants and significantly lower freshwater use intensity for the existing fleet. The goals also include doubling resource recovery from municipal wastewater’ and developing small, modular energy-water systems for urban, rural, tribal, national security and disaster response settings.

DOE will partner with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the challenge and is seeking additional opportunities to collaborate with other agencies, industry, and stakeholders.

“The Grand Challenge will incentivize new technologies aimed at solving one of the most important global challenges of our time – providing access to clean, safe, and secure water,” EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler said. “EPA looks forward to partnering with DOE to help bring clean and safe water to communities across the country and find innovative ways to transform non-traditional water sources into resources.”

DOE hosted a stakeholder workshop last week at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to gather input from external experts on potential DOE prizes and next steps.