Three projects led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) are among those selected as part of a $155 million Department of Energy (DOE) investment in American industrial innovation. Spanning load flexibility, data center cooling, and food processing, the projects capitalize on the Lab's expertise in developing and testing leading-edge technologies to boost American productivity and competitiveness.
DOE's Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation recently announced the 16 selected projects, which will strengthen onshoring and build a more competitive, secure, and efficient U.S. industrial sector. The expanded lab capabilities developed for the projects will drive process and technological innovation, reduce costs, and increase prosperity for American workers and consumers.
"Berkeley Lab has long partnered with industry to scale science solutions," said Jessica Granderson, senior scientist and director of Berkeley Lab's Building and Industrial Energy Systems Division. "We are working with utilities, data center operators, and other energy-intensive industrial customers to introduce new flexible load and cooling technologies to make our economy stronger. These new projects will build on those relationships and help businesses innovate for the future."
The funded projects draw on Berkeley Lab's deep background in demand flexibility, which allows businesses to adjust energy usage (load) to maximize use of the existing electric grid; data center energy research, which is key to accelerating innovation in artificial intelligence; and processing and equipment for the food and beverage industry to maximize efficiency.
Descriptions of the projects follow below.
Leveraging demand flexibility capabilities for U.S. industry
A projected surge in electricity demand in the next few years threatens to outpace generation capacity and compromise U.S. competitiveness, yet the industrial sector's massive potential to stabilize the grid through load flexibility remains largely untapped, with only 9% of utilities offering relevant programs and just 4% of customers participating. Resource-secure Energy Flexibility (REFLEX) will develop and demonstrate innovative approaches for harnessing load flexibility as a strategy to cut operational costs and support rapid growth in industrial productivity with existing grid resources. The project will feature real-world load flexibility demonstrations in multiple applications including data centers, food distribution, manufacturing, and water treatment, complemented by analysis of market potential and business case support tools. The project will engage a strong network of partners, including industrial customers, utilities, state and local stakeholders, and technology and service providers.
Advancing cooling technologies for data centers
The rapid proliferation of data centers, which power modern computing and AI, is straining U.S. infrastructure by driving up demand for energy. The Data Center Cooling Collaborative will form a data center cooling testbed network with private and public sector partners to advance a variety of cooling technologies that reduce data center load on the grid. Goals are to establish a data center cooling testbed network that supports diverse and evolving cooling needs across a wide range of IT-cooling configurations; to promote real-world impact and industry adoption through strong, long-term industry engagement; to develop industry-trusted testing protocols, digital twin software, and commercialization pathways; and to reduce the overall time and cost to bring advanced cooling technologies to market.
Innovating scalable technologies and solutions for the food and beverage industry
To improve the competitiveness and productivity of the food and beverage industry, an assessment across the value chain is needed to identify specific challenges. The mission of the Food & Beverage Operational Optimization and Deployment (FOOD) Center (FOOD Center) is to catalyze innovation and enable the adoption of next-generation process and equipment technologies. It will support the identification and resource needs to develop technologies targeting scalable solutions across the entire value chain, including agriculture, food and beverage processing, retail and distribution, transportation and storage, and byproducts and waste streams. The FOOD Center's research, development, and demonstration platform will support public and private investment, enhance U.S. technological competitiveness, and drive long-term energy and cost reductions across both legacy and emerging segments of the food and beverage value chain.
