Preliminary Recommendations of the U.S. Department of Energy Industrial Technology Innovation Advisory Committee

The ITIAC recommends that the DOE prioritize budget increases for offices like IEDO and AMMTO, improve industrial energy data collection, and support cross-cutting technologies such as direct electrification and clean hydrogen. It specifically calls for the creation of a chemicals technology center of excellence and a 'Fast Track' program to accelerate commercialization. The report also emphasizes the need for grid reforms to lower electricity costs for industry and the development of standards for clean goods to facilitate long-term offtake agreements.

• The ITIAC recommends that the DOE prioritize budget increases for specific offices central to clean industry, including the Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO), the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO), the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), and the Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC).
• The committee advises the DOE to improve industrial energy data by increasing the frequency and granularity of the Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey and creating an Industry Annual Technology Baseline (ATB) for capital costs and energy efficiencies of conventional and clean technologies.
• For cross-cutting technologies, the report prioritizes direct electrification of industrial heating, specifically highlighting high-temperature industrial heat pumps and industrial thermal batteries as critical for overcoming the cost gap with fossil fuels.
• The report suggests a targeted approach to clean hydrogen, focusing on high-value end uses such as replacing fossil-derived hydrogen in chemicals and refining, producing primary steel via iron ore reduction, and providing clean energy storage.
• Subsector-specific recommendations include establishing a center of excellence for chemicals technology to enable scale-up and address harmful chemicals like PFAS, and supporting hydrogen-direct reduced iron (H2-DRI) and electrolysis for clean primary steel production.
• To overcome market barriers, the ITIAC recommends that the DOE help develop standards for clean goods and facilitate long-term offtake agreements, potentially expanding the Hydrogen Demand Initiative (H2DI) to include steel, cement, and chemicals.
• The report identifies the high cost of electricity as a major barrier and recommends reforming electricity market rules to allow flexible electrified technologies to access wholesale pricing and conducting a study on the grid upgrades needed for industrial electrification.
• To bridge the 'valley of death' in commercialization, the committee proposes a 'Fast Track' program for pilot-scale demonstrations and suggests that the Loan Programs Office (LPO) should be more practical in issuing smaller-value loans for innovative industrial projects.

APA

Energy Innovation (2025). Preliminary Recommendations of the U.S. Department of Energy Industrial Technology Innovation Advisory Committee. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/itiac-preliminary-recommendations-jan2025.pdf

Chicago

Energy Innovation. Preliminary Recommendations of the U.S. Department of Energy Industrial Technology Innovation Advisory Committee. 2025. https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/itiac-preliminary-recommendations-jan2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Energy Innovation |title=Preliminary Recommendations of the U.S. Department of Energy Industrial Technology Innovation Advisory Committee |date=January 2025 |url=https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/itiac-preliminary-recommendations-jan2025.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{energyinnovation2025preliminary, author = {{Energy Innovation}}, title = {{Preliminary Recommendations of the U.S. Department of Energy Industrial Technology Innovation Advisory Committee}}, institution = {Energy Innovation}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/itiac-preliminary-recommendations-jan2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }