• Active or completed projects: 16
• Estimated ATP funding: $ 44.0 M
• Industry cost-share funding: $ 42.9 M

Potential for U.S. Economic Benefit. Power just isn’t the same anymore. While the familiar model of large, centralized electric power generating plants supplying users throughout a wide geographic area is not obsolete, there is burgeoning demand for what might be called boutique power—small, localized, high-quality, tailored power sources.

This is largely an outgrowth of the global revolution in telecommunications and information technologies: portable, wireless electronics in notebook computers and cellular telephones; growing networks of satellite-based communications systems; communications and information networks in remote or underdeveloped regions of the world. All of these fuel the demand for new power sources; sources that are small, modular, distributed, and above all, high-quality. Premium power.

The premium power technologies include such things as photovoltaic solar arrays, integrated fuel cell systems, advanced batteries, ultracapacitors, and flywheels. Key applications for these technologies include:

• Portable wireless electronics—notebook computers, cellular telephones, smart cards, microstamp devices, and a host of other small information appliances—will require advanced batteries and other energy storage devices. By the year 2001 it is estimated that almost 3 billion rechargeable power cells (batteries) will be sold annually, generating over $6 billion in sales. Sixty-five percent of this usage will be for telecommunication and portable computers. Better battery performance is highly desired—whereas computer memory and hard-drive capacity are routinely expected to double at least annually, time-between-recharges has barely doubled after five years of technology development.
• New commercial Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites for communications—absolutely require high-performance photovoltaic (PV) power arrays and energy storage devices. Planned LEO communications systems require many more satellites—with much shorter life spans—than geostationary satellites. Cost is a key factor, and the PV and battery arrays needed to power the satellite are a significant part of that cost.
• Distributed, off-the-grid, high-quality electric power for commercial and residential building applications, especially in parts of the world where electric power is unreliable, and especially for powering sensitive telecommunications and computing equipment will benefit from advanced PV technologies and fuel cells—stand-alone generation units that are quieter and more environmentally friendly than current large electric utility power plants.

Premium power sources also offer potentially important environmental benefits, relative to—for example, coal-fired power plants, reducing emissions of particulates and air pollutants and greenhouse gases. Because electrochemical fuel cells are two to three times more energy efficient than present day combustion technologies, for example, total air emissions from fuel cell power systems are several orders of magnitude less polluting than today's utilities and vehicles.

The potential for economic benefit from innovative premium power solutions is immense:

• The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) estimates that 40 percent of all electricity flows through or is controlled by digital electronics—65 percent by 2000. Brief interruptions that would be acceptable in a toaster or light bulb can lead to costly and prolonged outages in high-speed digital networks. Power quality problems also beset companies that use microprocessors for process control. By one estimate 20 percent of insurance claims and $26 billion in losses result annually from power outages and poor power quality in the United States alone.
• At an average price of $5.23 per watt, worldwide sales of terrestrial photovoltaic modules totaled over $400 million in 1996. General industry consensus is that when the price per watt drops to $3.00 or below, PV will be competitive with conventional power generation and will be primed for rapid sales growth.
• Nearly 2 billion rechargeable batteries are sold annually—fully 80 percent are manufactured abroad. Lithium-ion batteries, the next generation of rechargeables, are being produced by six foreign companies—and only one company in the United States. The American battery industry has lost ground with each new generation of rechargeables. One goal of the Premium Power focused program is to reverse this trend and add between 10 and 20 points of market share to U.S. production.
• Fuel cells are two to three times more expensive than current power technology. By reducing the capital cost per kW to the range of $1,000 to $1,500, fuel cells will become competitive with other forms of electricity production. Fuel cells could be used to generate power for small villages in areas of the world where it is not practical to construct a power grid.

Technology Challenge and Industry Commitment. The Premium Power program focuses on developing the materials, device structures, processing, and systems integration needed for high-performance, cost-effective, reliable distributed power systems especially needed by portable electronics, telecommunications, and quality power sensitive industries. Several recent research developments in electric power technologies are radical innovations that create a window of opportunity. These include:

• novel thin-film, multilayer materials and membranes such as thin-film solar cells; proton exchange (PEM) and solid oxide (SOFC) membrane fuel cells; and lithium-ion batteries(Li-ion) employing organic electrolytes;
• single-ion conductor systems such as nickel metal hydride and lithium ion "rocking chair" batteries where a single ion is shuttled back and forth between anode and cathode on charge and discharge;
• new polymer and ceramic membranes that conduct charge carriers in the solid state (in contrast to wet-chemistry batteries) that can be used in fuel cells and solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) Li-ion batteries, offering important advantages in reliability and safety;
• new lightweight, high-energy-density storage devices that offer high electrochemical potentials and light weight, including lithium, hydrogen, new carbon, and polymers; and
• new polymer, ceramic, and thin-film processing technologies offering the potential for rapid, high-volume, low-cost fabrication of power devices on an automated, continuous batch or roll-to-roll basis.

The goal of the Premium Power focused program is to create more efficient systems for producing, storing, and delivering power for applications without a central generating station and a large-scale power grid. Business goals include:

• establishing a robust U.S. rechargeable battery industry while reducing the manufacturing cost per kilowatt-hour by half;
• increasing the U.S. market share for rechargeable batteries to at least 30 percent of the worldwide market;
• achieving a 10-fold reduction in the cost of space photovoltaic arrays;
• reducing the cost of manufacturing a kilowatt of fuel cell capacity to the range of $2,000 to $1,500; and
• significantly shortening the time required to develop new battery chemistries.

This program was developed based on more than 50 white papers and detailed discussions with most of the major U.S. rechargeable battery companies; photovoltaic manufacturers; technology developers of fuel cells, ultracapacitors, and flywheels; end-users of these technologies in the telecommunications, portable electronics, and quality power industries; and trade associations, universities, environmental organizations, and other government agencies. It also reflects concerns expressed in technology roadmaps and policy statements of industry groups such as the National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI), the Quality Power Alliance, and the Council on Competitiveness.

Significance of ATP Funding. The U.S. electronics industry is a world leader in communications and information technology. These technologies are one of the nation’s greatest assets, comprising 60 percent of the incremental GDP and 48 percent of exports. But while U.S. investment in longer term R&D for premium power technologies is in decline, foreign competitors have organized large, focused efforts between government and industry to develop advanced batteries, photovoltaic power modules, and fuel cells. In addition, vertically integrated foreign consumer electronics giants enjoy significant leverage because they have a captive in-house market for their advanced batteries. Judicious focused partnerships with the U.S. private and public sectors that Premium Power aims to catalyze can help ensure that the investments made are positioned to have high leverage and can capitalize on the strong basic R&D leadership position that resides at U.S. universities, national labs, and research-oriented companies.

Beyond the technical advances that it will spur in developing next generation technology, this program is expected to encourage greater cooperation and teamwork between electronics and telecommunication companies and the power providers, leading to much shorter cycle times for developing new power systems that are fine-tuned to the target applications.

While the Premium Power program complements existing efforts at the Energy Department and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, it differs significantly in its emphasis on power technologies for portable electronics and satellite and terrestrial broadband telecommunications and on small distributed power systems rather than replacement technologies for centralized fossil-fuel power-generation plants.

Additional Information. For information about eligibility, how to apply, and cost-sharing requirements, contact the Advanced Technology Program:

(800)-ATP-FUND (800-287-3863)
http://www.atp.nist.gov
email: atp@nist.gov
fax: (301) 926-9524
A430 Administration Building
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001

For technical information, contact:
Gerald Castellucci, Program Manager
(301) 975-2435
email: gerald.castellucci@nist.gov
fax: (301) 926-9524

Date created: January 1999
Last updated: February 26, 2007