The objective of the INTEGRATE Program is to reduce the cost and increase the primary energy efficiency associated with the provision of electric power to commercial and industrial end users. In this program, ARPA-E seeks to develop natural gas-fueled distributed electric generation systems that offer fuel to electric power conversion efficiencies in excess of 70%. The INTEGRATE program will focus on hybrid system designs that integrate a fuel cell with a heat or reactive engine for ultra-high efficiency at competitive costs. This FOA seeks to encourage the development of the enabling technologies that will make these hybrid systems a reality, and a successful INTEGRATE program will provide highly flexible distributed energy technology options with unprecedented efficiency and lower emissions than today's fossil-fuel generated electricity. Furthermore, the technologies that this program seeks to develop are also expected to have broad electric-power-generation and transportation market applications.
ARPA-E recognizes the significance of system cost with respect to commercialization; a highly efficient and flexible system must also be economically attractive to customers and manufacturers. Hence, the simultaneous attainment of conversion efficiency and installed cost targets that would yield attractive financial returns for all stakeholders will be the major focus of the INTEGRATE Program.
In pursuit of the above-mentioned economic and environmental benefits, ARPA-E seeks to encourage the development of distributed generation systems of ≥100 kW that have electric efficiencies in excess of 70% on a lower heating value (LHV) basis and an installed cost to the end user of less than $1.8/W. ARPA-E’s market analysis suggests that the simultaneous attainment of these efficiency and cost targets could yield a 1 Quad/year annual reduction in the primary energy[1] that our nation uses to generate its electric power. This reduction would translate into a $3B/year fuel cost savings for the US economy.
Additionally, the envisioned hybrid systems technologies would operate in a water neutral manner in that the systems would self-generate any water required for operation. This feature is in stark contrast to the water-based cooling systems utilized in many of our utility-scale thermoelectric power plants. Consequently, a water-savings of 4 billion gallons per day (~1% of our total fresh water withdrawal) would be commensurate with the above-mentioned fuel savings. This water-savings would translate into another $~2B/year in cost savings for the US economy.
In order to accelerate the development of technologies that could enable this unprecedented thermoeconomic performance, ARPA-E is encouraging the development of the requisite system and component technologies. It is anticipated that such technologies would include advanced integrated engine/balance-of-plant (BOP) concepts, advanced fuel cell stack concepts and manufacturing approaches, advanced BOP components (e.g. high temperature heat exchangers), and advanced control system technologies.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_energy