2019
GLOBAL R&D
FUNDING FORECAST
There are two primary criteria for evaluating development efforts in energy R&D—climate change and costs. For climate change, the R&D is generally focused on the
minimization of carbon emissions. For costs, the R&D is generally focused on products, processes and systems that reduce
or minimize the energy costs required to accomplish certain
tasks—creating sustainable energy resources. Energy sources
consist of fossil fuels (based on coal and petroleum), solar
(based on wind and photovoltaic [PV] systems and devices),
hydroelectric, nuclear (fusion and fission nuclear systems)
and geothermal.
The U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) Office of Science has a
FY2019 R&D budget of $6.6 billion, an increase of $1.2 billion
over the Administration’s proposal and 5.2% more than their
FY2018 budget. Every basic science program gained in the
FY2019 budget approval. Even the contribution to the ITER—
the world’s largest tokamak fusion research experiment located
in southern France—got a 144% U.S. increase to $122 million.
The DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy recently announced that
it will fund R&D efforts that will “advance first-of-a-kind coal
generation technologies.” The DOE’s FIRST (which stands for
flexible, innovative, resilient, small and transformative) program will develop the coal plant of the future needed to provide
secure, stable and reliable power. The program is expected to
Energy R&D
support coal-fired electric power plants that are capable of
flexible operations to meet the needs of the electric grid; use innovative and cutting-edge components that improve efficiency
and reduce emissions; and are smaller than current utility-scale
coal systems. Funding for this program is for FY2019.
Design criteria for the FIRST program include minimized
water consumption, near-zero carbon emissions (including the
possibility of retrofitting carbon capture devices), small (50 to
350 MW), capabilities of natural gas co-firing, reduced design,
construction and commissioning schedules,
and integration with thermal or other energy
storage systems.
The European approach to energy R&D has
taken a different path. The European Energy
Research Alliance (EERA) recently made a
drive to coordinate the renewable energy R&D
of European member states, industries and
research institutes to accelerate their goals of
meeting the EU’s 2050 climate change energy
targets (net-zero carbon emissions). A number of European states have already committed to 100% renewable energy implementation
well before 2050.
Some U.S. states have already committed to
reducing their carbon emissions, going against
the federal government’s actions. Northern
Indiana Public Service company, for example,
has said it will retire its last five coal-fired
units over the next decade as it transforms to
renewable sources.
Even ExxonMobil, which had dramatically
reduced its R&D investments during the oil
price wars a few years ago, has resumed its
R&D. It recently announced its first energy
center partnership outside the U.S. in Singapore with the Nanyang Technological University and the National University of Singapore.
Industrial R&D Spenders – Energy (Billions USD)
2017 2018 2019
General Electric 4.803 5.053 5.256
Petrochina 3.085 3.279 3.506
ExxonMobil 1.063 1.102 1.132
Royal Dutch Shell 0.922 0.824 0.728
Total SA 0.930 0.812 0.696
Total 10.803 11.070 11.318
Source: R&D Magazine Survey 2018
Industrial Energy R&D Spending
21. 4
22. 5
8. 3 9.0
7. 7
20. 6
25
20
15
10
5
0
2017 Global 2017 U. S. 2018 Global 2017 U.S. 2019 Global 2019 U.S.
Billions USD