DOE Changes Leadership Structure to Implement $62 Billion in Clean Energy Investments

Last week, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced an organizational realignment to ensure that the Department has the structure needed to effectively implement the clean energy investments in President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Energy Act of 2020. The new organizational structure establishes two Under Secretaries: one focused on fundamental science and clean energy innovation and the other focused on deploying clean infrastructure—supporting DOE’s ongoing work to achieve carbon-free electricity in the U.S. by 2035 and a net zero economy by 2050.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Energy Act of 2020 provides over $60 billion primarily for new major clean energy demonstration and deployment programs and more than triples DOE’s annual funding for energy programs, including significantly expanded research and development (R&D) and entirely new demonstration and deployment missions. 

The new organizational chart reflecting the strategic realignment can be found here.  

This realignment mirrors the recent recommendations of leading CEOs and technology and labor leaders to unify leadership of DOE’s major deployment programs in order to rapidly unlock new clean energy advancements. The structure also encourages cross-program collaboration and coordination across the full commercialization spectrum.

The Under Secretary for Infrastructure 

The Under Secretary for Infrastructure (formerly Under Secretary for Energy) will focus on deploying clean energy solutions. To create skilled teams around infrastructure financing, project development, project management, and other key areas, the new Under Secretary will centralize existing offices focused on major demonstration and deployment with new offices.

Accompanying the announcement of the new Under Secretary is the launch of three new offices to support clean energy infrastructure deployment:  

• The Grid Infrastructure Office to execute DOE’s Building a Better Grid initiative to modernize and upgrade the nation’s electric transmission lines and deploy cheaper, cleaner electricity across the country.  
• The State and Community Energy Program to work more closely with states, localities, and communities to in the planning and deployment of decarbonization solutions. 
• The Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains to ensure the energy industrial base is supported by a clean, resilient, domestic supply chain. 

The Under Secretary for Science and Innovation  

The offices in the Under Secretary for Science and Innovation (formerly the Undersecretary for Science and Energy) will continue their world leadership in driving research and development of energy technologies, with connected demonstration and deployment activities. Through the realignment the Office of Science, DOE’s applied energy offices, and DOE’s 17 National Labs will continue their core discovery science and innovation missions – including leveraging $12 billion in base appropriations as of fiscal year 2021 and $3.8 billion in funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Energy Act of 2020.