Energy Research

The Energy Department (DOE) participates with the private sector in many cost-shared technology development programs. A major objective of these programs is to promote the development and commercialization of more-efficient, environmentally attractive, and affordable technologies that will better utilize the nation's energy resources and enhance opportunities for domestic economic growth and employment. This report (1) determines the extent to which DOE requires repayment of its investment in cost-shared technology development, including the similarities and differences in the mechanisms used, and (2) weighs the advantages and the disadvantages of repayment. GAO focuses on four DOE offices--Fossil Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Environmental Management, and Nuclear Energy--because they fund most of DOE's cost-shared technology development programs and projects involving contracts and cooperative agreements.

GAO found that: (1) of the many cost-shared technology development programs DOE participates in, only the Clean Coal Technology Program, Metal Initiative Program, Electric Vehicles Advanced Battery Development Program, and Advanced Light Water Reactor Program require repayment of the federal investment if the technology is ultimately commercialized; (2) repayments are collected through royalties and fees from licensing technologies and revenues from commercial sales; (3) each of the programs except the Metals Initiative Program provide for up to a 20-year repayment period; (4) the Metals Initiative Program provides for up to 150-percent repayment, while the other programs limit repayment to 100 percent; (5) while a repayment policy could recover some or all of the federal government's investment, the additional costs and administrative burdens it imposes could discourage industry from commercializing new technologies; (6) the administrative burdens involved in a repayment policy include negotiating, administering, auditing, and enforcing cost-sharing and repayment agreements; and (7) shifting a greater portion of the burden of cost-sharing from government to industry may be preferable to requiring repayment.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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