U.S. Department of Energy Releases 2023 Critical Materials Assessment to Evaluate Supply Chain Security for Clean Energy Technologies
Finalized Critical Materials List to Inform Eligibility for Federal Clean Energy Tax Provisions
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released its 2023 Critical Materials Assessment, which evaluated materials for their criticality to global clean energy technology supply chains. Based on the results of the Assessment, DOE has determined the 2023 DOE Critical Materials List of energy-specific critical and near-critical materials through 2035. In addition to informing crosscutting DOE priorities including the Critical Materials Research, Development, Demonstration, and Commercialization Application Program (RDD&CA), the DOE Critical Materials List will inform eligibility for tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act 48C.
The Assessment focuses on key materials with high risk of supply disruption that are integral to clean energy technologies. The final list includes aluminum, cobalt, copper, dysprosium, electrical steel (grain-oriented steel, non-grain-oriented steel, and amorphous steel), fluorine, gallium, iridium, lithium, magnesium, natural graphite, neodymium, nickel, platinum, praseodymium, terbium, silicon, and silicon carbide.
“As our nation continues the transition to a clean energy economy, it is our responsibility to anticipate critical material supply chains needed to manufacture our most promising clean energy generation, transmission, storage and end-use technologies, including solar panels, wind turbines, power electronics, lighting, and electric vehicles,” said Alejandro Moreno, Acting Assistant Secretary for DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). “Ultimately, identifying and mitigating material criticality now will ensure that a clean energy future is possible for decades to come.”
Because material and technology markets are global, this Critical Materials Assessment features a global scope, placing U.S. domestic interests within that context. For each of the critical materials identified in this Assessment, DOE will develop an integrated strategy to address material-specific risks.
The full Assessment can be found here.
This Assessment is an update of assessments in previous Critical Materials Strategy reports, the first of which was released by DOE in 2010. It serves as a complementary analysis to other criticality assessments conducted by the U.S. government, such as those by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) on behalf of the U.S. Department of the Interior, and builds upon DOE’s February 2022 Clean Energy Supply Chain Reports.
This 2023 Critical Materials Assessment was managed and funded EERE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) and was conducted by Argonne National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory, in consultation with members of the DOE Critical Minerals and Materials Science and Energy Technology Team.
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