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Manassas, VA – Today, Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) announced $1,499,375 in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to advance new innovative and environmentally friendly high-energy storage solutions at Aurora Flight Sciences in Manassas. This funding is a part of a larger $15 million, 12-project package through the Pioneering Railroad, Oceanic and Plane Electrification with 1K energy storage systems (PROPEL-1K) program, which seeks to boost the electrification of the aviation, railroad, and maritime transportation sectors.

“I am pleased to see federal funding coming to our district to boost the cutting-edge technology that Virginia businesses are engaged in to support a clean energy future,” said Congresswoman Wexton. “Aurora Flight Sciences does incredible work to enhance existing aircraft technology. With this new investment, they will have the tools they need to build on their innovations in aluminum air energy storage and play a key role in expanding electrification of our major transportation sectors.”

Aurora Flight Sciences is developing an aluminum air energy storage and power generation system to provide a sustainable and environmentally-friendly solution for powering heavy-duty transportation. The federal resources will help the company expand investment in its technology to facilitate aluminum combustion, resulting in the production of hydrogen that powers a solid-oxide fuel cell.

You can learn more about the Aurora Flight Sciences project and full ARPA-E high-energy storage solutions investment here.

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