The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has just released its “2023 Critical Materials Assessment,” which evaluates materials for their criticality to global clean energy technology supply chains. This 266-page report includes analysis of key materials used in various technologies encompassing energy generation and storage as well as demand-side applications.
The Assessment focuses on essential materials with a high risk of supply disruption that are integral to clean energy technologies. Of particular interest to us, it points out the stagnant levels of iridium production (iridium is a scarce element in the earth’s crust) compared to the projected surge in demand for use in PEM electrolyzers and other industries. Their evaluation reinforces California Catalysts’ focus on finding low-cost, earth-abundant replacements for iridium that is commonly used in green hydrogen production. To this end, Calicat recently announced a major achievement in producing the industry’s first commercial-scale non-iridium PEM electrolyzer.
The complete “2023 Critical Materials Assessment” report is available as a PDF at https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2023-07/doe-critical-material-assessment_07312023.pdf
