The MIT Energy Initiative’s (MITEI) Future Energy Systems Center will fund ten new projects, with topics ranging from distributed energy resources to electrolyzer design. Several projects relate to the challenge of sustainably powering data centers as well as the potential opportunities for artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize clean energy development, which align with MITEI’s ongoing efforts to address the challenge of data center energy demand. The selected projects will receive a combined total of $2.4 million in funding.
These new projects bring the total number of Future Energy Systems Center-supported projects to 63. As MITEI’s industry research consortium, the Center conducts integrated energy system analyses to provide insight into the technology, policy, and economics behind the evolving energy landscape—drawing from both traditional energy-related disciplines and cross-disciplinary fields.
This was the Center’s seventh round of project selections, which are selected twice a year by a Steering Committee comprised of MIT faculty members based on nominations from Center Member companies, project impact, and balancing of the Center’s portfolio. MITEI will host kick-off meetings for each of these new projects at the Center’s Fall 2025 workshop.
Brief descriptions of each of the new projects follow.
AI and energy
In the past few years, generative-AI models have been developed to accelerate the design of new materials for clean energy technologies, but they fall short on predicting truly synthesizable materials with experimental accuracy. This project will develop a physics-informed generative-AI framework to rapidly generate new materials optimized in the defect space. The research team will identify materials for solar cells with strong, broad-spectrum light absorption and design materials for thermoelectronics with high heat-to-electricity conversion efficiency.
PI: Mingda Li, associate professor of nuclear science and engineering, and Michael Cafarella, research scientist at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab
Competing uses for clean electricity
Clean electricity is increasingly relied on to meet growing global energy needs, but its expansion could be critically limited by constraints to investment and infrastructure deployment, which are generally left out of decarbonization studies. This project will build an enhanced global economy-wide model that includes regional electricity expansion constraints, decarbonization options across sectors, and demand growth from data centers. The research team will conduct a systematic scenario analysis to provide insight into more realistic decarbonization pathways, helping inform regional investment decision making.
PI: Jennifer Morris, principal research scientist at the MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy
Electricity capacity market prices
Electricity generation assets earn revenues in multiple markets, including energy markets—which have been well studied—and capacity markets—which have not. Since decarbonization trends are expected to increase the share of revenue generated by capacity markets, this project aims to improve understanding of these markets and the dynamics of capacity pricing. The research team will assemble a database of prices through time, identify the impact of factors like market design changes, and understand the exogenous drivers such as the changing mix of generation technologies.
PI: John Parsons, deputy director for research at the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research
Electrolyzer design and cost
Electrolyzers are a promising pathway for decarbonizing key industrial sectors. While substantial R&D has revealed how design changes impact performance and cost, it’s harder to predict how those changes will impact value in actual markets. The research team seeks to bridge that gap using facility and regional level infrastructure models to identify which electrolyzer improvements reduce cost, increase flexibility, and improve competitiveness at scale, accounting for a variety of industrial settings and electricity market conditions.
PIs: Ju Li, professor of nuclear science and engineering, and materials science and engineering, and Ruaridh Macdonald, research scientist at MITEI
Energy metering for distributed energy resources (DERs)
The proliferation of distributed energy resources—such as rooftop solar and flexible loads—under net energy metering (NEM) tariffs has created economic, equity, and operational challenges rooted in the bidirectionality of energy and monetary transactions. The research team will develop a modeling framework to evaluate the short- and long-term impacts of NEM tariffs, then design performance metrics on fairness in cost allocation, economic efficiency, utility revenue adequacy, and the sustainability of renewable adoption. The project will assess existing and proposed tariff designs across the United States and deliver actionable guidance to regulators, utilities, and policymakers.
PI: Audun Botterud, principal research scientist at the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems, and Saurabh Amin, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering
Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) and data centers
The rapid growth of data center electricity demand in the United States necessitates reliable, sustainable energy solutions. This project develops a technoeconomic analysis evaluating the cost-effectiveness and scalability of co-locating data centers and Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS), which have the potential to provide continuous renewable electricity and waste heat recovery. The goal is to enable the deployment of secure, clean, on-site infrastructure that can meet growing energy demands.
PI: Pablo Duenas-Martinez, research scientist at MITEI
Metals recovery optimization
Recycling rates in the United States for energy-related goods are low, but economically viable and environmental conscious recycling facilities could enable circular economies of critical metals. The research team will create a decision-support tool for facility-scale critical metal recycling optimization from mixed waste feedstock, accounting for the highest net-present value and its robustness under future scenarios. Once developed, this tool will allow investors to assess the viability of recycling facilities and will produce practical recommendations for local policymakers.
PI: Afreen Ahmed, research scientist in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Reliability cost of co-location
The co-location of multiple generation sources and data centers could reduce burden on the power grid, but could potentially lead to issues with stability and generation availability for the entire grid. The research team will develop a micro-grid framework to understand how faster and slower time scale operations on the grid, including reliability and markets, are impacted by data centers co-located with generators and backup. This will help determine optimal planning and reinforcements for co-located large loads.
PIs: Deep Deeka, research scientist at MITEI, and Ruaridh Macdonald, research scientist at MITEI
Sustainable replacement for crude oil
A sustainable drop-in replacement is needed for crude oil products, like gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and chemical feedstocks. This project will evaluate different pathways to create a sustainable hydrocarbon fuel given system constraints. The research team will identify research, development, and policies with the largest impact for economically replacing all crude oil with cellulosic liquid hydrocarbons, which previous research has shown has sufficient feedstocks if external hydrogen inputs at the biorefinery.
PI: Charles Forsberg, principal research scientist in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Trade-offs of the ammonia economy
Ammonia is a low-carbon alternative fuel and energy carrier proposed to facilitate decarbonization, but there are concerns about potential environmental consequences. The research team will construct a suite of scenarios that serve as the starting point to quantifying ammonia impacts and potential mitigation strategies, and associated environmental and human health impacts. This project will help determine whether ammonia can be a successful contributor to a decarbonized global energy system that supports climate mitigation and human as well as environmental health.
PI: C. Adam Schlosser, senior research scientist and deputy director at the MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy