Open Energy Outlook Announces Plug Power as Founding Corporate Partner

The Open Energy Outlook (OEO), a key initiative at the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University, has announced Plug Power Inc. as its founding corporate partner. 

The initiative’s core focus is developing energy system optimization models to support the goal of net zero carbon emissions in the United States by 2050, a critical milestone in curbing the effects of climate change. The OEO was formed in 2020 as a collaboration with NC State University and received support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. 

As the first to commercialize hydrogen fuel cell technologies, which are used to produce clean electricity, Plug Power is a fitting choice to partner with the OEO. 

“Carnegie Mellon University is a world-class institution at the forefront of industry and policy discussions and driving efforts to accelerate the sustainable decarbonization of our energy systems. We are thrilled to support their Open Energy Outlook initiative,” said Plug Power CTO Tim Cortes. “Our partnership underscores Plug’s dedication to a clean energy future and highlights the crucial role of industry and academic collaborations in fostering technological advancements and supporting rigorous, independent analysis to shape future energy policies.”

One of the OEO’s main projects is developing an open-source, Python-based program known as Temoa (Tools for Energy Model Optimization and Analysis), which is capable of testing the effects of proposed energy policy, examining future energy systems evolution, and exploring the role of future uncertainty. Temoa performs these analyses by linking technologies and the flow of energy commodities. 

In one example of the model’s application, in 2023 the OEO sent comments to the Treasury Department after performing an independent evaluation of a series of proposed rules for hydrogen tax cuts for inclusion in the Inflation Reduction Act. 

According to Temoa’s analysis, the “Three Pillars” proposed by the Treasury Department, which represent eligibility requirements for tax cuts, could create an administrative burden for regulatory agencies and hydrogen producers with little emissions benefits. Furthermore, “such an environment may inadvertently discourage investments in hydrogen infrastructure due to heightened uncertainty and potential for increased compliance costs,” the OEO team wrote in their evaluation. Thirteen US Senators recently cited the OEO’s comments on the proposed rulemaking in a letter to Janet Yellen asking the Treasury Department to reconsider the Three Pillar requirements. 

To make sure that Temoa’s results reflect the current state of the clean energy industry, researchers have worked diligently to update the model since it was created over 10 years ago at NC State. 

While federal grants are often awarded for novel research ideas, this type of funding isn’t typically used for ongoing projects — which is where corporate partnerships like the one with Plug Power come into play. 

Paulina Jaramillo, a professor of engineering and public policy and co-director of the OEO Initiative, says that establishing additional partnerships is a priority. 

“These relationships are about a company seeing the value in the type of model that we’re producing, and the independent and academically rigorous analysis that we can pursue to, among other things, inform policy,” she said. “We decided to establish the corporate partnerships as a way for companies in the private sector — who could also be interested in using the model themselves — to support the long-term viability of the initiative.”