This competitive cooperative agreement for a research and development project entitled, "novel ultra-conductive carbon aluminum composite cable for efficient power transmission" is awarded to ohio…

The Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded Ohio University a $2.404 million cooperative agreement on October 13, 2025 under the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy program (CFDA 81.135) to develop an ultra-conductive carbon aluminum composite (UCAC) cable with superior electrical and mechanical performance for use in power transmission and distribution lines to reliably and efficiently transport electricity.

The award funds research and development on the proposed UCAC technology through October 12, 2028 at Athens County, Ohio. The work is competitively selected under ARPA-E Funding Opportunity Announcement DE-FOA-0003387 (VISION OPEN 2024), Subtopic 2.A.1: Electrical Power Movement, Control Number 3387-1531.

Ohio University manages the effort through four sub-recipients. Fisk Alloy, Inc. (awarded March 2, 2026) provides manufacturing and testing expertise including UCAC conductor drawing, heat treatment, and mechanical and electrical performance testing, alongside techno-economic assessment and market analyses. MetalKraft Technologies LLC (March 1, 2026) applies precision extrusion and materials-processing expertise to support manufacturing feasibility analysis. General Graphene Corporation (March 1, 2026) supplies high-quality CVD graphene and carbon materials produced using industrial-scale roll-to-roll CVD manufacturing technology, with a federal funding request of $150,000 and $35,000 in in-kind cost share. EndlerPartners (March 3, 2026) provides technology-to-market models, techno-economic and technology gap analyses, market analyses, and market player mapping, committing 640 estimated manhours across the 36-month performance period.

This competitive cooperative agreement for a research and development project entitled, "novel ultra-conductive carbon aluminum composite cable for efficient power transmission" is awarded to ohio university under arpa-e FOA number DE-FOA-0003387 (vision open 2024) and control number 3387-1531. The purpose of this award is to develop an ultra-conductive carbon aluminum composite (ucac) cable with superior electrical and mechanical performance for use in power transmission and distribution lines to reliably and efficiently transport electricity.