U.S. Dept. of Energy laboratories are finishing up work on hundreds of millions of dollars worth of stimulus-funded infrastructure work that could accelerate research for breakthroughs in energy, medicine and other areas.  However, transferring that research and development to the marketplace poses challenges. Image courtesy Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory Electrical upgrades will help power accelerated magnetic fusion experiments at DOE's plasma physics laboratory in Princeton, N.J. The Princeton lab received nearly $14 million in stimulus funding. Photo courtesy of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory Construction is nearly complete on a research building at DOEs Fermi lab in Illinois that expands R&D

Megaprojects will dominate construction to meet the world’s growing energy appetite, but securing financing and managing regulatory uncertainties remain key hurdles, according to government and industry leaders who assembled at the annual Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Conference in Cambridge, Mass. Photo Courtesy Of Bechtel The Ivanpah solar thermal megaproject in California’s Mojave Desert is set to produce 400 MW of power. While excitement bubbled up around panels and workshops on start-up projects in the clean-energy arena, industry, government and other attendees acknowledged that large-scale power generation would dominate future energy projects because of reliability and low cost. “Megaprojects are