Energy Secretary Chris Wright praised a division of the Energy Department charged with funding research projects deemed too risky to get private-sector investment, amid questions about its future in the second Trump administration.
The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, has doled out some $4.2 billion to more than 1,700 energy projects since 2009. Trump proposed eliminating it during his first stint as president, and Republicans at that time criticized it as unnecessary.
More recently, the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 called for scrapping the agency, which has a budget of $460 million. ARPA-E also appeared on a list of programs being scrutinized by the ...