Private investors have been encouraged to invest in clean energy innovation by seed funding - made available through the Department' of Energy's Advanced Research Project Agency - Energy - or ARPA-E.

Department officials report, in a little over one year, six projects that received a total of $23-point-6 million dollars in seed funding have generated more than $100 million in outside private capital investment.

The six projects, which received between $750,000 and $8 million each, focus on improving solar and wind energy technologies and advanced battery storage.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu says, the projects are meeting the goal of the ARPA-E program is to swing for the fences, and focus on truly transformative energy research.