Highlights from Energy’s FY 2023 Budget Request

With major investments targeted in clean energy, advanced manufacturing and scientific R&D, DOE requests $48.3B in discretionary funding in FY 2023, a $6.3B increase from FY 2021. Specifically, the budget will enable the research and deployment of clean energy solutions to meet the Biden Administration’s climate goals of 50% reduction in greenhouse gas pollution by 2030, and net-zero emissions by 2050. DOE’s budget boasts $9.2B in clean energy R&D and $2.1B to invest in clean energy workforce and infrastructure projects.

Moreover, the budget calls for a realignment of offices to fulfill the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill by creating the Undersecretary for Infrastructure with $2.1B to focus on large-scale clean energy infrastructure, and the Undersecretary for Science and Innovation with $14.7B to focus on fundamental research of clean energy innovation.

Additional highlights from Energy’s FY 2023 budget request include:

• $21.4B for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) with increased funding for key arms control, nuclear proliferation, counterterrorism programs and the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program
• $7.6B for the Environmental Management program
• $4B for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) to accelerate the R&D of technologies and solutions to cut energy costs through low-cost clean energy resources
• $700M for the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (APRA-E) to advance energy and climate-related applied sciences

Energy is also placing an emphasis on cybersecurity activities, with $488M to modernize cyber defenses throughout the department. This, and other cyber-related funding include:

• Proposed modernization initiatives under the OCIO to reduce cyber risk including improved cybersecurity technology and automation, and scale capacity commensurate with demand
• $242M for the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) Petroleum Accounts
• $202M for the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER), a $30M increase over FY 2021, to secure the U.S. energy infrastructure
• An additional $79M for NNSA IT and Cybersecurity to provide secure technology infrastructure across the agency
• $20M in new funding for Cyber Resilient and Secure Utility Communications Networks (SecureNet) to develop security-by-design solutions based on data and physics to address vulnerabilities of the grid

In terms of IT, DOE requests $2.8B in FY 2023, a 15% increase over FY 2021. Naturally, Energy’s IT portfolio also reflects an increase in cyber defense activity, with $175M for the IM IT Security and Compliance investment, a $74M increase over FY 2021. Likewise, the Office of Science IT Security and Compliance investment requests $84M in FY 2023, a $42M increase over FY 2021. Other notable increases among DOE IT programs include:

• SC Office of Science M&O ($149M, an increase of $19M) to maintain the IT infrastructure of supporting scientific research
• IM IT Management ($84M, an increase of $27M) for IT strategy and planning, enterprise architecture, capital planning, IT vendor management and IT budget/finance
• NNSA CNS M&O Network ($38M, an increase of $27M) for networking, network operations, improvements and communications
• EM RL Site Wide Systems & Support Services ($23M, an increase of $15M) for IT assets supporting all site-wide Hanford systems
• NNSA Caerus ($21M, an increase of $15M) to provide enterprise-wide standardization, state-of-the-art cyber security hardness and a modular architecture that enables sustainable maintenance, adaptable integration of new technology, and scalable deployment to sites of all sizes