Under Secretary of Energy (2020 Presidential transition)

Book 3 - Organization Overview
Entire 2020 DOE Transition book As of October 2020

The Under Secretary of Energy (S3) is one of the statutory principal officers of the Department and holds such responsibilities as assigned by the Secretary.

The Under Secretary of Energy oversees nine Departmental Elements: the Office of Environment, Health, Safety, and Security (AU); the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER); the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); the Office of Fossil Energy (FE); the Office of Indian Energy and Policy Programs (IE); the Loan Programs Office (LPO); the Office of Nuclear Energy (NE); the Office of Electricity (OE); the Office of Project Management (PM); and the Arctic Energy Office (AE). These elements advance the Department’s strategic goals of maintaining American leadership in fundamental research as the foundation for groundbreaking innovation and national security; and supporting commercialization and deployment of innovative technologies to deliver reliable, sustainable, and affordable energy and enhance American energy dominance.

The Under Secretary of Energy supports the DOE mission by:

Advising and supporting the Secretary and Deputy Secretary.
Participating in establishing strategy, priorities, and resource allocations for the Department (including development of budget requests).
Engaging with high-level external audiences such as Members of Congress; senior Executive Branch counterparts; state, local, and tribal government officials; foreign government and international organization counterparts; and key DOE contractors in support of DOE’s energy missions

Mission Statement

To ensure America’s security and prosperity by addressing its energy challenges through transformative science and technology solutions.

Budget

The chart below reflects the combined budgets for the organizations reporting to the Under Secretary of Energy, excluding the Power Marketing Administrations

Fiscal Year	Budget
FY 2019 enacted	$5,255,929,000
FY 2020 enacted	$5,877,124,000
FY 2021 requested	$3,446,148,000

FY 2020 authorized full-time equivalents (FTEs) in organizations reporting to the Under Secretary of Energy total 6,990; 4,759 of those FTEs support the Power Marketing Administrations.

Functions

The Under Secretary of Energy focuses on energy policy, applied energy technologies, energy security and reliability, and certain DOE-wide management functions.

Arctic Energy Office (AEO)

The Arctic Energy Office leads cross-cutting operations in the Arctic with a mission to tackle the energy, science and national security challenges of the 21st Century. The office acts as a nexus for DOE activities and represents the Department in engagements involving the Arctic.

Office of Environment, Health, Safety and Security (AU)

AU is DOE’s central organization with enterprise- level responsibilities for health, safety, environment, and security; providing corporate-level leadership and strategic vision to establish, sustain, coordinate, and integrate these vital programs. AU is responsible for policy development and technical assistance; safety analysis; and corporate safety and security programs. The Associate Under Secretary for Environment, Health, Safety and Security advises DOE elements and senior Departmental leadership, including the Under Secretary of Energy on all matters related to environment, health, safety, and security across the complex.

Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER)

CESER’s goal is to improve the security of the United States energy infrastructure against all hazards via Cybersecurity; Infrastructure Security & Energy Restoration; and Innovation, Research & Development.

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

EERE promotes affordable and reliable energy to enhance America’s economic growth and energy security through technology development in the energy efficiency, renewable power, and sustainable transportation sectors.

Office of Fossil Energy (FE)

FE’s mission is to discover and develop advanced fossil energy technologies to ensure American energy dominance, create American jobs, support a resilient infrastructure, maintain environmental stewardship, and enhance America’s economy. Ensure America’s access to and use of safe, secure, reliable, and affordable fossil energy resources and strategic reserves

Office of Indian Energy and Policy Programs (IE)

The mission of the Office of Indian Energy is to maximize the development and deployment of energy solutions for the benefit of American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Loan Programs Office (LPO)

LPO’s mission is to catalyze energy infrastructure investments to achieve America’s energy objectives and advance economic growth.

Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)

The mission of NE is to advance nuclear power as a resource capable of meeting the Nation’s clean energy, environmental, and national security needs by resolving technical, cost, safety, proliferation resistance, and security barriers through research, development, and demonstration (RD&D). NE supports the diverse civilian nuclear energy programs of the U.S. government, leading federal RD&D efforts in nuclear energy technologies, including generation; safety; waste storage and management; and security technologies.

Office of Electricity (OE)

A secure and resilient power grid is vital to national security, economic security, and the services Americans rely upon. Working closely with its private and public partners, the Office of Electricity leads the Department’s efforts to ensure the Nation’s most critical energy infrastructure is secure and able to recover rapidly from disruptions.

OE also has oversight over the Power Marketing Administrations (BPA, SEPA, SWPA, and WAPA).

Office of Project Management (PM)

PM’s mission is to provide enterprise level project management leadership, and assist in the development and implementation of Department-wide policies, procedures, programs, and management systems pertaining to project management, professional development, and related activities.

The office is charged with providing the DOE senior leadership with timely, reliable, and credible information to enable the best-informed project execution decisions.

Recent Organization Accomplishments

Since the beginning of this Administration, the Under Secretary of Energy has made significant progress across its entire mission space, having…

Established U.S. Energy Dominance for the first time, America became the world’s number one producer of oil and natural gas.
Led substantial increases in exports of U.S. Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) by nearly five-fold and issued 20 long-term authorizations for LNG exports to non-free trade agreement countries since January 2017.
Published the Small-Scale LNG Rule to expedite approval for small-scale natural gas exports.
Published 2050 LNG Policy Statement to allow companies to export LNG through 2050 as an alternative to our original 20-year authorizations.
Launched Coal FIRST (Flexible, Innovative, Resilient, Small and Transformative) Initiative to develop the power plant of the future, which can produce electricity and hydrogen from coal, biomass, and waste, with zero or even negative CO2 emissions.
Implemented the Nuclear Fuel Working Group’s Strategy to Restore American Nuclear Energy Leadership.
Established the National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) to provide a platform for private sector technology developers to assess the performance of their nuclear reactor concepts through testing and demonstration.
Launched the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program to competitively-select two advanced reactor projects to result in fully functional advanced nuclear reactors within seven years
Successfully Returned Electric Power to communities affected by multiple catastrophic hurricanes and typhoons.
Developed the North American Energy Resilience Model (NAERM) to understand risks to infrastructure and identify needed investments to improve system resilience across Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.
Established Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) office to improve the cybersecurity and resilience of the Nation’s energy critical infrastructure.
Established the Cyber Testing for Resilience of the Industrial Control Systems (CyTRICS) program to secure the Nation’s Energy Supply Chain and support the Bulk Power Executive Order
Oversaw the expansion of renewable power, including a doubling of solar production from 2016 through 2019 and a 32 percent increase in wind production.
Launched the American-Made Challenges, by investing more than $40 million in 16 different American-Made prizes and competitions to advance energy innovation and American manufacturing.
Launched the Energy Storage Grand Challenge, a comprehensive strategy to position the U.S. for global leadership in the energy storage technologies of the future.
Launched the American-Made Solar Prize, a competition designed to revitalize solar manufacturing in the United States, leading to four rounds that will result in $12 million in prizes.
Launched the American-Made Solar Desalination Prize, a $9 million prize competition designed to accelerate the development of low-cost desalination systems that use solar-thermal power to produce clean water from salt water.
Created the Energy-Water Desalination Hub as part of the White House Water Security Grand Challenge, announcing nearly $100 million for the National Alliance for Water Innovation to address water security issues in the United States.
Initiated the Plastics Innovation Challenge which launched a comprehensive program to design new highly recyclable or biodegradable plastics, develop novel methods for deconstructing and upcycling existing plastic waste, and address plastic waste.

Leadership Challenges

The Department has no material weaknesses to report as a result of internal control evaluations. The Department continues work to address Management Priorities, which represent important strategic management issues the Department has in fulfilling responsibilities and initiatives to support the Administration in securing a better future for the Nation.^[1]