A US energy research agency has helped 74 projects attract more than $1.8 billion (£1.7bn) in private investment.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), which is tasked with supporting innovation in the energy sector, has managed to leverage this funding this since it was founded in 2009.

The agency also announced that 56 projects have formed new companies, 68 have partnered with other government agencies for further development and a growing number of technologies have been incorporated into products sold on the market.

The group says these figures illustrate ARPA-E’s significant role in supporting high potential, high impact technologies to the point where additional investment can be found.

To date it has provided approximately $1.5 billion (£1.42bn) in research and development funding across more than 580 projects.

ARPA-E Acting Director Eric Rohlfing said: “At just eight years old, ARPA-E is a young agency but these newest numbers demonstrate just how well the energy innovation community we are building is working.

“The private sector plays a critical part in this community and it is thrilling to see the technologies from our projects becoming market-ready energy products with full private support.”

US Energy Secretary Ernest Moriz believes energy storage will lead to full decarbonisation by 2050 – ARPA-E is funding 75 storage projects to achieve this.