EERE Funding Opportunity Announcements

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue, on behalf of the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO), a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “Smart Manufacturing Technologies for Material and Process Innovation.”

This FOA will support the research, development and demonstration (RD&D) of smart manufacturing technologies that can contribute to a resilient, responsive, leading-edge and efficient manufacturing sector that delivers the technologies needed for the nation’s clean energy transition. Smart manufacturing can help the manufacturing community reduce manufacturing costs and accelerate time-to-market by illuminating the connection between in-process manufacturing data and ultimate performance characteristics of final products.

It is anticipated that this FOA may include the following Areas of Interest:

Area of Interest 1: Smart Manufacturing for a Circular Economy
Area of Interest 2: Smart Manufacturing for Tooling and Equipment
Area of Interest 3: Smart Manufacturing for High Performance Materials
Area of Interest 4: Smart Technologies for Sustainable and Competitive US Mining

This notice of intent (NOI) is issued so that interested parties are aware of EERE’s intention to issue this FOA in the near term. All the information contained in this NOI is subject to change. EERE will not respond to questions concerning this NOI. Once the FOA has been released, EERE will provide an avenue for potential applicants to submit questions.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue, on behalf of the Bioenergy Technology Office (BETO) and the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled MACRO: “Mixed Algae Conversion Research Opportunity”.

If issued, this FOA will support BETO’s research and development (R&D) priorities in the Conversion Technologies Program and FECM’s R&D priorities in the Carbon Dioxide Conversion Program. BETO’s Conversion Technologies Program supports R&D in technologies for converting biomass feedstocks into finished liquid transportation fuels—such as renewable gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel along with co-products or chemical intermediates. FECM’s Carbon Dioxide Conversion Program invests in R&D of technologies that convert captured carbon dioxide (CO₂) into economically valuable products such as chemicals, fuels, building materials, plastics, and bioproducts.

The R&D activities to be funded under this FOA will support the government-wide approach to the climate crisis by driving the innovation that can lead to the deployment of clean energy technologies, which are critical for climate protection. A diverse range of feedstocks will be required to reach the Biden Administration’s goals to “deliver an equitable, clean energy future, and put the United States on a path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050.”[1]

Seaweeds, also known as macroalgae, represent a significant biomass resource potential of 3.3 billion dry metric tons that will be newly described in BETO’s upcoming Billion Ton Report. Rapid growth of the seaweed cultivation industry, in part inspired by the DOE ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy) MARINER (Macroalgae Research Inspiring Novel Energy Resources) program efforts, has spurred new interest in working with seaweeds as a renewable biomass feedstock. Due to the expansion of domestic cultivation and the potential of seaweeds to contribute to DOE’s mission areas, this announcement is the first time BETO and FECM have specifically called for research into converting seaweeds to fuels and products.

It is anticipated that the FOA may include the following Topic Areas:

Topic Area 1: Conversion of Seaweeds and Waste Algae to Low Carbon Fuels and Products

Topic Area 1 aims to address gaps in storage, mobilization, and conversion of seaweeds and other wet algal feedstocks to low-carbon products and enable these readily available feedstocks to access new markets. Applications would be sought that will develop laboratory or bench scale technologies and/or processes for utilizing: macroalgae (seaweeds); blends of macroalgae and wet wastes, and/or wet algal wastes for conversion to fuels and products with significant, on a national scale, potential to displace fossil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Applications will be required to demonstrate that the utilization of these feedstocks to generate products at commercial scale has the potential of at least 50% GHG reductions compared to conventional fuel and/or products.

Topic Area 2: Conversion of Algal Biomass for Low Carbon Agricultural Products

The goal of Topic Area 2 is to utilize carbon dioxide emissions streams from utilities or industrial sources to grow algae for source material and create value-added products. Applications would be sought that use anthropogenic (e.g., fossil fuel derived) carbon dioxide emissions to be used in the algae cultivation process and then convert those macro- and/or micro algae into low-carbon agricultural applications or products such as animal feed. Applications will be encouraged to focus on optimization of the technologies and processes for the conversion of cultivated algae biomass to products and clearly describe the end use products targeted. Applications will be required to show a reduction in CO₂ emissions through life cycle analysis and demonstrate that the targeted products provide benefits compared to current, commercially available products. Applications proposing animal feed as products should describe requirements for necessary testing or demonstrations of the resulting product. Developing successful conversion technologies can further improve, the economics and carbon utilization efficiencies of these products, resulting in additional market share that encourages further algae biomass cultivation and carbon dioxide utilization.

Please note: If a FOA is published, DOE’s government-owned, government-operated (GOGO) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will not be eligible for award under the FOA and may not be proposed as a Subrecipient on another entity’s application. An application that includes NETL as a Prime Recipient or Subrecipient will be considered non-responsive. Additionally, DOE/NNSA and non-DOE/NNSA Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) will be restricted from applying for funding as a Prime Recipient but are eligible to participate as a Subrecipient. The FFRDC effort, in aggregate, shall not exceed 50% of the total estimated cost of the project, including the applicant’s and the FFRDC’s portions of the effort.

This Notice is issued so that interested parties are aware of the EERE’s intention to issue this FOA in the near term. All of the information contained in this Notice is subject to change. EERE will not respond to questions concerning this Notice. Once the FOA has been released, EERE will provide an avenue for potential Applicants to submit questions.

EERE plans to issue the FOA in or around March 2024 via the EERE eXCHANGE website https://eere-eXCHANGE.energy.gov/. If Applicants wish to receive official notifications and information from EERE regarding this FOA, they should register in EERE eXCHANGE. When the FOA is released, applications will be accepted only through EERE eXCHANGE.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is being issued by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's (EERE) Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO). The goals of this FOA are to advance manufacturing platform technologies in the following specific areas:

• Platforms for next generation battery manufacturing - focusing on manufacturability and scalability of critical battery components and system architectures as well as the role of machines for battery techonlogies (i.e., sodium-ion batteries (NIBs), flow batteries, and nanolayered films)
• Smart manufacturing platforms for battery production - developing innovative ways to revolutionize battery prouction by maximizing the benefits of smart manufacturing

This FOA will support activities to advance platform techonologies that enable flexible, scalable, and highly controllable battery manufacturing processes. Topics include:

1. Platforms for Next Generation Battery Manufacturing

     1.1 Processes and Machines for Sodium-ion Batteries

     1.2 Processes and Design for Manufacturability of Flow Batteries

     1.3 Scalable Manufacturing of Nanolayered Films for Energy Storage

2. Smart Manufacturing Platforms for Battery Production

The eXCHANGE system is currently designed to enforce hard deadlines for Concept Paper and Full Application submissions. The APPLY and SUBMIT buttons automatically disable at the defined submission deadlines. The intention of this design is to consistently enforce a standard deadline for all applicants.

Applicants that experience issues with submissions PRIOR to the FOA Deadline: In the event that an Applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission, the Applicant should contact the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (exchangehelp@hq.doe.gov). The eXCHANGE helpdesk and/or the EERE eXCHANGE System Administrators (eXCHANGE@ee.doe.gov) will assist the Applicant in resolving all issues.

Applicants that experience issues with submissions that result in a late submission: In the event that an Applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission that results in a late submission, the Applicant should contact the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (exchangehelp@hq.doe.gov). The eXCHANGE helpdesk and/or the EERE eXCHANGE System Administrators (eXCHANGE@ee.doe.gov) will assist the Applicant in resolving all issues (including finalizing the submission on behalf of, and with the Applicant's concurrence). DOE will only accept late applications when the Applicant has a) encountered technical difficulties beyond their control; b) has contacted the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance; and c) has submitted the application through eXCHANGE within 24 hours of the FOA's posted deadline.

Please see the full FOA in the DOCUMENTS section below.

The activities to be funded under this FOA support BIL section 40208, Electric Drive Vehicle Battery Recycling and Second-Life Applications Program, and the broader government-wide approach to strengthen domestic supply chains for critical materials to maximize the benefits of the clean energy transition as the nation works to curb the climate crisis, empower workers, and advance environmental justice. This BIL section is focused on research, development, and demonstration of:

· second-life applications for electric drive vehicle batteries that have been used to power electric drive vehicles; and

· technologies and processes for final recycling and disposal of electric drive vehicle batteries

The Critical Materials Accelerator aims to validate and prototype technologies and processes that address critical materials challenges by developing alternatives, diversifying and expanding supply, increasing manufacturing and material efficiency, and establishing a circular economy. The Accelerator intends to speed up the adoption of innovation while promoting safe, sustainable, economic, and environmentally just solutions to meet current and future critical materials supply chain needs​.

This FOA solicits proposals that advance innovation to realize the Department’s critical minerals and materials vision of a reliable, resilient, affordable, diverse, sustainable, and secure domestic supply chains for the clean energy economy. Projects funded under this FOA will de-risk innovation and mature technology development in partnership with industry to reduce demand through alternative materials or technologies, extend the lifetime of critical materials, and advance secure and sustainable critical materials manufacturing technologies. Each topic area of the FOA addresses priority technologies and supply chain gaps identified by the Critical Materials Collaborative.

Topics include:

• Topic 1 – Use of Magnets with Reduced Critical Materials Content
• Topic 2 – Improved Unit Operations of Processing and Manufacturing of Critical Materials
• Topic 3 – Critical Material Recovery from Scrap and Post-Consumer Products
• Topic 4 – Reduced Critical Material Demand for Clean Energy Technologies

MOD 0001: Revised Section III.B. Cost Sharing.

The eXCHANGE system is currently designed to enforce hard deadlines for Concept Paper and Full Application submissions. The APPLY and SUBMIT buttons automatically disable at the defined submission deadlines. The intention of this design is to consistently enforce a standard deadline for all applicants.

Applicants that experience issues with submissions PRIOR to the FOA Deadline: In the event that an Applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission, the Applicant should contact the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (exchangehelp@hq.doe.gov). The eXCHANGE helpdesk and/or the EERE eXCHANGE System Administrators (eXCHANGE@ee.doe.gov) will assist the Applicant in resolving all issues.

Applicants that experience issues with submissions that result in a late submission: In the event that an Applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission that results in a late submission, the Applicant should contact the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (exchangehelp@hq.doe.gov). The eXCHANGE helpdesk and/or the EERE eXCHANGE System Administrators (eXCHANGE@ee.doe.gov) will assist the Applicant in resolving all issues (including finalizing the submission on behalf of, and with the Applicant's concurrence). DOE will only accept late applications when the Applicant has a) encountered technical difficulties beyond their control; b) has contacted the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance; and c) has submitted the application through eXCHANGE within 24 hours of the FOA's posted deadline.

Modification 0001

This modification incorporates the following changes:

Section I.B: Revised Performance Goal/Target Outcomes for Subtopic 1B.

Section III.E.i: Replaced Value/Funding and Cost Share sections with Section III.E.i.c. Funding, Cost Share, and Subaward with FFRDCs.

Additional revisions made throughout to align with the newest FOA template. Please download and review the FOA document for complete details. The Modifications table begins on page 2.

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The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is issuing, on behalf of the Building Technologies Office (BTO), a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) titled “Buildings Energy Efficiency Frontiers & Innovation Technologies (BENEFIT) – 2024”.

The 2024 BENEFIT FOA will invest up to $30M (subject to appropriations) across four topic areas:

Topic 1: Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning and Water Heating

Technologies with improved materials, components, equipment design, and engineering, lower cost manufacturing processes, and easier installation.

Topic 2: Innovative, Replicable, and Low-Cost Roof and Attic Retrofits

Technologies for affordable and scalable roof and attic retrofits that improve energy efficiency and address air and water infiltration.

Topic 3: Building Resilience and Capacity Constraints

Novel approaches to maintain essential loads during blackouts and add power capacity to buildings without the need for major infrastructure upgrades; localized thermal management systems and thermally resilient building envelopes to provide cooling and overheating protection against extreme heat events.

Topic 4: Commercial Lighting Retrofit Advancements

Low-cost, high-quality retrofit solutions for lagging sectors in energy-efficient lighting adoption (schools, certain commercial buildings).

DOE is compiling a Teaming Partner List to facilitate the formation of project teams for this FOA. The Teaming Partner List allows organizations that may wish to participate on a project to express their interest to other applicants and explore potential partnerships. Please see the Teaming List section of the FOA document for more information.

EERE eXCHANGE is designed to enforce the deadlines specified in this FOA. The “Apply” and “Submit” buttons will automatically disable at the defined submission deadlines. Should applicants experience problems with EERE eXCHANGE, the following information may be helpful.

Applicants that experience issues with submission PRIOR to the FOA deadline: In the event that an applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission, the applicant should contact the EERE eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (EERE-eXCHANGESupport@hq.doe.gov). The EERE eXCHANGE helpdesk and/or the EERE eXCHANGE system administrators will assist applicants in resolving issues.

This Teaming Partner List is for the Critical Materials Accelerator Notice of Intent issued by the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO).

DOE is compiling a Teaming Partner List to facilitate the formation of new project teams for the FOA. All entities interested in participating as part of an applicant team can provide their contact information for the Teaming Partner List. The list allows organizations to express their interest and to explore potential partnerships, including representation from Minority Serving Institutions (e.g., Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)/Other Minority Serving Institutions); and partnerships with Minority Business Enterprises, Minority Owned Businesses, Woman Owned Businesses, Veteran Owned Businesses, or tribal nations.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue, on behalf of the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO), a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled, “Critical Materials Accelerator”.

The global effort to reduce carbon emissions is accelerating demand for clean energy technologies and the materials they rely on. The United States seeks to strengthen domestic supply of materials that are essential to a decarbonized energy infrastructure. Projects funded under this FOA will prototype and mature technologies or processes that address critical material challenges in high impact areas.

By accelerating innovative critical material manufacturing technologies, the U.S. positions itself at the forefront of clean energy production while securing a reliable domestic critical material supply chain needed to enable a clean energy future. This effort not only promotes secure and sustainable practices but also creates valuable American manufacturing jobs. It further supports communities with mining and energy backgrounds while establishing responsible and ethical networks for critical material supply.

EERE is not accepting applications for this Notice of Intent (NOI). This NOI is issued so that interested parties are aware of EERE’s intention to issue this FOA in the near term. All the information contained in this NOI is subject to change. EERE will not respond to questions concerning this NOI. Once the FOA has been released, EERE will provide an avenue for potential applicants to submit questions.

Mod 0002: Defines prime recipient as representing the “majority of the work performed (over 50%) at I A i Program Purpose and III A i Domestic Entities, and revises the deadline for expected E/D decision and Applicant interviews.

Mod 0001: The purpose of this modification is to revise the expected date for Concept Paper Encourage/Discourage Decision date from 11/7 to 11/14, and revise the full application deadline from 12/12 to 12/18/2023.

The Advancing U.S. Thin-Film Solar Photovoltaics FOA will focus on accelerating the capabilities of two thin-film photovoltaic (PV) technologies: metal-halide perovskite PV and cadmium telluride (CdTe) PV technologies. It will fund innovative industrial research and development (R&D) projects that will enable future commercialization of hybrid tandem perovskite PV, defined as a perovskite PV in combination with another technology such as silicon or CdTe. It will also fund industrial research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) projects across the materials, equipment, installation, and performance monitoring sectors to improve the competitiveness of the domestic CdTe PV industry. This FOA promotes American leadership in thin-film PV technology by promoting the domestic manufacture of thin-film PV modules. With this goal in mind, only for-profit entities and teams led by for-profit entities may apply to this FOA (see Section III.A for more details on eligibility criteria) and all work must be performed in the United States (see Section IV.I.iii. and Appendix C).

This is a Request for Information (RFI) issued by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on behalf of the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) and the Fossil Energy and Carbon Management Office (FECM). The intent of this RFI is to better understand the perceived value of high-performance computing (HPC) capabilities to manufacturers and the experiences of companies that have interacted with the High Performance Computing for Energy Innovation (HPC4EI) program.

The purpose of this RFI is to solicit feedback from the public, including key stakeholders in the manufacturing sector, especially from small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) based in the U.S., past participants in funded programs through the DOE HPC4EI initiative, including HPC4Mfg (Manufacturing) and HPC4Mtls (Materials), and companies that may have an interest in participating in future HPC4EI programs.

This RFI is not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA); therefore, DOE is not accepting applications at this time. DOE may issue a FOA in the future based on or related to the content and responses to this RFI; however, DOE may also elect not to issue a FOA. There is no guarantee that a FOA will be issued as a result of this RFI. Responding to this RFI does not provide any advantage or disadvantage to potential applicants if DOE chooses to issue a FOA regarding the subject matter. Final details, including the anticipated award size, quantity, and timing of funded awards, will be subject to Congressional appropriations and direction.

Any information obtained as a result of this RFI is intended to be used by the Government on a non-attribution basis for planning and strategy development; this RFI does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or abstracts. Your response to this notice will be treated as information only. DOE will review and consider all responses in its formulation of program strategies for the identified materials of interest that are the subject of this request. DOE will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred in responding to this RFI. Respondents are advised that DOE is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted under this RFI. Responses to this RFI do not bind DOE to any further actions related to this topic.

Please focus on the aspects that are most pertinent to you or your field and answer as few or as many of the questions below as you would like.

Category A: Respondent Type

Category B: Value of HPC to Industry

Category C: Experience with HPC4EI program

Request for Information Response Guidelines

Comments must be received by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, August 25, 2023. Submissions received after that date may not be considered.

Please identify your answers by responding to a specific category and corresponding question. Respondents may answer as many or as few questions as they wish.

Comments must be submitted by emailing hpc4ei-rfi@llnl.gov in the following formats: Word or PDF. Please submit comments only and include your name, organization’s name (if any), and cite ‘‘HPC4EI RFI Response’’ in all correspondence. Comments containing references, studies, research, and other empirical data that are not widely published should include copies of the referenced materials.

All comments responding to this document will be a matter of public record. Relevant comments will generally be available on the HPC4Mfg website.

See the full RFI document for more detail.

This Teaming Partner List is for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) - Materials, Operation, and Recycling of Photovoltaics (MORE PV) FOA. This FOA supports multi-stakeholder collaborations to reduce material usage, improve installation quality and resilience of PV systems, and address handling of PV systems at the end of life. This FOA calls for diverse teams to assess impact of the developed technologies on all the life stages of PV systems in terms of energy use, cost, and environmental impact. To review the full announcement details navigate to DE-FOA-0002985 in EERE Exchange.

This Teaming Partner List is available to facilitate the widest possible national participation in the formation of applicant teams for the FOA. The Teaming Partner List allows organizations that may wish to participate on a project to express their interest to other applicants and explore potential partnerships.

Updates to the Teaming Partner List will be available in the EERE Exchange website. The Teaming Partner List will be regularly updated to reflect new teaming partners who provide their organization’s information. Please include information about your organization type/characteristics in the “Background, Interest, Capabilities” field in Exchange to help other participants identify your capabilities.

FOA Modification 000001: Full Application due date extended to 11/30/2023.

Through this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), the Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) will provide funding for multi-stakeholder collaborations to reduce material usage, improve installation quality and resilience of PV systems, and address handling of PV systems at the end of life. This FOA calls for diverse teams to assess impact of the developed technologies on all the life stages of PV systems in terms of energy use, cost, and environmental impact. The holistic technological solutions developed in the projects funded by this FOA will facilitate rapid growth of PV deployment in the U.S. in the next decade.

Topic Area 1: MORE Connection: Connecting PV Materials, Design, Installation, Performance, and End of Life

This Topic Area will use $12 million of non-Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funding to fund collaborations of diverse stakeholders who can bring expertise from all life stages of the PV system lifecycle to reduce cost and lifecycle impacts of a PV system and its components, including co-located storage. Projects funded in this topic area will develop technology and design solutions to optimize the interconnected energy, economic, and environmental impact metrics in pursuit of rapid and sustainable scale-up of PV technologies.

Specific areas of interest include:

· Design of PV systems and PV system components that minimizes the use of materials, especially critical materials.

· Development of characterization and non-destructive testing of bill of materials (BOM) of PV system components throughout their life.

· Development and implementation of holistic design for engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) of PV systems that can simultaneously optimize energy, economic, and environmental metrics during the system’s useful life under relevant operating conditions, in a high deployment environment.

· Scalable hardware and software solutions for robust, error-free, low-maintenance tools, components, and methods for installation, quality management, and maintenance.

Topic Area 2: Solar Partnership to Advance Recycling and Circularity (Solar PARC)

This topic area uses funds designated by the BIL and seeks to fund one research partnership at a maximum of $8 million dedicated to improving materials recovery efficiency and developing safe end-of-life (EOL) practices for PV system components, including modules, inverters, and other balance-of-system (BOS) components. The partnership will focus on technologies and methods to enable low-cost reuse, refurbishing, repair, and recycling of photovoltaic materials, and best practices for safe disposal of these materials, and will include data collection, analysis, and working groups to enable effective collaborations and technology transfer.

The teaming list for the FOA is TPL-0000021: TEAMING PARTNER LIST FOR DE-FOA-0002985 MATERIALS, OPERATION, AND RECYCLING OF PHOTOVOLTAICS (MORE PV).

This Teaming Partner List is for the Advancing U.S. Thin-Film Solar Photovoltaics Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). This FOA will focus on accelerating the capabilities of two thin-film photovoltaic (PV) technologies: metal-halide perovskite PV and cadmium telluride (CdTe) PV technologies. It will fund innovative industrial research and development (R&D) projects that will enable future commercialization of hybrid tandem perovskite PV, defined as a perovskite PV in combination with another technology such as silicon or CdTe. It will also fund industrial research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) projects across the materials, equipment, installation, and performance monitoring sectors to improve the competitiveness of the domestic CdTe PV industry. This FOA promotes American leadership in thin-film PV technology by promoting the domestic manufacture of thin-film PV modules. With this goal in mind, only for-profit entities and teams led by for-profit entities may apply to this FOA and all work must be performed in the United States.

The United States has world-leading domestic research and development (R&D) capabilities in thin-film PV across a multitude of universities and national laboratories. The United States is also in the process of rebuilding PV manufacturing equipment capabilities. It is expected that private for-profit entities, who are the target prime recipients for this FOA, will benefit greatly from developing strong partnerships with this ecosystem. As such, teaming arrangements are strongly encouraged.

This Teaming Partner List is available to facilitate the widest possible national participation in the formation of applicant teams for the FOA. The Teaming Partner List allows organizations that may wish to participate on a project to express their interest to other applicants and explore potential partnerships.

This FOA will encourage potential applicants to form partnerships with academia, national laboratories, other industry members, supply chain partners, equipment developers, and with institutions representing diverse individuals such as, but not limited to, tribal communities; minority-serving institutions (MSI), including historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) and other minority institutions (OMI); minority business enterprises; minority-, woman-, and veteran-owned businesses; entities located in an underserved community or through linkages with Opportunity Zones. Applicants are particularly encouraged to partner with a diverse set of organizations to advance demonstration and field-testing activities.

Updates to the Teaming Partner List will be available in the EERE Exchange website. The Teaming Partner List will be regularly updated to reflect new teaming partners who provide their organization’s information. Please include information about your organization type/characteristics in the “Background, Interest, Capabilities” field in Exchange to help other participants identify your capabilities.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) intends to release the Advancing U.S. Thin-Film Solar Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) of up to $36 million for research, development, and demonstration projects on two major thin-film photovoltaic (PV) technologies: metal halide perovskite PV and cadmium telluride (CdTe) PV. This FOA will promote American leadership in thin-film PV technology, and the domestic manufacture of thin-film PV modules. This FOA will also support SETO in meeting Congressional direction provided in fiscal year 2023 to spend no less than $25 million each to support the advancement of both perovskite PV and CdTe PV technologies ($50 million in total). The FOA is expected to be released in September 2023 and is expected to be restricted to for-profit lead applicants.

Up to $20 million will fund projects on industrial perovskite PV research and development to enable future commercialization by reaching specific thresholds of efficiency, long-term reliability, manufacturability, and economic viability. Quantitative guidelines within the NOI describe what a competitive application is expected to include for a given funding level. This information is being communicated through the NOI so potential applicants can take advantage of the intervening time before a FOA is released to identify and fill possible gaps in their capabilities.

Up to $16 million will fund projects to advance cadmium telluride (CdTe) PV research, development, demonstration, and commercialization across the materials, equipment, installation, and performance monitoring supply chain to improve the competitiveness of the domestic CdTe PV technology industry.  

SETO anticipates to award 3 or more financial assistance awards in the form of cooperative agreements. These awards will last 18-36 months, with $3 million to 20 million federal share per project and a cost share requirement of 20-50%.

Navigate to TPL-0000020 in EERE Exchange to access the Teaming Partner List for this solicitation

View the informational webinar recording (password: QgGtSKC8) and download the slides below. 

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) invites public comment on its Request for Information (RFI) number DE-FOA-003085 regarding the DOE Critical Materials Assessment for energy. This RFI seeks public comment to improve the DOE Critical Materials Assessment including the methodology inclusive of the underlying data and assumptions, results, and draft list of critical materials. Specially, this RFI seeks input on the following categories: (1) Data and information to support revision of the analysis and (2) Improvements to the methodology.

EERE plans to issue the RFI on or about May 31, 2023 via the EERE eXCHANGE website https://eere-eXCHANGE.energy.gov/. If Applicants who wish to receive official notifications and information from EERE regarding this RFI, they should register in EERE eXCHANGE. When the RFI is released, public comment will be accepted only through the official email account CriticalMaterialsRFI@ee.doe.gov.

Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically to CriticalMaterialsRFI@ee.doe.gov no later than 5:00pm (ET) on June 20, 2023. Responses must be provided as attachments to an email. It is recommended that attachments with file sizes exceeding 25MB be compressed (i.e., zipped) to ensure message delivery. Responses must be provided as a Microsoft Word (.docx) attachment to the email, and no more than 10 pages in length, 12 point font, 1 inch margins. Only electronic responses will be accepted.

MOD0001

Revised Request for Information document to state no more than 10 pages in length insteaed of 5 pages.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) invites public comment on its Request for Information (RFI) number DE-FOA-003085 regarding the DOE Critical Materials Assessment for energy. This RFI seeks public comment to improve the DOE Critical Materials Assessment including the methodology inclusive of the underlying data and assumptions, results, and draft list of critical materials. Specially, this RFI seeks input on the following categories: (1) Data and information to support revision of the analysis and (2) Improvements to the methodology.

This Notice of Intent (NOI) is for informational purposes only. Any information contained in this NOI is subject to change. Questions and comments regarding this NOI are not being sought and will not be accepted for consideration at this time.

EERE plans to issue the RFI on or about May 31, 2023 via the EERE eXCHANGE website https://eere-eXCHANGE.energy.gov/. If Applicants wish to receive official notifications and information from EERE regarding this RFI, they should register in EERE eXCHANGE. When the RFI is released, public comment will be accepted only through an official email account that will be specified in the RFI.

AMMTO, IEDO, and BTO, in collaboration with OTT, are interested in jointly funding Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) programs in Fiscal Year 23 (FY23) that reduce embodied energy/carbon of materials and processes, as well as operational energy across the built environment, including residential, commercial, and industrial settings. The Department of Energy (DOE) is committed to pushing the frontiers of science and engineering, catalyzing innovation, and using cutting edge technologies to create real world impacts. The current funding portfolios can be found on the AMMTO and IEDO web site and the BTO web site.

This request for information (RFI) is intended to inform the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) on the challenges and opportunities associated with scaling the domestic solar manufacturing workforce. This RFI pertains to job roles associated with operating U.S.-based manufacturing facilities involved in the production of photovoltaic (PV) modules and related components and materials.

The purpose of this RFI is to solicit feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on issues related to the key opportunities and challenges associated with increased material circularity.

EERE is specifically interested in information on:

• Challenges and opportunities of transitioning from a linear to a circular economy
• Life Cycle Databases and tools used in generating Environmental Product Declarations
• Prizes to incentivize innovation and reduce demand for virgin materials
• Potential for electronic waste (e-waste) to be a viable source of critical materials and associated barriers.

This is solely a request for information and not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). EERE is not accepting applications. DOE will not publish the information collected through this RFI. DOE may use the information provided through this RFI to develop funding opportunities, challenges, and prize competitions.

Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically to CircularEconomyRFI@ee.doe.gov no later than 5:00pm (ET) on May 1, 2023. Responses must be provided as attachments to an email. It is recommended that attachments with file sizes exceeding 25MB be compressed (i.e., zipped) to ensure message delivery. Responses must be provided as a Microsoft Word (.docx) attachment to the email, and no more than 10 pages in length, 12 point font, 1 inch margins. Only electronic responses will be accepted.

The Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) is issuing this lab call for fiscal year 2023 (FY2023) to solicit project proposals in new and on-going research areas. Depending on the Area of Interest (AOI), project awards from this year’s Lab Call will initially be funded through either FY2023 or FY2024 appropriations, subject to the availability of funds.

To the extent possible and appropriate, VTO seeks lab projects that involve industry engagement or industry partners and encourages multiple-lab, multi-disciplined team-based approaches. VTO will award only a portion of its total planned FY23 and FY24 lab funding through this lab call process. There is approximately $35.8 million in annual funding available to fund all projects solicited in this Lab Call with the potential for future year funding pending appropriations.

Some labs have continuing multi-year projects that have already gone through the merit review process. These will continue to be reviewed through the annual peer review process. Labs should work with VTO project and program managers to ensure that ongoing projects are included in the annual operating plans (AOPs) to meet AOP deadlines.

This lab call will only pertain to the new topic areas below.

AOI 1: Technology Commercialization Fund

AOI 2: Composites Core Program 2.0

AOI 3: Powertrain Materials Core Program 2.0

AOI 4: Lightweight Metals Core Program 2.0

AOI 5: EEMS Tools and Technologies

AOI 6: Freight-in-the-Loop

AOI 7: Data and Tools for Vehicle Grid Integration

Modification 0001: The purpose of this modification is:

1. Section IV. D. ix: Directs applicants to EERE eXCHANGE to access a summary slide template. Further defines the information that is required in the summary slides.

2. Section I.B.i:. In Topic 3, Subtopic 3a, removes the anode catalyst activity target for PEM electrolyzers to emphasize integrated MEA performance.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is issuing Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0002922 on behalf of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO), which coordinates hydrogen activities with offices across the Department of Energy (DOE) as described in the DOE Hydrogen Program Plan. These activities align with the DOE National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap and specific DOE initiatives. Awards made under this FOA will be funded, in whole or in part, with funds appropriated by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,[1] more commonly known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).

This FOA implements two provisions within Section 40314 of the BIL, which amended Title VIII of the Energy Policy Act (EPAct) of 2005 to include a new section 815, “Clean Hydrogen Manufacturing and Recycling” and a new section 816, “Clean Hydrogen Electrolysis Program.” The FOA launches the first phase of funding for these programs and will provide up to $750 million in Federal funding, subject to the availability of appropriated funds. These activities will support the broader government-wide approach to accelerate progress in clean hydrogen technologies and maximize the benefits of the clean energy transition as the nation works to curb the climate crisis, empower workers, and advance environmental justice.

The FOA provides funding for research, development, and demonstration to:

The following topics, in two areas of interest, are included in this funding opportunity.

Area of Interest 1: Clean Hydrogen Electrolysis Program

Topic 1: Low Cost, High-Throughput Electrolyzer Manufacturing: Research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) that accelerates manufacturing innovations, so that electrolyzer stack manufacturers can achieve greater economies of scale.

Topic 2: Electrolyzer Component and Supply Chain Development: Research and development (R&D) of advanced components critical to accelerate the commercialization of electrolyzers

Topic 3: Advanced Electrolyzer Technology and Component Development: R&D that develops materials, components, and designs that are at lower technology readiness levels (TRL) but show promise in achieving long-term cost, performance, and lifetime goals in next generation of electrolyzer technologies.

Area of Interest 2: Clean Hydrogen Manufacturing and Recycling

Topic 4: Fuel Cell Membrane Electrode Assembly and Stack Manufacturing and Automation: RD&D that accelerates fuel cell manufacturing innovation and scale-up by enabling diverse fuel cell manufacturer and supplier teams to flexibly address their greatest scale-up challenges and achieve economies of scale in medium- and heavy-duty vehicle (MDV/HDV) and cross-cutting applications.

Topic 5: Fuel Cell Supply Chain Development: R&D to address critical deficiencies in the domestic supply chain for MDV/HDV fuel cell materials and components.

Topic 6: Recovery and Recycling Consortium: Establish a single, broad-based nonprofit- or university-led consortium of industry, academia, and national labs to address a range of recovery, recycling, refurbishment, and reuse challenges for fuel cell and electrolyzer stacks and components.

Please see the 'Full FOA Document' in the DOCUMENTS section below.

The Teaming Partner List is transferred from Notice of Intent (NOI) DE-FOA-0002921. The list will remain open and will be updated at least weekly until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Applicants must submit a Concept Paper by 5:00pm ET on the due date listed in the FOA to be eligible to submit a Full Application. Concept Papers and Full Applications will only be accepted through EERE eXCHANGE.

Applicants that experience issues with submissions PRIOR to the Deadline: In the event an Applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission, the Applicant should contact the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (exchangehelp@hq.doe.gov).

MOD 0001

Changes include updates to the following sections:

1. Section I.B. on page 36, within Topic 4: Technology Focus, correct the NAICS code reference: Change “basic organic chemicals (NAICS 325519)” to “all other organic chemicals (NAICS 325199)”.

2. Section III.F. on page 64, within Limitation on Number of CPs and full apps eligible for review, change language allowing for multiple CPs and applications to be submitted to the FOA by a single entity.

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This Funding Opportunity (FOA), issued by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, on behalf of the Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO) will advance the strategies identified in the Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap and Industrial Heat Energy Earthshot and will focus on cross-sector approaches for industrial decarbonization (such as thermal processing, low-carbon fuels utilization, and exploratory cross-sector topics), along with high-GHG-emitting subsectors (such as chemicals, iron and steel, food and beverage, cement and concrete, and forest products). By accelerating the development and adoption of sustainable technologies that increase efficiency and eliminate industrial GHG emissions, the research, development, and prototype or pilot-scale technology validation and demonstration activities to be funded under this FOA will contribute to a clean and equitable energy economy, bolster the technological and economic competitiveness of domestic manufacturing, and boost the viability and competitiveness of U.S. industrial technology exports.

This FOA is part of an integrated industrial decarbonization technology development strategy for DOE’s basic and applied research offices. Rooted in the principles identified in the 2022 Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap, DOE is building an innovation pipeline to accelerate the development and adoption of industrial decarbonization technologies with investments spanning foundational science; research, development, and demonstrations (RD&D); and technical assistance and workforce development. DOE’s highly coordinated RD&D investments – leveraging resources and expertise from the Offices of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), Nuclear Energy (NE), and Science (SC) – are designed to achieve deep decarbonization across the industrial sector, targeting both industry-specific innovations and crosscutting technologies. This technology development strategy complements the demonstration and deployment efforts led by DOE's Offices of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) and Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) and the Loan Programs Office (LPO). This FOA and its associated projects are distinct from any existing or forthcoming efforts funded under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law or Inflation Reduction Act, including activities related to Industrial Demonstration Projects..

The topics included are:

Topic 1: Decarbonizing Industrial Heat

Topic 2: Low-Carbon Fuels Utilization R&D

Topic 3a: Enabling Flexible Industrial Energy Use

Topic 3b: Enhanced Thermal Conductivity Materials

Topic 4: Decarbonizing Chemicals

Topic 5: Decarbonizing Iron and Steel

Topic 6: Decarbonizing Food and Beverage Products

Topic 7: Decarbonizing Cement and Concrete

EERE eXCHANGE is designed to enforce the deadlines specified in this FOA. The “Apply” and “Submit” buttons will automatically disable at the defined submission deadlines. Should applicants experience problems with EERE eXCHANGE, the following information may be helpful.

Applicants that experience issues with submission PRIOR to the FOA deadline: In the event that an applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission, the applicant should contact the EERE eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (EERE-eXCHANGESupport@hq.doe.gov). The EERE eXCHANGE helpdesk and/or the EERE eXCHANGE system administrators will assist applicants in resolving issues.

This announcement is a Teaming Partner List to help prospective applicants to NSF Program Solicitation 23-530 meet potential DOE National Laboratory partners in DOE-EERE including the Energy Materials Network consortia.

To go straight to the Teaming Partner List, click here to see the list and select "Submit Entry to Teaming Partner List" to submit an entry.

For the "Area of Expertise" selection, you can select "Cross-Cutting" if you do not see an option that fits. Use the "Topic" and "Background, Interest, and Capabilities" entries to go into detail.

Background:

NSF and DOE are federal partners in the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Subcommittee on the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI), whose vision is to enable discovery, development, manufacturing, and deployment of advanced materials at least twice as fast at a fraction of the cost as is possible through use of traditional methods.

DOE's EERE is working to build a clean energy economy that involves energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable transportation. Although this solicitation is open to partnership with PIs from any EERE Office, EERE's primary interface with DMREF is through its Energy Materials Network (EMN), which aims to accelerate solutions to the nation's toughest materials challenges in the energy sector. Teams that exercise this option must agree to participate in technical review meetings, and funds may be budgeted for this purpose. "EERE" must be included as a Key Word in the Project Summary.

DMREF (Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future) is the principal NSF program responsive to the MGI. Over its inaugural decade, the MGI has driven a transformational paradigm shift in the philosophy of how materials research is performed. DMREF is supportive of the 2021 MGI Strategic Plan and its three primary goals, i.e., unifying the materials innovation infrastructure; harnessing the power of materials data; and educating, training, and connecting a world-class materials R&D workforce. Find Program Solicitation 23-530 here.

The DMREF solicitation is open to Institutions of Higher Education. See the solicitation for more eligibility information.

This solicitation provides an opportunity for DMREF teams to collaborate with MGI-related efforts supported by DMREF's federal partners in order to: 1) bolster the scientific/engineering aspects of the critical iterative feedback loop to accelerate materials research consistent with MGI principles, 2) facilitate the translation of fundamental materials research toward application, and 3) provide education, training, and workforce development opportunities.

Federal partners must not be listed on the Cover Page. Letters of Collaboration are not required from DMREF's federal partners, but the collaborating PI must be identified in the Project Description which must thoroughly explain how this collaboration would benefit both the DMREF team and federal partner in advancing the goals of the project.

For proposals involving collaboration with personnel from DMREF's federal partners such as EERE, the Budget may include funds, such as student support or travel, to enable these activities. No funds may be budgeted, or sub-awarded, to the federal partners: these personnel will participate as unfunded collaborators. Proposals that wish to exercise the option to partner with EERE may budget funds for travel to technical review meetings.

EERE share many common interests with those of the DMREF program. EERE, through the Energy Materials Network (EMN), develops materials, processes, and advanced manufacturing technologies for the energy sector. Specific topics of interest to both EERE and DMREF include:

1. Catalysis

2. Materials for extreme environments

3. Accelerated materials design and discovery by artificial intelligence and autonomous experimentation

4. Multiscale modeling

5. Photovoltaic materials

6. Lightweight and durable materials

The purpose of this Teaming Partner List is to allow for EERE partners including the EMN to network with prospective DMREF applicants.

Proposals are due March 13, 2023, closing by 5 PM submitter's local time.

NSF and DOE are federal partners in the National Science and Technology Council's (NSTC's) Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Subcommittee on the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI), whose vision is to enable discovery, development, manufacturing, and deployment of advanced materials at least twice as fast at a fraction of the cost as is possible through use of traditional methods.

DMREF (Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future) is the principal NSF program responsive to the MGI. Over its inaugural decade, the MGI has driven a transformational paradigm shift in the philosophy of how materials research is performed. DMREF is supportive of the 2021 MGI Strategic Plan and its three primary goals, i.e., unifying the materials innovation infrastructure; harnessing the power of materials data; and educating, training, and connecting a world-class materials R&D workforce. Find Program Solicitation 23-530 here.

The DMREF solicitation is open to Institutions of Higher Education. See the solicitation for more eligibility information. 

This solicitation provides an opportunity for DMREF teams to collaborate with MGI-related efforts supported by DMREF's federal partners in order to: 1) bolster the scientific/enginering aspects of the critical iterative feedback loop to accelerate materials research consistent with MGI principles, 2) facilitate the translation of fundamental materials research toward application, and 3) provide education, training, and workforce development opportunities.

Federal partners must not be listed on the Cover Page. Letters of Collaboration are not required from DMREF's federal partners, but the collaborating PI must be identified in the Project Description which must thoroughly explain how this collaboration would benefit both the DMREF team and federal partner in advancing the goals of the project. 

For proposals involving collaboration with personnel from DMREF's federal partners such as EERE, the Budget may include funds, such as student support or travel, to enable these activities. No funds may be budgeted, or sub-awarded, to the federal partners: these personnel will participate as unfunded collaborators. Proposals that wish to exercise the option to partner with EERE may budget funds for travel to technical review meetings.

EERE share many common interests with those of the DMREF program. EERE, through the Energy Materials Network (EMN), develops materials, processes, and advanced manufacturing technologies for the energy sector. Specific topics of interest to both EERE and DMREF include:

1. Catalysis

2. Materials for extreme environments

3. Accelerated materials design and discovery by artificial intelligence and autonomous experimentation

4. Multiscale modeling

5. Photovoltaic materials

6. Lightweight and durable materials

The purpose of this placeholder FOA is to allow creation of a Teaming Partner List in Exchange for EERE partners including the EMN to network with prospective DMREF applicants.

Modification 0001: The purposes of this modification are to:

1. Direct applicants to EERE Exchange to access a summary slide template. FOA document further defines the information that is required in the summary slides.

2. Update the Topic Area Description related to PEM electrolyzers. See highlighted section in FOA document.

3. Clarify the timeline for announcing encourage/discourage decisions.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO) is issuing this Lab Call. HFTO conducts comprehensive efforts to overcome the technological, economic, and institutional challenges facing the widespread adoption and use of clean hydrogen (H₂) and fuel cell technologies. To this end, HFTO, in collaboration with other Department of Energy (DOE) offices, supports a broad portfolio of projects for the production, processing, delivery, storage, and use of clean hydrogen, along with cross-cutting topics in system development and integration, safety, codes and standards, and systems analysis. This Lab Call is part of an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ expanded initiative to reduce electrolyzer cost. These activities align with the DOE National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap and specific DOE initiatives, including the Hydrogen Shot which targets affordable clean hydrogen production at $1/kg within the decade.

Building a clean and equitable energy economy and addressing the climate crisis is a top priority of the Biden Administration. This Lab Call will advance the Biden Administration’s goals to achieve carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035 and to “deliver an equitable, clean energy future, and put the United States on a path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050” to the benefit of all Americans. The Department of Energy is committed to pushing the frontiers of science and engineering, catalyzing clean energy jobs through research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D), and ensuring environmental justice and inclusion of underserved communities.

The research and development (R&D) activities to be funded under this Lab Call will support the government-wide approach to the climate crisis by driving the innovation that can lead to the deployment of clean energy technologies, which are critical for climate protection. Specifically, this Lab Call will target cost reduction of electrolytic production of clean hydrogen through development of electrolyzer materials and components with high impact potential for multiple electrolyzer types.

Modification 0002 Announcement
Changes include updates to the submission deadlines on the cover page (Full Application and Replies to Reviewer Comments), as well as an update to the Expected Date for EERE Selection Notifications.  

Modification 0001 Announcement
Changes include updates to the following sections:
1) IV.D.xvii Transparency of Foreign Connections
2) Appendix C.2 Waiver for Performance of Work in the United States (Foreign Work Waiver)

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is being issued by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) on behalf of the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO). The goals of this FOA are to:

• Further develop broad, foundational, manufacturing “platform” technologies and address gaps and barriers that are currently limiting use of composite materials in clean energy and decarbonization-related applications with wind energy applications as the primary FOA focus;

• Enable additive manufacturing processes for rapid prototyping, tooling, fabrication, and testing of large wind blades;

• Apply additive manufacturing to non-blade wind turbine components; and

• Mature nascent technologies, processes, and methods that improve one or more aspects of advanced composites manufacturing, including automation, and sustainability (including recycling) of these materials.

EERE eXCHANGE is designed to enforce the deadlines specified in this FOA. The “Apply” and “Submit” buttons will automatically disable at the defined submission deadlines. Should applicants experience problems with EERE eXCHANGE, the following information may be helpful.

Applicants that experience issues with submission PRIOR to the FOA deadline: In the event that an applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission, the applicant should contact the EERE eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (EERE-eXCHANGESupport@hq.doe.gov). The EERE eXCHANGE helpdesk and/or the EERE eXCHANGE system administrators will assist applicants in resolving issues.

Please see the full FOA in the DOCUMENTS section below.

Modification 0003:

1. Changes include corrections to the naming convention of the Community Benefits Plan submissions under Section IV.D.i. and elimination of a paragraph referencing a separate submittal of a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan in Section IV.D.xv.

____________________________________________________________

Modification 0002:

Changes include revisions to the following sections:

1. IV.D.iii Resumes
2. IV.D.xvi Current and Pending Support
3. IV.D.xvii Transparency of Foreign Connection
_____________________________________________________________

Modification 0001:

1. Changes include updates to FOA subtopics 1.1 and 1.3 in Section I.B
2. Updated maximum file size to 50MB in sections IV.B and IV.D.i
3. Updated Appendix C to include waiver information on Foreign Work
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This multitopic FOA is a joint effort between EERE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO), the Building Technologies Office (BTO), and DOE’s Office of Electricity (OE).

Specifically, the goals of this multi-topic FOA are to:
• Validate and demonstrate next generation materials and manufacturing processes including domestic pilot demonstrations and related technologies to support the transition to U.S. manufacturing;
• Enable environmentally and socially responsible domestic manufacturing with diversified domestic supply of feedstocks including from recycled goods; and
• Mature nascent technologies, processes, and methods that improve the performance and market penetration of clean energy technologies and emerging building efficiency technologies.

This FOA will support activities to advance efficiency improvements and enhance manufacturing competitiveness through technological innovation by focusing on three main topic areas: (1) Next Generation Materials and Manufacturing Processes; (2) Secure and Sustainable Materials; and (3) Energy Technology Manufacturing. The multi-topic FOA integrates several identified research opportunities across AMMTO into a single funding opportunity that is intended to fund high-impact RD&D.

The eXCHANGE system is currently designed to enforce hard deadlines for Concept Paper and Full Application submissions. The APPLY and SUBMIT buttons automatically disable at the defined submission deadlines. The intention of this design is to consistently enforce a standard deadline for all applicants.

Applicants that experience issues with submissions PRIOR to the FOA Deadline: In the event that an Applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission, the Applicant should contact the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (exchangehelp@hq.doe.gov). The eXCHANGE helpdesk and/or the EERE eXCHANGE System Administrators (eXCHANGE@ee.doe.gov) will assist the Applicant in resolving all issues.

Applicants that experience issues with submissions that result in a late submission: In the event that an Applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission that results in a late submission, the Applicant should contact the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (exchangehelp@hq.doe.gov). The eXCHANGE helpdesk and/or the EERE eXCHANGE System Administrators (eXCHANGE@ee.doe.gov) will assist the Applicant in resolving all issues (including finalizing the submission on behalf of, and with the Applicant's concurrence). DOE will only accept late applications when the Applicant has a) encountered technical difficulties beyond their control; b) has contacted the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance; and c) has submitted the application through eXCHANGE within 24 hours of the FOA's posted deadline.

Please see the full FOA in the DOCUMENTS section below.

Modification 0002

Changes include updates to the following sections:

1. II.A.i. Estimated Funding
2. III.A.iv. Domestic Entities
3. III.A.v. Foreign Entities
4. Updated file size maximum to 50MB in Sections IV.B and IV.D.i.
5. IV.D.i. Full Application Content Requirements
6. IV.D.iii. Resumes
7. IV.D.xvii. Current and Pending Support
8. IV.J.ix. Risk Assessment

9. VIII.N Export Control
10. Appendix C. Waiver Requests FOR: 1. Foreign Entity Participation;and 2. Foreign Work
11. Appendix D. Required Use of American Iron, Steel, ManufacturedProducts, and Construction Materials
12. Added Section IV.D.xviii. Transparency of Foreign Connections
13. Added Section IV.D.xix. Potentially Duplicative Funding Notice
14. Added Section IV.J.xi. Prohibition Related to Foreign Government-Sponsored Talent Recruitment Programs
15. Added Section IV.J.xii. Foreign Collaboration Considerations
16. Added Section VI.B.xx. Interim Conflict of Interest Policy forFinancial Assistance
17. Added Section VI.B.xxii. Fraud, Waste and Abuse
18. Added Section VIII.O. Prohibition on Certain Telecommunicationsand Video Surveillance Services or Equipment
19. Added an additional category of applications specifically not ofinterest in Section I.C.

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Modification 0001

Corrected typo in page limit of Diversity Equity and Inclusion Plan in Section IV.D (page 33) and updated formatting throughout document.

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The purpose of this FOA is to stimulate RD&D to decarbonize the entire life cycle of Water Resource Recovery Facilities (WRRFs), formerly known as Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs). It targets both individual unit processes at earlier stages of technological development, and entire treatment trains at higher levels of technological readiness. It seeks to address both direct and indirect emissions from WRRFs, with the complementary goal of reducing costs, particularly in energy usage and sludge management, to improve the probabilities of real-world adoption.

The eXCHANGE system is currently designed to enforce hard deadlines for Concept Paper and Full Application submissions. The APPLY and SUBMIT buttons automatically disable at the defined submission deadlines. The intention of this design is to consistently enforce a standard deadline for all applicants.

Applicants that experience issues with submissions PRIOR to the FOA Deadline: In the event that an Applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission, the Applicant should contact the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (exchangehelp@hq.doe.gov). The eXCHANGE helpdesk and/or the EERE eXCHANGE System Administrators (eXCHANGE@ee.doe.gov) will assist the Applicant in resolving all issues.

Applicants that experience issues with submissions that result in a late submission: In the event that an Applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission that results in a late submission, the Applicant should contact the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (exchangehelp@hq.doe.gov). The eXCHANGE helpdesk and/or the EERE eXCHANGE System Administrators (eXCHANGE@ee.doe.gov) will assist the Applicant in resolving all issues (including finalizing the submission on behalf of, and with the Applicant's concurrence). DOE will only accept late applications when the Applicant has a) encountered technical difficulties beyond their control; b) has contacted the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance; and c) has submitted the application through eXCHANGE within 24 hours of the FOA's posted deadline.

Please see the full FOA in the DOCUMENTS section below.

Notice of Intent to Issue Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) no. DE-FOA-0002893 entitled Fiscal Year 2023 Vehicle Technologies Office Program Wide Funding Opportunity Announcement.

This FOA will advance research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) in several areas critical to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, including: reduction of weight and cost of batteries, reduction in life cycle emissions of advanced lightweight materials, reduced costs and advanced technologies for both on- and off-road vehicle charging and infrastructure, innovative public transit solutions, and training to increase deployment of these technologies among diverse communities.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is issuing, on behalf of the Building Technologies Office (BTO), a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) titled “Buildings Energy Efficiency Frontiers & Innovation Technologies (BENEFIT) – 2022/2023”.

The 2022/2023 BENEFIT FOA will invest up to $15.35M - $45.2M across 5 topic areas to allow all interested parties to research and develop high-impact, cost-effective technologies and practices that will reduce carbon emissions, improve flexibility and resilience, as well as lower energy costs.

Topic 1: Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning and Water Heating: Technologies with improved materials, components, equipment design and engineering, lower cost manufacturing processes, and easier installation.

Topic 2: Thermal Energy Storage (TES): Development and validation of next generation plug-and-play TES products with improved cost and performance and ease of installation to accelerate adoption of TES in HVAC applications.

Topic 3: Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS): Development, validation, and demonstration of product innovations that reduce the cost of BESS integration, improve the coordination between distributed BESS and the electrical grid, as well as help meet building decarbonization targets.

Topic 4: Plug Loads/Lighting: Integration of plug load controls with connected lighting systems in commercial buildings with minimal cost and complexity to support building electrification.

Topic 5: Opaque Building Envelope: Development, validation, and demonstration of high-impact, affordable. opaque building envelope retrofit and diagnostic technologies.

BTO is compiling a “teaming” partner list to facilitate widespread participation in this FOA. This list allows organizations with expertise in the topics to express their interest to potential applicants and to explore potential partnerships. Please see the Teaming List section of the FOA document for more information.

The eXCHANGE system is currently designed to enforce hard deadlines for Concept Paper and Full Application submissions. The APPLY and SUBMIT buttons automatically disable at the defined submission deadlines. The intention of this design is to consistently enforce a standard deadline for all applicants.

Applicants that experience issues with submissions PRIOR to the FOA Deadline: In the event that an Applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission, the Applicant should contact the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (exchangehelp@hq.doe.gov). The eXCHANGE helpdesk and/or the EERE eXCHANGE System Administrators (eXCHANGE@ee.doe.gov) will assist the Applicant in resolving all issues.

Applicants that experience issues with submissions that result in a late submission: In the event that an Applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission that results in a late submission, the Applicant should contact the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (exchangehelp@hq.doe.gov). The eXCHANGE helpdesk and/or the EERE eXCHANGE System Administrators (eXCHANGE@ee.doe.gov) will assist the Applicant in resolving all issues (including finalizing the submission on behalf of, and with the Applicant's concurrence). DOE will only accept late applications when the Applicant has a) encountered technical difficulties beyond their control; b) has contacted the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance; and c) has submitted the application through eXCHANGE within 24 hours of the FOA's posted deadline.

The Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) is issuing this restricted eligibility Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to establish up to five regional Centers of Excellence at existing Industrial Assessment Centers (IACs) to coordinate with and advise IACs located in the regions of the Centers of Excellence. DOE expects to make a total of up to $18,750,000 of federal funding available for three to five awards under this FOA, subject to the availability of appropriated funds. However, DOE may issue one, multiple, or no awards. Individual awards are anticipated to be for $2,500,000 to $3,750,000 each over a five-year performance period. Awards made under this FOA will be funded, in whole or in part, with funds appropriated by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).

Awards will support up to five regional Centers of Excellence for activities including: (1) Identifying new technologies, tools, and practices of particular importance to regional IAC clients and supporting development of new or expansion of existing assessment tools to incorporate these new technologies, tools, and practices; (2) Coordinating with national and regional stakeholders, including, for example, DOE Offices; the National Laboratories; the Manufacturing USA Network; NIST MEPs; State, Tribal, regional, and local offices and entities; utilities and energy service providers; education, and economic development, workforce development stakeholders; and private industry; (3) Supporting the development of materials and resources for the National Clearinghouse, with a focus on developing materials and resources of regional importance; (4) Coordinating regional outreach to small- and medium-sized manufacturers, and particularly manufacturers in disadvantaged communities, to share information about IAC Program resources and opportunities; promote regional adoption of priority technologies, practices, and tools; and ensure that the IAC Program remains apprised of regional manufacturers’ changing needs and capabilities; (5) Mentoring IAC directors and staff regionally, including providing training to IAC directors, staff, and students regarding best practices for carrying out assessments and supporting unusually complex or lengthy IAC assessments within the region; (6) Supporting development of and training on new methods of delivering IAC assessments, including both traditional and virtual assessments that expand the reach of the IAC Program by reducing or eliminating the need for IAC staff and students to travel to work on-site with small- or medium-manufacturers; (7) Supporting student-focused activities, including facilitating connections between graduates and private industry, supporting student research competitions, hosting regional events, recognizing student and alumni achievements, supporting interaction among students and alumni; (8) Forging new relationships and articulation agreements with labor unions, registered apprenticeship programs, and other joint labor-management training partnerships; and (9) Supporting regional and national clean-energy workforce development activities, including but not limited to development and implementation of new degree programs, credentials, and certifications.

Upon the issuance of a FOA, DOE personnel are prohibited from communicating (in writing or otherwise) with applicants regarding the FOA except through the established question and answer process as described below. Specifically, questions regarding this FOA must be submitted to: IACProgram@doe.gov. Questions must be submitted not later than 3 business days prior to the application due date and time. Please note, feedback on individual concepts will not be provided through Q&A. All questions and answers related to this FOA will be posted on EERE Exchange at: https://eere-eXCHANGE.energy.gov. You must first select this specific FOA Number to view the questions and answers specific to this FOA. MESC will attempt to respond to a question within 3 business days, unless a similar question and answer has already been posted on the website. Questions related to the registration process and use of the EERE Exchange website should be submitted to: EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov.

This is a Request for Information issued by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO), on behalf of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). The intent of this RFI is to obtain public input regarding a potential new mooring and anchoring R&D program as well as the process and structure of a potential DOE award opportunity to fund research, development, demonstration and commercialization activities on floating offshore wind substructure mooring systems, materials, and components, in accordance with section 41007(b)(1) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Specifically, this RFI seeks input on:

• Priority Mooring and Anchoring Research Questions and Data Needs
• Mooring and Anchoring Technology Development
• Mooring and Anchoring Supply Chain Development
• Potential Solicitation Process and Funding Opportunity StructureEquity, Environmental and Energy Justice (EEEJ) Priorities
• Market Adoption and Industry/Sector Sustainability

Information collected from this RFI may be used by DOE for planning purposes to develop a potential new R&D program and potential award opportunity. The information collected will not be published.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue, on behalf of the new Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Office Technologies Office (AMMTO) and the Building Technologies Office (BTO), a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “FY22 Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies—Building Technologies Office Multi-topic Funding Opportunity Announcement.”

EERE’s AMO collaborates with industry, small business, universities, national laboratories, state and local governments and other stakeholders on emerging manufacturing technologies to drive U.S. industrial decarbonization, productivity and economic competitiveness. AMO has a mission to develop technologies that 1) reduce manufacturing energy intensity and industrial carbon emissions, 2) increase the competitiveness of the U.S. manufacturing sector with a focus on clean energy manufacturing and 3) reduce the life cycle energy and carbon impact of manufactured goods in industry, buildings, transport, power, and agricultural sectors.

EERE’s BTO develops, demonstrates, and accelerates the adoption of cost-effective technologies, techniques, tools and services that enable high-performing, energy-efficient and demand-flexible residential and commercial buildings in both the new & existing buildings markets, in support of an equitable transition to a decarbonized energy system by 2050, starting with a decarbonized power sector by 2035.

This FOA supports the Biden-Harris Administration’s priorities to enhance manufacturing competitiveness through technological innovation by focusing in three main areas: 1) Next Generation Materials and Manufacturing, 2) Secure and Sustainable Materials, and 3) Energy Technology Manufacturing and Workforce Development. The FOA integrates identified research opportunities across Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies AMO into a single funding opportunity and is intended to fund high-impact, applied research and development and pilot demonstration projects.

THIS IS A NOTICE OF INTENT (NOI) ONLY. This Notice is issued so that interested parties are aware of the EERE’s intention to issue this FOA in the near term. All of the information contained in this Notice is subject to change. EERE may issue a FOA as described herein, may issue a FOA that is significantly different from the FOA described herein, or EERE may not issue a FOA at all.

EERE will not respond to questions concerning this Notice. Once the FOA has been released, EERE will provide an avenue for potential Applicants to submit questions.

Prospective applicants to the FOA should begin developing partnerships, formulating ideas, and gathering data in anticipation of the issuance of this FOA. EERE plans to issue the FOA in mid-November, 2022 via the EERE Exchange website https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue, on behalf of the Advanced Manufacturing Office and Geothermal Technologies Office, a joint Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “Lithium Extraction & Conversion from Geothermal Brines”.

Through this FOA, EERE seeks to address gaps in domestic supply chains for lithium batteries for electric vehicles and stationary storage. The U.S. currently has limited production of lithium from domestic sources and also lacks domestic capabilities to refine materials needed to support component manufacturing – including lithium hydroxide needed for lithium battery cathode production. Geothermal brines have proven to be a sustainable resource of critical materials including lithium. Direct lithium extraction from geothermal brines represents an opportunity to produce lithium hydroxide from domestic sources in a safe and environmentally friendly way.

The goals of this FOA are to:

• Enable environmentally and socially responsible domestic manufacturing of battery-grade (i.e., high purity) lithium hydroxide from geothermal brines;

• Diversify the domestic supply of lithium hydroxide;

• Validate and demonstrate domestic pilot plants and related technologies to support the transition to U.S. manufacturing; and

• Mature nascent technologies, processes, and methods to improve treatment of direct lithium extraction influent and effluent streams.

DOE is compiling a “teaming” partner list to facilitate widespread participation in this FOA. This list allows organizations with expertise in the topics to express their interest to potential applicants and to explore potential partnerships. Please see the Teaming List section of the NOI document for more information.

This Notice is issued so that interested parties are aware of the EERE’s intention to issue this FOA in the near term. All of the information contained in this Notice is subject to change. EERE will not respond to questions concerning this Notice. Once the FOA has been released, EERE will provide an avenue for potential Applicants to submit questions.

To drive manufacturing innovation, spur job creation, and enhance manufacturing competitiveness, the Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) supports applied research, development, and demonstration in crosscutting, platform technologies to decarbonize the industrial sector and promote the development and growth of a resilient manufacturing sector for multiple emerging clean energy fields.

Building a clean energy and equitable economy and addressing the climate crisis is a top priority of the Biden Administration. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will advance the Biden Administration’s goal to achieve carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035 and to “deliver an equitable, clean energy future, and put the United States on a path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050“ to the benefit of all Americans. The Department of Energy is committed to pushing the frontiers of science and engineering, catalyzing clean energy jobs through research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D), and ensuring environmental justice and inclusion of disadvantaged communities. 

The research and development (R&D) activities to be funded under this FOA will support the government-wide approach to the climate crisis by driving the innovation that can lead to the deployment of clean energy technologies, which are critical for climate protection. This FOA will support activities to advance efficiency improvements and enhance manufacturing competitiveness through technological innovation by focusing on three main areas, as described below, with subtopics in each area: 

Topic Area 1: Manufacturing Process Innovation

Topic Area 1a: Efficiency Improvements to Drying Processes

Topic Area 1b: Advanced Tooling for Lightweight Automotive Components

Topic Area 1c: Sustainable Chemistry Practices in Manufacturing

Topic Area 2: Advanced Materials Manufacturing

Topic Area 2a: Materials for Harsh Service Conditions

Topic Area 2b: Development of Aluminum-Cerium (Al-Ce) Alloys and Processing to Enable Increased Energy Efficiency in Aerospace Applications

Topic Area 3: Energy Systems

Topic Area 3a: Structured Electrode Manufacturing for Lithium-ion Batteries

***PLEASE NOTE: This FOA has been modified (DE-FOA-0002792.0001). Section III.A.ii and footnote 59 regarding FFRDC eligibility have been updated to indicate that, for Topic 4, only core members of the M2FCT consortium are ineligible to apply as subrecipients. Core national laboratories in M2FCT include Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Please see the "DE-FOA-0002792_HFTO FOA_FINAL_Mod 0001" document in the Announcement Documents section below.***

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) hereby issues Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “Funding Opportunity in Support of the Hydrogen Shot and a University Research Consortium on Grid Resilience” that will address two unique areas of interest: one with topic areas focused on supporting the DOE Hydrogen Shot on behalf of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office and a second EERE-wide topic area focused on grid resilience through a university research consortium.

This FOA includes the following five topics under two Areas of Interest, as follows:

Area of Interest 1: Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies in Support of Hydrogen Shot

Topic 1) HydroGEN: Solar Fuels from Photoelectrochemical and Solar Thermochemical Water SplittingTopic 2) Development and Validation of Sensor Technology for Monitoring and Measuring Hydrogen LossesTopic 3) Materials-based H₂ Storage DemonstrationsTopic 4) M2FCT: High Performing, Durable, and Low-PGM Catalysts/Membrane Electrode Assemblies (MEAs) for Medium- and Heavy-duty Applications

Area of Interest 2: Improving Electricity Grid Resilience

Topic 5) University Research Consortium on Grid Resilience

Please see the 'Full FOA Document' in the DOCUMENTS section below.

The Teaming Partner List is transferred from Notice of Intent (NOI) DE-FOA-0002807. The list will remain open and will be updated at least weekly until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information. Any organization that would like to be included on this list should submit the following information to HFTOFOA@ee.doe.gov, with the subject line “Teaming Partner Information FOA-0002792”: Topic Area(s) of Interest, Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type (including MSI designation or disadvantaged community status, if relevant), Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

Applicants must submit a Concept Paper by 5:00pm ET on the due date listed in the FOA to be eligible to submit a Full Application.

Concept Papers and Applications will be accepted only through EERE eXCHANGE.

Applicants that experience issues with submissions PRIOR to the Deadline: In the event that an Applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission, the Applicant should contact the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (exchangehelp@hq.doe.gov).

***PLEASE NOTE: This FOA has been modified (DE-FOA-0002792.000001). Section III.A.ii and footnote 59 regarding FFRDC eligibility have been updated to indicate that, for Topic 4, only core members of the M2FCT consortium are ineligible to apply as subrecipients. Core national laboratories in M2FCT include Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Please see the "DE-FOA-0002792_HFTO FOA_FINAL_Mod 0001" document in the Announcement Documents section below.***

The intent of this request for information (RFI) is to obtain public input regarding the research priorities, managing mechanisms, and partnering opportunities for a Critical Materials RDD&CA Program, expanded by section 41003(c) and supported by section 41003(d) of the BIL and authorized respectively by sections 7002(g) and 7002(h) of the Energy Act of 2020. Specifically, this RFI seeks input on:

• Critical Materials RDD&CA Program to integrate:

• DOE annual appropriations for critical minerals and materials, including Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 directed appropriations[1] and FY2023 requested appropriations
• BIL 41003(c): Critical Material Innovation, Efficiency, and Alternatives – Priorities & Implementation Strategy
• oBIL 41003(d): Critical Material Supply Chain Research Facility – Priorities & Implementation Strategy

• Community Benefits: Job Quality and Equity including (a) community and labor engagement, (b) quality jobs, (c) diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, and (d) Justice40 Initiative.

• Market Adoption, Scale up, and Industry/Sector Sustainability

This RFI is not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA); therefore, DOE is not accepting applications at this time. DOE may issue a FOA in the future based on or related to the content and responses to this RFI; however, DOE may also elect not to issue a FOA. There is no guarantee that a FOA will be issued as a result of this RFI.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “Funding Opportunity in Support of the Hydrogen Shot and a University Research Consortium on Grid Resilience,” that will address two unique areas of interest: one with topic areas focused on supporting the DOE Hydrogen Shot on behalf of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office and a second EERE-wide topic area focused on grid resilience through a university research consortium.

EERE anticipates that the FOA may include the following five topics under two Areas of Interest, as follows:

Area of Interest 1: Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies in Support of Hydrogen Shot

Topic 1) HydroGEN: Solar Fuels from Photoelectrochemical and Solar Thermochemical Water Splitting

Topic 2) Development and Validation of Sensor Technology for Monitoring and Measuring Hydrogen Losses

Topic 3) Materials-based H₂ Storage Demonstrations

Topic 4) M2FCT: High Performing, Durable, and Low-PGM Catalysts/Membrane Electrode Assemblies (MEAs) for Medium- and Heavy-duty Applications

Area of Interest 2: Improving Electricity Grid Resilience

Topic 5) University Research Consortium on Grid Resilience

EERE plans to issue the FOA on or about August 2022 via the EERE eXCHANGE website https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/. If Applicants wish to receive official notifications and information from EERE regarding this FOA, they should register in EERE eXCHANGE. When the FOA is released, applications will be accepted only through EERE eXCHANGE.

The Teaming Partner List has moved to EERE Exchange at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/Default.aspx#FoaId47252393-c846-4779-9760-86414eddda9f under FOA number DE-FOA-0002792.

DISCLAIMER: This “Notice of Intent” is for informational purposes only; the Department of Energy is not seeking comments on the information in this notice and EERE will not respond to questions concerning this Notice. Once the FOA has been released, EERE will provide an avenue for potential Applicants to submit questions. Applications are not being accepted at this time. Any information contained in this notice is subject to change.

Modification 00001: Extend Letter of Intent deadline to 8/5/2022

This FOA seeks to fund projects to reduce photovoltaics hardware costs and environmental impacts; and increase perovskite module performance. These research areas will support increased photovoltaics deployment needed to meet the Biden administration’s goal of a carbon emissions free electricity sector by 2035. The FOA will have two topics:

Topic Area 1 seeks to fund up to ten research projects at a maximum of $1.5M per project in federal funds to produce low-cost, high-throughput photovoltaics module designs and processing methods to reduce the environmental burden; materials usage, market price, and availability in the metallization and contacting steps; and end-of-life handling of photovoltaic modules to support the transition to a decarbonized electricity system by 2035. Projects under this topic will be funded for two to three years.

Topic Area 2 seeks to fund up to two projects that will bring together teams of researchers from multiple institutions and/or companies to improve coordination among domestic researchers and address the major issues in perovskite solar cell devices that limit the durability, scale-up, and efficiency. Projects are expected to be funded at an annual federal rate of up to $3 million per year to support collaborations between multiple research groups. Projects selected under this topic area will be funded for three to five years.

Reviewer Comments were emailed to the Business Point of Contact and the Technical Point of Contact (who are listed in Exchange) on August 24, 2022.

The Reply to Reviewer Comments is ONLY being accepted in Exchange from August 24, 2022, 5:00 PM ET until September 1, 2022, at 5:00 PM ET.

Your submission must conform to the content and form requirements, including maximum page lengths, described in Section IV.E of the FOA. Please note – it is not a mandatory requirement to provide a Reply to Reviewer comments.

**********************************************************************************************

The purpose of this amendment is to change the Letter of Intent from required to strongly encouraged; to clarify the content and process for a Letter of Intent; and to clarify the requirements for AOIs 3,4, 5, and 10; and to correct language in Criterion 2a. Section V.A.

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The Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) and Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) are issuing a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) No. DE-FOA-0002678 entitled Bipartisan Infrastructure Law - Battery Materials Processing and Battery Manufacturing Funding Opportunity Announcement.

The FOA supports the Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation (BIL) goals of delivering more clean energy, create new, good-paying jobs and lowering costs for American families and workers by guiding the Nation towards a one hundred percent carbon pollution-free electricity sector by 2035 and net-zero economy by 2050.

For complete details on the FOA, please download the PDF. Please be sure to use the latest version of Adobe to avoid potentiial download issues. If you are still having issues, please try a different browser.

This is a Request for Information (RFI) issued by the U.S. Department of Energy on behalf of the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO). The intent of this RFI is to obtain feedback on Section 41007 (a) of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which authorizes activities under section 615(d) (Enhanced Geothermal Systems Demonstrations) of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (42 U.S.C. 17194(d)). Specifically, this RFI seeks input on: 1. Section 41007 (a) Enhanced Geothermal Systems Pilot Demonstrations Structure and Implementation Strategy and Requirements, 2. Employment: Expanding Union Jobs and Effective Workforce Development, 3. Equity, Environmental and Energy Justice (EEEJ) Priorities, and 4. Build America, Buy American Requirements. Information collected from this RFI will be used by DOE for planning purposes to develop the EGS Pilot Demonstrations FOA. The information collected will not be published.

Request for Information Response Guidelines

Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically to BIL_EGSPilotDemos@ee.doe.gov no later than 5:00pm (ET) on 5/13/22. Responses must be provided as attachments to an email. It is recommended that attachments with file sizes exceeding 25MB be compressed (i.e., zipped) to ensure message delivery. Responses must be provided as a Microsoft Word (.docx) attachment to the email, and no more than 5 pages in length, 12 point font, 1 inch margins. Only electronic responses will be accepted. Please identify your answers by responding to a specific question or topic if applicable. Respondents may answer as many or as few questions as they wish. EERE will not respond to individual submissions or publish publicly a compendium of responses. A response to this RFI will not be viewed as a binding commitment to develop or pursue the project or ideas discussed. Respondents are requested to provide the following information at the start of their response to this RFI:• Company / institution name;• Company / institution contact;• Contact's address, phone number, and e-mail address.

Disclaimer and Important Notes

This RFI is not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA); therefore, EERE is not accepting applications at this time. EERE may issue a FOA in the future based on or related to the content and responses to this RFI; however, EERE may also elect not to issue a FOA. There is no guarantee that a FOA will be issued as a result of this RFI. Responding to this RFI does not provide any advantage or disadvantage to potential applicants if EERE chooses to issue a FOA regarding the subject matter. Final details, including the anticipated award size, quantity, and timing of EERE funded awards, will be subject to Congressional appropriations and direction. Any information obtained as a result of this RFI is intended to be used by the Government on a non-attribution basis for planning and strategy development; this RFI does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or abstracts. Your response to this notice will be treated as information only. EERE will review and consider all responses in its formulation of program strategies for the identified materials of interest that are the subject of this request. EERE will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred in responding to this RFI. Respondents are advised that EERE is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted under this RFI. Responses to this RFI do not bind EERE to any further actions related to this topic.

Please see the full RFI document in the Documents section below.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue, on behalf of the Vehicle Technologies Office, a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) No. DE-FOA-0002678 entitled Bipartisan Infrastructure Law - Battery Materials Processing and Battery Manufacturing Funding Opportunity Announcement. The Notice can be downloaded at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/. The anticipated FOA supports the Bipartisan Infrastructure Legislation (BIL) goals of delivering more clean energy, create new, good-paying jobs and lowering costs for American families and workers by guiding the Nation towards a one hundred percent carbon pollution-free electricity sector by 2035 and net-zero economy by 2050.

The Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) funds a broad portfolio of research, development, demonstration, and deployment projects to develop affordable, efficient and clean transportation options to tackle the climate crisis and accelerate the development and widespread use of a variety of innovative transportation technologies. The FOA may seek applications for demonstration and commercial scale projects for processing lithium ion battery materials; and applications for demonstration and commercial scale projects for advanced lithium ion battery component manufacturing, advanced lithium ion battery manufacturing, and recycling.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is being issued by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO). The mission of GTO is to research, develop, and validate innovative and cost-competitive technologies and tools to locate, access, and develop geothermal resources in the United States, enabling the deployment of carbon-free, flexible geothermal energy in both the electric and non-electric sectors. Geothermal energy is a renewable and diverse energy solution for the United States, providing reliable and flexible electricity generation and delivering unique technology solutions to America’s heating and cooling demands. Geothermal resources can be found nationwide, are “always on,” and represent vast domestic energy potential. Only a fraction of this potential has been realized due to technical and non-technical barriers that constrain industry growth. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Office’s GeoVision report concluded that with technology improvements, especially in areas relevant to drilling costs reduction, geothermal power generation could increase 26-fold from today, representing 60 gigawatts-electric (GWe) by 2050.

Building a clean and equitable energy economy and addressing the climate crisis is a top priority of the Biden Administration. This FOA will advance the Biden Administration’s goals (1) to achieve carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035 and (2) to “deliver an equitable, clean energy future, and put the United States on a path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050“1 to the benefit of all Americans. The Department of Energy is committed to pushing the frontiers of science and engineering, catalyzing clean energy jobs through research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D), and ensuring environmental justice and inclusion of underserved communities.

This FOA targets technology developments that will provide significant improvements in drilling performance in commercial geothermal settings. The GeoVision Roadmap2 outlines a compilation of technical, economic, and institutional actions that the entire geothermal community, including DOE, industry, and academia must address in order for geothermal technologies to play a larger role in the nation’s energy mix. A key “Action Area” identified in the GeoVision Roadmap and strategic goals for the Hydrothermal Resource Program are highlighted below.

GeoVision Key Action 1.3 - Improve geothermal drilling and wellbore integrity: Integrating improved drilling and well-completion technology, better well design and construction materials, improved decision making, and innovative drilling financing can help industry realize better drilling efficiencies and effectiveness.
DELIVERABLE(S): New designs and approaches that enhance drilling efficiency and reduce well costs.
IMPACT(S): Reduced costs and risks and improved reliability.

GTO Hydrothermal Resource Program Strategic Goals:
 Expand geothermal energy opportunities throughout United States.
 Support research on drilling technologies that increase efficiency, lower costs, and lower risk related to hydrothermal reservoir development.
 Accelerate oil & gas technology transfer to address geothermal’s toughest challenges.

The construction of geothermal wells can represent up to 50% of total capital costs for geothermal energy production. Technologies and techniques that can reduce the time needed or the material costs associated with the construction of geothermal wells are key to achieving cost reductions. Furthermore, recent advancements in drill bits, casing, and drilling workflows have achieved significant cost reductions and improvements in wellbore quality in geothermal subsurface settings. Such significant reductions in time and capital requirements, when achieved in a reproducible manner, would represent material progress towards achieving the goals of the GeoVision study.

GTO seeks to reduce the financial risk of technologies and techniques not widely deployed in geothermal resource development. Of particular interest are projects focused on advancing geothermal well construction through the development, modification, and/or adaption of technologies and/or techniques that reduce drilling costs in a real-world geothermal field setting.

FOA Goal:
The ultimate goal of this FOA is a reduction in geothermal well costs. Because drilling costs are highly variable and sensitive to one-off events, average daily drilling penetration rate (e.g. average m/day) is the basis of performance measurement selected in this FOA. This FOA seeks to affect a 25% improvement in geothermal drilling rates by supporting multiple demonstration projects that each target this level of improvement. This metric and performance target will allow for quantitative evaluation of project impacts to support broad deployment of the most successful approaches.

MODIFICATION 0001: The purpose of this modification is to extend the deadline for responses to September 23, 2021.  

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), and the Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) seeks stakeholder input to refine the scope of a potential new Clean Energy Manufacturing Institute. This Institute will focus on reducing the overall emissions of domestic manufacturing through carbon intensity improvements, moving the Industrial Sector towards the goal of net zero emissions by 2050. This request for information (RFI) is specifically focused on understanding the challenges, opportunities and benefits of industrial decarbonization associated with:

• Electrification of Industrial Process, including technologies for electrification of manufacturing process, materials for more effective/efficient electrification, scale-up and design for integration into manufacturing processes, and life cycle assessment tools and methodologies. 
• Decarbonization of Metals Manufacturing, including technical solutions in metallic manufacturing, improved alloy material performance and acceleration of adopting developed technologies.

This information will inform DOE’s consideration of a potential funding opportunity to establish DOE’s seventh Clean Energy Manufacturing Institute. Clean Energy Manufacturing Institutes are public-private partnerships that sponsor research and facilitate technology development in a given topic area. EERE is interested in responses from all stakeholders, including representatives of state and cities, academia, national laboratories, non-governmental organizations, interest groups, private sector, and more.

This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. EERE will not pay for information provided under this RFI and no project will be supported as a result of this RFI. This RFI is not accepting applications for financial assistance or financial incentives. EERE may or may not issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) based on consideration of the input received from this RFI.

Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically to Decarb-Institute@ee.doe.gov no later than 5:00pm (ET) on September 23, 2021. Responses must be provided as attachments to an email. It is recommended that attachments with file sizes exceeding 25MB be compressed (i.e., zipped) to ensure message delivery. Responses must be provided as a Microsoft Word (.docx) attachment to the email, and no more than 20 pages in length, 12 point font, 1 inch margins. Only electronic responses will be accepted.

Please identify your answers by responding to a specific question or topic if applicable. Respondents may answer as many or as few questions as they wish.

A recording of the FOA Webinar held 7/22/2021 is here: https://youtu.be/0KqRyn57BmE 

A copy of the slides is found under DOCUMENTS below.

Modification 0004

The purpose of this modification is to add additional resources to Appendix G - Example performance Metrics. The word "design" is also added to Topic Area 1, Budget Period 2 title in Table 3 to clarify expectations for the Budget Period. 

Modification 0003

The purpose of this modification is to amend Table 3 for Topic Area 1. See page 2 of the FOA for details. 

Modification 0002

The purposes of this modification are to:

1. Revise Topic Area 1 Anticipated Period of Performance to 48 months: Table 1 on page 11, revised Topic Area 1 award duration to up to 48 months on page 12, and BP2 duration to 39 months in Table 3 on page 16. Change wording on page 12 to say between instead of at least; and

2. Replace “Project partners” with “subrecipients” and “subcontractors” with “vendors” on pages 42, 49,50, and 51.

Modification 0001

The purposes of this modification are to:

1. Add additional text to Table 3. TA1 (both TA1a and TA1b) Scope, deliverables, schedule on pages 15 and 16; and

2. Revise Topic Area 3 requirements in Section III.E. Limitation on Number of Concept Papers and Full Applications Eligible for Review on page 39. 

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is issuing, on behalf of the Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO), a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) titled “Advancing Wave Energy Technologies through Open Water Testing at PacWave.” This FOA will directly support open water Research and Development (R&D) at the PacWave test site[1] that is needed to advance wave energy converter (WEC) technologies towards commercial viability. This FOA will only fund projects that perform testing at the PacWave test site, projects that propose testing at the PacWave North test site will not be considered for funding. Accordingly, the remainder of this solicitation refers to “PacWave South” simply as “PacWave”.

WEC technologies are still in the early stages of development and the industry has had limited opportunities to deploy and test cost-competitive WEC technologies. Accordingly, WPTO supports a broad spectrum of foundational R&D activities aimed at advancing WEC technologies that can provide electricity to utility grids to help meet the Nation’s growing renewable energy needs, and can provide energy solutions that support the development of the blue economy[2]. In this context, over the last decade WPTO has supported a broad range of R&D including the development of numerical modeling tools, the design and optimization of WEC systems and components, the characterization of WECs and system components through tank and laboratory testing, the characterization and development of materials, the development of WEC control systems, along with limited open water systems testing activities.

Enabled in part by WPTO’s support, the WEC industry and R&D community have developed WEC technologies and system designs to the point where comprehensive open water testing is needed to advance technologies further towards commercialization. To meet the open water testing needs of the WEC community, WPTO recently made a significant investment in the PacWave wave energy test facility that is being constructed off the coast of Newport, Oregon. This pre-permitted, highly-energetic, and grid-connected deep water wave energy testing facility enables system and component testing across a range of scales. WPTO anticipates that PacWave will play a critical role in the development of the WEC industry and that early PacWave testing campaigns will significantly advance WEC technologies.

[1] PacWave is an open ocean wave energy testing facility consisting of two sites, each located just a few miles from the deep-water port of Newport, Oregon on the ever-energetic Pacific Ocean. See the PacWave website and the “PacWave Information and Support” section for additional details - http://pacwaveenergy.org/

[2] WPTO broadly categorizes the blue economy into two themes: (1) Providing power at sea to support offshore industries, science, and security activities and (2) Meeting the energy and water needs of coastal and rural island stakeholders in support of resilient coastal communities. More information about blue economy application of WEC technologies can be found in the Powering the Blue Economy™ report at , which investigates opportunities for marine energy to provide power for remote locations, microgrids, maritime industry activities, or ocean R&D expeditions.-economy-report, which investigates opportunities for marine energy to provide power for remote locations, microgrids, maritime industry activities, or ocean R&D expeditions.

MODIFICATION 0001: The purpose of this modification is to extend the response deadline to August 20, 2021. Please see the updated RFI for additional details. 

The purpose of this RFI is to solicit feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, utilities, and energy-efficiency program administrators, and other stakeholders on issues related to the uptake of smart manufacturing technologies, energy management system implementation, and integration of the two. EERE is specifically interested in information on how energy efficiency programs serving the industrial sector might increase awareness of and provide training and technical assistance on smart manufacturing and energy management systems to manufacturers with particular interest in manufacturers with limited internal capabilities. This is solely a request for information and not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). EERE is not accepting applications.

This RFI is not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA); therefore, EERE is not accepting applications at this time. EERE may issue a FOA in the future based on or related to the content and responses to this RFI; however, EERE may also elect not to issue a FOA. There is no guarantee that a FOA will be issued as a result of this RFI. Responding to this RFI does not provide any advantage or disadvantage to potential applicants if EERE chooses to issue a FOA regarding the subject matter. Final details, including the anticipated award size, quantity, and timing of EERE funded awards, will be subject to Congressional appropriations and direction.
EERE will not share responses to this RFI. Any information obtained as a result of this RFI is intended to be used by the Government on a non-attribution basis for planning and strategy development; this RFI does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or abstracts. Your response to this notice will be treated as information only. EERE will review and consider all responses in its formulation of program strategies for the identified materials of interest that are the subject of this request. EERE will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred in responding to this RFI. Respondents are advised that EERE is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted under this RFI. Responses to this RFI do not bind EERE to any further actions related to this topic.

Request for Information Response Guidelines Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically to RIIAMP@ee.doe.gov no later than 5:00pm (ET) on August 20, 2021. Responses must be provided as attachments to an email. It is recommended that attachments with file sizes exceeding 25MB be compressed (i.e., zipped) to ensure message delivery. Responses must be provided as a Microsoft Word (.docx) attachment to the email, and no more than 7 pages in length, 12 point font, 1 inch margins. Only electronic responses will be accepted.

Please identify your answers by responding to a specific question or topic if applicable. Respondents may answer as many or as few questions as they wish.
EERE will not respond to individual submissions or publish publicly a compendium of responses. A response to this RFI will not be viewed as a binding commitment to develop or pursue the project or ideas discussed.

Respondents are requested to provide the following information at the start of their response to this RFI:

• Company / institution name;

• Company / institution contact;

• Contact's address, phone number, and e-mail address.

In November 2019, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the Plastics Innovation Challenge, which aims to accelerate innovations to significantly reduce plastic waste and position the U.S. as a global leader in advanced plastics recycling technologies and in the development and manufacturing of plastics that are recyclable by design. As part of the broader Plastics Innovation Challenge, DOE is issuing this Funding Opportunity Announcement to spur innovative solutions to plastics recycling.

DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) develops technologies that convert domestic biomass and waste resources into fuels, products, and power to enable affordable energy, economic growth, and innovation in renewable energy and chemicals production. DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) develops technologies that drive energy productivity improvements in the U.S. manufacturing sector, efficiently utilize abundant and available domestic energy resources, and support the manufacture of clean energy products with benefits extending across the economy.  This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will support high-impact technology research and development (R&D) in technologies that overcome the challenges associated with the recycling of films, which are often used in single-use packaging applications.  

BETO and AMO are part of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Offices that invest in high-impact, high-value technology R&D across the energy spectrum that industry would be unable to pursue independently due to the high level of risk and technology uncertainty. BETO and AMO fund applied R&D to bolster the body of scientific and engineering knowledge that can enable a new plastics economy by developing novel plastics, including bio-based plastics, capable of being efficiently recycled, composted, or biodegraded and establishing deconstruction and upcycling pathways for existing polymers that will generate high-value products. This FOA builds upon the FY20 BOTTLE FOA and seeks to fill a gap identified in the 2019 Plastics for a Circular Economy Workshop, where single-use packaging was highlighted as an important focus area. 

Plastic waste is an internationally recognized problem. Flexible, single-use packaging, including both single layer and multi-layer, (hereto referred to broadly as “films”) are among the most challenging plastics to recycle, upcycle, or biodegrade due to contamination and properties inherent to their use. At least 32% of global plastic packaging is leaked into the environment, while another 40% is landfilled, losing the energy and value embedded in this class of materials. Films, which are primarily made up of LDPE and LLDPE, make up over five percent by weight wt% of landfilled waste in the US. New technologies to make recycling and upcycling of films economically viable, including designing films for easy recycling, upcycling, or degradation in the environment, will have a large economic and environmental impact. Recycling and upcycling often yield products or plastics with significantly lower carbon footprints over virgin materials, with greenhouse gas emissions being reduced by as much as 70%. Moreover, improvements in recycling technology will lead to improved recycling economics, increased recycling infrastructure investment, and recycling jobs across the entirety of the United States.

State of the art technologies targeting films are highly varied due to the variability inherent to film materials. Research to address multilayer packaging has included single-polymer, single film substitutes, single-polymer multilayer film substitutes with each layer having specific orientation, solvent extraction, and thermal deconstruction. Traditional single-polymer films are being addressed primarily through improved sorting and collection techniques and degradable/biodegradable alternatives, though these alternatives result in a loss of the embodied energy and value of the material. Even after sorting, many films are landfilled due to the high cost associated with transporting this low density material, the low value of recycled films, and the low cost of virgin material.

This FOA seeks applications that enable the recycling and upcycling of films. Challenges associated with film recycling are vast, spanning collection, sorting/separation, contamination, and lack of economic methods for recycling and upcycling. Multilayer materials present further challenges, including immiscibility of different polymer layers and inclusion of inorganic materials. Technology can help to address these challenges by developing methods for recycling, deconstruction, and upcycling films that are sufficiently economic to incentivize collection, sorting and retention. Designing films to be inherently more recyclable or biodegradable, while retaining desired properties such as flexibility, barrier properties and strength could also make recycling of films more economical.

This FOA aims to increase recycling, upcycling, or environmentally benign degradation of films by pursuing two approaches:

1. Development of recycling and upcycling pathways that yield clear and economically favorable pathways for waste film will incentivize waste film collection and recycling; and
2. Redesign of multi-layer films to be inherently recyclable or biodegradable, enabling this complex material to be included in the recycling stream.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is issuing, on behalf of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO), Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0002446. The activities supported by this FOA are authorized under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 2005) Public Law 109-58 (Aug. 5, 2005), Title VIII - HYDROGEN, Sections 801 to 816. These provisions are found in the United States Code at 42 U.S.C. §§ 16151 to 16165. Title VIII authorizes the Secretary of Energy to conduct a program of research, development and demonstration on technologies relating to the production, purification, distribution, storage, and use of hydrogen energy, fuel cells, and related infrastructure.

This FOA supports research and development (R&D) to enable “H2@Scale” − a DOE initiative to achieve large scale production, storage, transport, and utilization of hydrogen across multiple sectors.1 Supporting EERE’s core priorities of energy affordability, integration and storage, H2@Scale research, development and demonstration (RD&D) aims to advance the adoption of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in integrated energy systems across key applications that provide a value proposition as well as reduce emissions. However, a number of challenges remain including cost, performance, durability, manufacturing and scale-up issues, and developing integrated systems that demonstrate the unique technical, economic and environmental benefits of hydrogen and fuel cells.

To address these challenges, HFTO supports a comprehensive RD&D portfolio addressing materials-, component- and systems-level R&D on hydrogen and fuel cell technologies (e.g., MW-scale electrolyzers, fuel cells for heavy-duty transportation applications, hydrogen delivery and fueling infrastructure, among others); and technology acceleration efforts addressing first-of-a-kind demonstrations of integrated energy systems, as well as manufacturing innovations and safety codes and standards. HFTO RD&D relies heavily on collaborations among various industry and university stakeholders and the national laboratories, including through HFTO-managed consortia.

This year, HFTO launched two major collaborative research initiatives leveraging world-class expertise and state-of-the-art equipment at the national laboratories: the Million Mile Fuel Cell Truck (M2FCT) consortium and the H2NEW consortium.2 Under each consortium, DOE national laboratories are working together in cutting-edge R&D and collaborating with the hydrogen and fuel cell communities to identify innovative ways to make hydrogen and fuel cell technologies more affordable and competitive in today’s market. Each consortium is planned at $50 million over five years, along with a similar level for industry and university FOAs, to advance progress in specific hydrogen production and fuel cell RD&D areas:

• M2FCT includes Los Alamos and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories as co-leads, and focuses on fuel cell durability, performance, and cost to better position fuel cell trucks as a viable option in the long-haul trucking market.
• H2NEW includes National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory as co-leads, and focuses on R&D to enable affordable, durable and efficient large-scale electrolyzers, which produce hydrogen from electricity and water (at both high and low temperatures).

This HFTO FY21 RD&D FOA will provide more than $33,500,000 in Federal funding for topics designed to supplement the current HFTO RD&D portfolio in the advancement of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, with an emphasis on incentivizing collaborative progress among industry, university and national laboratory stakeholders, including coordination with the M2FCT and H2NEW Consortia. This FOA includes the following four areas of R&D:

2) Efficient and Innovative Hydrogen Production This topic includes two focus areas aimed at developing sustainable generation technologies to enable low-cost production of clean hydrogen at large scale. The first area, carried out in collaboration with DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO), focuses on increasing the production volume of advanced components, stacks, sub-systems, and systems for multi-MW-scale high-temperature electrolyzers to lower hydrogen production costs. This would be coordinated with the H2NEW consortium. The second focus area supports technology development which enables low cost hydrogen production via waste and biomass conversion. Research approaches in this area include microbial conversion technologies viable at large or distributed/community scales, with development of novel systems to bring down cost, improve yield, and enable scale-up.

3) High-flow Fueling Applications This topic includes two focus areas for development of novel hydrogen fueling technologies and processes that can increase hydrogen dispensing rates to facilitate rapid fueling of heavy-duty vehicles. The first topic area focuses on low-cost, reliable, domestically supplied hydrogen fueling station components to enable high-flow hydrogen fueling of heavy-duty trucks. The second focus area supports R&D necessary to develop a high-flow gaseous fueling model and ultimately a standard protocol which can achieve targeted fill rates.

4) Analysis This topic includes three focus areas for the development of a comprehensive set of cost analyses involving all aspects of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. Projects would define the current state-of-the-art in key areas, develop and refine system configurations and designs, provide guidance on R&D gaps, and help to direct future R&D priorities in fuel cell, hydrogen production, and hydrogen storage technologies.

***NOTICE: New Application System Launched***

EERE issued this FOA in December of 2020 via the new EERE Program Information Center (EPIC) website https://epic.ee.doe.gov/

*******HOWEVER, PLEASE NOTE, the FOA has been moved to the Exchange website https://eere-exchange.energy.gov. Applications, for those that submitted an eligible Conept Paper under this FOA in EPIC, must be submitted through Exchange by the deadline listed below.

In addition, all questions pertaining to this FOA must now be submitted to HFTOFOA@ee.doe.gov. The list of Q&A's from EPIC, to date, is posted below.

The Vehicle Technologies Office funds a broad portfolio of early-stage research to develop new affordable, efficient and clean transportation options to enable industry to accelerate the development and widespread use of a variety of innovative transportation technologies. The research pathways focus on fuel diversification, vehicle efficiency, energy storage, lightweight materials, and new mobility technologies to improve the overall energy efficiency and affordability of the transportation system.

Mod 005-

The purpose of this modification is to update the number of pages allowed for Reply to Reviewer Comments in the text on page 64.

Mod 004- The purpose of this modification is to provide clarification on where to upload 1-page letters of prospective interest in hosting research from offshore wind developers with projects in relevant geographic locations. See pages 52, 58, and 59.

Mod 003- The purpose of this modfication is to update the following in Table as shown on FOA Cover Page:

Submission Deadline for Full Applications;

Expected Submission Deadline for Replies to Reviewer Comments;

Expected Date for EERE Selection Notifications; and

Expected Timeframe for Award Negotiations.

Mod 002 - The purpose of this modification is to make the following change to Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Number DE-FOA-0002237: "Offshore Wind Energy Environmental Research and Instrumentation Validation": Provide clarification that Concept Papers and Full Applications for Topic Areas 1, 2 and 3--Sub-Topic 1 may cover more than one technology and research focus. See pages 49 and 52.

Mod 001 - The purpose of this modification is to make the following changes to Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Number DE-FOA-0002237: "Offshore Wind Energy Environmental Research and Instrumentation Validation":

1) Delete references to EERE Program Information Center (EPIC) and replace with references to EERE Exchange. (All submissions shall be submitted to through the EERE Exchange Website at: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/. All questions related to this FOA shall be sent to the FOA Inbox OSWENVFOA@ee.doe.gov.;

2) Update the individual award celling as shown on Page 35;

3) Remove references to Executive Order 13950, Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping;

4) Add Implementation of Executive Order 13798, Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty to Section VI.B.xvii;

5) Add Table of Personnel to Section VI.B.xviii; and

6) Add Budget for DOE/NNSA FFRDC to Section IV.D.xi.

In conjunction with the National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP), and in coordination with partnering agencies, the Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) is releasing a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to support regionally focused, coordinated research efforts to increase understanding of the environmental impacts of offshore wind development as well as to advance and validate technical readiness of tools for monitoring and minimizing impacts.

This FOA will support work across three Topic Areas:

1) Development of methodologies and evaluation of offshore wind impacts on wildlife in U.S. Atlantic waters;

2) Development of methodologies and evaluation of offshore wind impacts on the ecology of commercially fished species in US Atlantic waters; and

3) Environmental baseline studies and environmental monitoring technology development and validation focused on U.S. waters off of the U.S. West Coast, in preparation for future floating offshore wind development.

DOE anticipates issuing a single award of up to $7.5 million for Topic Area 1, a single award of up to $3.5 million for Topic Area 2, and 3–4 awards ranging from $750,000 to $2 million for Topic Area 3. Additional cost share of 30% is required for Topic Areas 1 and 2 and 20% is required for Topic Area 3.

To apply to this FOA, applicants must submit application materials through this EERE Exchange website.

The purpose of this RFI is to solicit feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, codes and standards communities, and other stakeholders on issues related to materials and materials manufacturing process technologies that improve system energy efficiency/performance and extend useful life where harsh service conditions exist. This information will be used by AMO and AES to inform strategies and in support of energy savings and cost reduction goals, as well as to inform future planning and adjustments to their research and development (R&D) portfolios.

This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. EERE will not pay for information provided under this RFI and no project will be supported as a result of this RFI. This RFI is not accepting applications for financial assistance or financial incentives. EERE may or may not issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) based on consideration of the input received from this RFI.

Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically to HarshMaterialsRFI@ee.doe.gov no later than 5:00pm (ET) on September 21, 2020. Responses must be provided as attachments to an email. It is recommended that attachments with file sizes exceeding 25MB be compressed (i.e., zipped) to ensure message delivery. Responses must be provided as a Microsoft Word (.docx) attachment to the email, and no more than 10 pages in length, 12 point font, 1 inch margins. Only electronic responses will be accepted.

Please identify your answers by responding to a specific question or topic if applicable. Respondents may answer as many or as few questions as they wish.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO) within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) solicits feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders through this RFI. This is solely a request for information and not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). EERE is not accepting applications.

HFTO is issuing a Request for Information to obtain public input on its efforts to accelerate research, development, demonstration, commercialization, and adoption of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.

This RFI is issued to understand how hydrogen and fuel cell research priorities and goals can address evolving technology needs and to inform related research, development and demonstration (RD&D) activities that may be undertaken by DOE. The information being sought under this RFI is intended to assist HFTO in further defining the scope and priorities of its RD&D initiatives as well as its consortia that were established to address its priorities.

The information collected may be used for internal HFTO planning and decision-making purposes, including but not limited to determining potential new areas of focus, funding opportunities, analyses, and organizational frameworks for national lab-based consortia.

Areas of Interest:

• H2@Scale Initiative
• HFTO Strategy and Multiyear Plan
• Priority Application Focus Areas
• Funding Mechanisms and Opportunities (including consortia models)

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This RFI is not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA); therefore, the DOE is not accepting applications at this time. The DOE may issue a FOA in the future based on or related to the content and responses to this RFI; however, the DOE may also elect not to issue a FOA. There is no guarantee that a FOA will be issued as a result of this RFI. Responding to this RFI does not provide any advantage or disadvantage to potential applicants if the DOE chooses to issue a FOA regarding the subject matter.

Any information obtained as a result of this RFI is intended to be used by the Government on a non-attribution basis for planning and strategy development; this RFI does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or abstracts. Your response to this notice will be treated as information only. The DOE will review and consider all responses in its formulation of program strategies for the identified materials of interest that are the subject of this request. The DOE will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred in responding to this RFI. Respondents are advised that the DOE is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted under this RFI. Responses to this RFI do not bind the DOE to any further actions related to this topic.

Because information received in response to this RFI may be used to structure future programs and FOAs and/or otherwise be made available to the public, respondents are strongly advised to NOT include any information in their responses that might be considered business sensitive, proprietary, or otherwise confidential. If, however, a respondent chooses to submit business sensitive, proprietary, or otherwise confidential information, it must be clearly and conspicuously marked as such in the response.

Responses to this RFI must be submitted by email in accordance with the "RFI Submission Guidelines" detailed in the RFI. The submission must be received no later than 5:00 pm (ET) on September 15, 2020.

The DOE will not respond to individual submissions or publish publicly a compendium of responses. A response to this RFI will not be viewed as a binding commitment to develop or pursue the project or ideas discussed.

This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. EERE will not pay for information provided under this RFI and no project will be supported as a result of this RFI. This RFI is not accepting applications for financial assistance or financial incentives. EERE may or may not issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) based on consideration of the input received from this RFI.

DE-FOA-0002358: Notice of Request for Information (RFI) on the Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy’s in support of Battery Critical Materials Supply Chain R&D.

The purpose of this RFI is to solicit feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on issues related to challenges and opportunities in the upstream and midstream critical materials battery supply chains. EERE is specifically interested in information on raw minerals production and refining and processing of cathode materials including cobalt, lithium, and nickel. This RFI is being issued by DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO), in collaboration with the Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) and Vehicles Technologies Office (VTO).

This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. EERE will not pay for information provided under this RFI and no project will be supported as a result of this RFI. This RFI is not accepting applications for financial assistance or financial incentives. EERE may or may not issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) based on consideration of the input received from this RFI.

Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically to BatteryCriticalMaterialsRFI@ee.doe.gov no later than 5:00pm (ET) on July 31, 2020. Responses must be provided as attachments to an email. It is recommended that attachments with file sizes exceeding 25MB be compressed (i.e., zipped) to ensure message delivery. Responses must be provided as a Microsoft Word (.docx) or pdf attachment to the email, and no more than 10 pages in length, 12 point font, 1 inch margins. Only electronic responses will be accepted.

MODIFICATION 0004: The purpose of this modification is to correct Modification 0003 and clarify:

(1) the use of coal and coal-based sources is specifically not of interest under Topic Area 2 on page 19:

Proposed projects must not include coal or coal-based resources (see Section I.C of the FOA).

(2) the use of coal and coal-based sources is specifically not of interest under all Topic Areas of the FOA on page 21:

For applications under all Topic Areas of the FOA, proposed projects must not include coal or coal-based resources. Applicants may see Section I.E for additional details for related opportunities.

3) the submission deadlines are extended on page i.

Submission Deadline for Concept Papers:

6/29/20 5:00pm ET

Submission Deadline for Full Applications:

8/19/20 5:00pm ET

Expected Submission Deadline for Replies to Reviewer Comments:

9/17/20 5:00pm ET

MODIFICATION 0003: The purpose of this modification is to clarify the restrictions on the use of coal and coal-based sources in Topic Area 2 of the FOA on page 19 and page 21:

"For all Areas of Interest under Topic 2 of the FOA, flexible or mixed raw materials sources are of interest, but cannot include greater than 49% coal or coal-based sources by weight. Proposed projects to Topic Area 2 of this FOA must not be duplicative of existing efforts of the Feasibility of Recovery Rare Earth Elements Program at the National Energy Technology Laboratory."

MODIFICATION 0002: The purposes of this modification are to clarify:

(1) the definition of "raw materials" under this FOA on page 11:

"For the purposes of all topics in the FOA, "raw materials" refer to materials or minerals extracted from the natural environment and any associated waste streams, but do NOT include end-of-life products."; and

(2) which materials (raw materials vs. end-of-life products) are of interest for separation and processing under Topic 1 Area of Interest 2 on page 15:

Topic 1, Area of Interest 2, seeks projects to improve industrial beneficiation (froth flotation, magnetic separation, or gravity flotation), separation (solvent extraction) and/or processing (molten salt electrolysis and metallothermic reduction) of REEs. In addition to the Topic 1, Area of Interest 2, specific requirements below, improvements to REE separation and processing should be able to handle flexible feedstocks (Figure 3). Of particular interest are technologies that can handle both raw materials and end-of-life products. Proposed technologies cannot solely target end-of-life products, or propose end-of-life products as the material choice for demonstration of the proposed technology.

Battery Critical Materials

For Topic 1 Area of Interest 2, proposed improvements to separation and processing of cobalt, lithium, manganese, and synthetic graphite may include the ability to handle flexible feedstocks, i.e. technologies that can handle both raw materials.

MODIFICATION 0001: The purpose of this modification is to add general authorities that were transferred from the U.S. Bureau of Mines to the Department of Energy, on page 8 of the FOA:

“In addition, the Department of Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 1996 generally supports DOE research and development activities related to extraction, separation, and processing technologies. When the United States Bureau of Mines (BoM) was closed in 1996, Congress transferred certain BoM functions to DOE including research of the extraction, processing, use and disposal of mineral substances, and functions pertaining to mineral reclamation industries and the development of methods for the disposal, control, prevention, and reclamation of mineral waste products. See Pub. L. No. 104-134, 110 Stat. 1321-167 (1996).”

ORIGINAL ANNOUNCMENT:

Through this funding opportunity announcement (FOA), the Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) seeks to address gaps in domestic supply chains for key critical materials for clean energy technologies to:

- Enable domestic manufacturing of high energy efficiency and high energy density clean energy technologies;

- Diversify the domestic supply of critical materials; and

- Validate and demonstrate domestic innovative technologies to support the transition to U.S. manufacturing.

This will be accomplished through development of alternative next-generation technologies and field validation and demonstration of technologies that improve extraction, separation and processing. Key critical materials for energy technologies as defined in this FOA include: rare earth elements: neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), dysprosium (Dy), terbium (Tb), and samarium (Sm) used in permanent magnets for electric vehicle motors, wind turbine generators and high temperature applications; cobalt (Co) used in batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs) and grid storage and high temperature permanent magnets; and lithium (Li), manganese (Mn) and natural graphite used in batteries (see table below).This FOA seeks to leverage the technology and capabilities developed at the Critical Materials Institute (CMI), an Energy Innovation Hub led by Ames Laboratory and managed by DOE.

For questions and answers pertaining to this FOA, please reference the DE-FOA-0002322 AMO 2020 FAQ Log at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov.

EERE Exchange is designed to enforce the deadlines specified in this FOA. The “Apply” and “Submit” buttons will automatically disable at the defined submission deadlines. Should applicants experience problems with EERE Exchange, the following information may be helpful.

Applicants that experience issues with submission PRIOR to the FOA deadline: In the event that an applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission, the applicant should contact the EERE Exchange helpdesk for assistance (EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov). The EERE Exchange helpdesk and/or the EERE Exchange system administrators will assist applicants in resolving issues.

Applicants that experience issues with submissions that result in late submissions: In the event that an applicant experiences technical difficulties so severe that they are unable to submit their application by the deadline, the applicant should contact the EERE Exchange helpdesk for assistance (EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov). The EERE Exchange helpdesk and/or the EERE Exchange system administrators will assist the applicant in resolving all issues (including finalizing submission on behalf of and with the applicant’s concurrence). Please note, network traffic is at its heaviest during the final hours and minutes prior to submittal deadline. Applicants who experience this during the final hours or minutes and are unsuccessful in uploading documents will not be able to use this process.

Modification 00001 - See the Modification table in the FOA. Changes from modification 00001 are highlighted in yellow.

The Educational Materials for Professional Organizations Working on Efficiency and Renewable Energy Developments (EMPOWERED) funding program is a collaborative effort across EERE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO), Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO), and Building Technologies Office (BTO), to provide professionals with educational materials and training resources in fields newly interacting with distributed energy resources (DER). In this program, DER includes distributed solar, like on homes and businesses, as well as efficient building technologies and sustainable transportation technologies, such as electric vehicles.

The goal of this program is to create resources that will help those on the front lines of DER adoption—like first responders, safety officials, and building managers and owners—keep up with these rapidly emerging and advancing technologies. These professionals are at the forefront of America’s energy transition and play a role in easing adoption, ensuring safety, and reducing installation costs. Because of this, the participating EERE offices see these professionals as key to enabling understanding and acceptance of new energy technologies.

SETO, BTO, and VTO seek applicants that will create and integrate education and training materials for professionals who have significant involvement and authority over implementing solar, building, or vehicle technologies on the distribution system but who do not work primarily with these technologies. Those technologies include but are not limited to DER—like PV systems, building efficiency technologies, energy storage systems, AFV, EV—and EV infrastructure.

There was an informational webinar held on April 16, 2020 at 1pm EST. The slides and script are available below.

All questions regarding the content of this FOA should be submitted to Empowered-Workforce@ee.doe.gov.

EERE National Laboratory Guiding Principles require all offices to pursue a merit review of direct-funded national laboratory work. In line with these Principles, the Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) is issuing this lab call for Fiscal Year 2020 (FY 2020). VTO will award only a portion of its total planned FY 2020 lab funding through this lab call process. Labs are also selected through the standard Financial Opportunity Announcement (FOA) process and are not restricted from applying to any FOAs.

Some labs also have continuing multi-year projects that have already gone through the merit review process. These will continue to be reviewed through the annual peer review process and labs should work with VTO project and program managers to ensure that ongoing projects are appropriately included in the AOPs to meet AOP deadlines. This lab call will only pertain to the new AOIs below.

Summary of AOIs

AOI 1: SMART Mobility Lab Consortium

• AOI 1A: Tools: Improving and refining existing Modeling Workflow capabilities
• AOI 1B: Tools: Adding new capabilities and tools to the Modeling Workflow
• AOI 1C: Mobility Data and Research

AOI 2: Composite Materials and Structures R&D

AOI 3: Medium and Heavy-Duty Truck R&D

ATTENTION: Modification (0001) to FOA has been uploaded to Documents section below. Numerous updates including an extended Full Application Due Date are included. Please review.

Through the Wells of Opportunity (WOO) FOA, EERE's Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) is soliciting well owners or operators with “idle” wells that are willing to partner with DOE to advance and test EGS technologies in-situ. Due to the criticality of the technology prototyping and methodology testing phase of research and development in the innovation pipeline, this FOA focuses on active field testing, where the Federal government takes on the associated high cost and risks.

Topic Area 1 – Pilot (FORGE Test Wells): The objective of this initiative is to select, prepare, permit, and repair idle wells for early-stage FORGE technology and methodology testing prior to or in lieu of testing in the FORGE Utah wells. These wells will be closely linked to the FORGE effort, contributing to the overall goals and mission of the FORGE initiative by enabling higher-risk technology testing.

Topic Area 2– Amplify (EGS Near-Field RD&D): This field validation effort will culminate in new power production, adding to the economic viability of these existing geothermal fields and illustrating that near-field EGS can be successfully deployed now and that low permeability/unproductive wells near existing hydrothermal fields can be turned into valuable assets using EGS techniques.

Please carefully review the complete Funding Opportunity Announcement, which can be accessed under the "Documents" heading below.

FOA Q&A can also be accessed under the "Documents" heading. Please review the Q&A before submitting a question, as a similar question may already have been answered. Please include the Topic Area(s) with the question.

To apply to this FOA, Applicants must register with and submit application materials through EERE Exchange (this website), EERE’s online application portal.

The Exchange system enforces hard deadlines for Full Application submissions. The APPLY and SUBMIT buttons automatically disable at the defined submission deadlines. The intention of this design is to consistently enforce a standard deadline for all applicants.

Applicants that experience issues with submissions PRIOR to the FOA Deadline should contact the Exchange Helpdesk for assistance at EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov. Applicants are responsible for meeting each submission deadline. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their Full Applications at least 48 hours in advance of the submission deadline.

ATTENTION: Modification (0001) to FOA has been uploaded to Documents section below. Numerous updates including an extended Full Application Due Date are included. Please review.

At EERE, we understand that due to the coronavirus outbreak, many of us have had to make adjustments to our business operations and practices in order to safeguard the health and safety of our communities. Due to the extraordinary circumstances in which we now find ourselves, EERE is issuing an extension of 26 calendar days to respond to this FOA. The Full Application due date for this FOA is now May 4, 2020 5:00pm ET.

Thank you, applicants, for your continued efforts during this uncertain time.

We hope that you and your loved ones are well and we look forward to hearing from you.

The FOA has been modified as follows:

1. Updated Submission Deadline for Full Applications and Expected Submission Deadline for Replies to Reviewer Comments.
2. Updated Section II.A.i “Estimated Funding” to state one or more awards may be issued under Topic 1.

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The Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO), within the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), supports early-stage research and development (R&D) to strengthen the body of knowledge upon which industry can accelerate the development and deployment of innovative geothermal energy technologies.

GTO works to develop technologies to drive down the costs and risks of geothermal energy. Geothermal energy is a domestic energy resource from the heat of the earth, which represents a reliable, secure, clean, and nearly inexhaustible energy source.

This multi-topic funding opportunity aims to drive down costs and risks associated with the discovery of hidden geothermal systems in the Basin & Range region of the U.S., and to enhance energy system resilience through the utilization of Reservoir Thermal Energy Storage (RTES), Deep Direct-Use (DDU) and other geothermal direct use applications on university campuses, military installations, hospital complexes, and other large energy end-uses across the U.S.

The topic areas will be:

Topic Area 1 – Exploration RD&D: Hidden Geothermal Systems in the Basin and Range

Topic Area 2 – Advanced Energy Storage Initiative (AESI): Bi-directional Energy Storage Using Low-Temperature Geothermal Applications

Please carefully review the complete Funding Opportunity Announcement, which can be accessed under the "Documents" heading below.

FOA Q&As can also be accessed under the "Documents" heading. Please review the Q&A before submitting a question, as a similar question may already have been answered.

To apply to this FOA, Applicants must register with and submit application materials through EERE Exchange (this website), EERE’s online application portal.

The Exchange system enforces hard deadlines for Letter of Intent and Full Application submissions. The APPLY and SUBMIT buttons automatically disable at the defined submission deadlines. The intention of this design is to consistently enforce a standard deadline for all applicants.

Applicants that experience issues with submissions PRIOR to the FOA Deadline should contact the Exchange Helpdesk for assistance at EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov. Applicants are responsible for meeting each submission deadline. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their Letters of Intent and Full Applications at least 48 hours in advance of the submission deadlines.

The purpose of Amendment 000003 is to extend the deadline to submit full applications from 4/14/2020 to 4/28/2020.

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The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is issuing, on behalf of the Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO), a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled, “Fiscal Year 2020 Advanced Vehicle Technologies Research Funding Opportunity Announcement.”

This FOA seeks research projects to address priorities in the following areas: advanced batteries and electrification in support of the recently-announced DOE Energy Storage Grand Challenge; advanced engine and fuel technologies, including technologies for off-road applications and alternative fueled engines; lightweight materials; new mobility technologies (energy efficient mobility systems); and alternative fuels technology demonstrations.

At EERE, we understand that due to the coronavirus outbreak, many of us have had to make adjustments to our business operations and practices in order to safeguard the health and safety of our communities. Due to the extraordinary circumstances in which we now find ourselves, EERE is issuing an extension of 14 calendar days to respond to this FOA. The Full Application due date for this FOA is now May 4, 2020 5:00pm ET.

Thank you, applicants, for your continued efforts during this uncertain time.

We hope that you and your loved ones are well and we look forward to hearing from you.

The FOA has been modified as follows:

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The technology improvements necessary to advance H2@Scale encompass four main focus areas—better ways to MAKE, MOVE, USE, and STORE hydrogen. The initial H2@Scale FOA, released by EERE in FY19, focused on enabling R&D in these areas—and also funded first-of-kind pilot demonstrations of integrated systems with on-site nuclear power and multiple renewable energy sources. The key to continued advancement of H2@Scale is scaling up affordable hydrogen and fuel cell technology options for expanded supply and demand, enabled in part by continued R&D.

This “H2@Scale New Markets FOA” will provide more than $64M in Federal funding to advance the focus areas of H2@Scale and support EERE’s core priorities. Highlighting the importance of scaling up hydrogen use across sectors, this FOA will include more novel demonstration projects for several emerging new markets and applications.

Topics under this FOA to advance H2@Scale include:

Topic 1: Electrolyzer Manufacturing R&D

Topic 2: Advanced Carbon Fiber for Compressed Hydrogen and Natural Gas Storage Tanks

Topic 3: Fuel Cell R&D for Heavy Duty Applications

Subtopic 3a: Membranes for Heavy-Duty Applications

Subtopic 3b: Domestically Manufactured Fuel Cells for Heavy-Duty Applications

Topic 4: H2@Scale New Markets R&D—HySteel

Topic 5: H2@Scale New Markets Demonstrations

Subtopic 5a: Maritime Demonstrations

Subtopic 5b: Data Center Demonstrations

Topic 6: Training and Workforce Development for Emerging Hydrogen Technologies

Please carefully review the complete Funding Opportunity Announcement, which can be accessed under the "Documents" heading below.

FOA Q&A can also be accessed under the "Documents" heading. Please review the Q&A before submitting a question, as a similar question may already have been answered.

To apply to this FOA, Applicants must register with and submit application materials through EERE Exchange (this website), EERE’s online application portal.

The Exchange system enforces hard deadlines for Concept Paper and Full Application submissions. The APPLY and SUBMIT buttons automatically disable at the defined submission deadlines. The intention of this design is to consistently enforce a standard deadline for all applicants.

Applicants that experience issues with submissions PRIOR to the FOA Deadline should contact the Exchange Helpdesk for assistance at EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov. Applicants are responsible for meeting each submission deadline. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their Concept Papers and Full Applications at least 48 hours in advance of the submission deadline.

ATTENTION:  See message above and revised FOA (Mod 0002) in Documents section below.  The Full Applilcation Due Date for this FOA has been extended.

Current recycling strategies often do not allow for cost-effective recycling of commonly used plastics. Typical recycling techniques can result in diminished material properties, which limit opportunities to produce products from recycled material with equal or greater value. However, there is an opportunity to advance new technologies that use recycled materials to reduce manufacturing energy consumption for some of the most prevalent plastics by up to 50 percent, including those used in grocery bags and beverage bottles.

BETO and AMO have identified significant potential to improve the carbon efficiency and energy efficiency of plastics recycling technologies. To achieve this, research is needed to:

- Develop novel polymers that are designed for infinite recyclability;

- Create innovative deconstruction pathways for existing polymers that generate high-value products; and

- Establish a consistent framework for evaluating carbon and energy efficiency across potential material flows and transformations.

Please see the full text of the Notice of Intent in the Documents section below.

EERE is issuing this notice so that interested parties are aware of the intent to issue a FOA in the near term. All of the information contained in this Notice is subject to change. EERE will not respond to questions concerning this Notice. Once the FOA has been released, EERE will provide an avenue for potential Applicants to submit questions.

EERE plans to issue the FOA in January 2020 via the EERE Exchange website https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/. Applicants who wish to receive official notifications and information from EERE regarding this FOA should register in EERE Exchange. After FOA release, EERE will accept applications only through EERE Exchange.

This request for information (RFI) seeks feedback on technologies to integrate and demonstrate advanced supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO₂) Brayton power cycles that are indirectly heated via thermal energy storage at a turbine inlet temperature (TIT) range between 550 and 630°C. This request is focused on accelerating the commercialization of sCO₂ power cycles that are appropriate for near-term integration with concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP), at temperatures that do not require significant de-risking of the cost and performance of novel materials.

The purposes of this modification are to extend the response deadline to October 25, 2019 and to allow Excel submissions of well data.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) is interested in gathering information about underutilized wells in known geothermal resources in the United States. The information gathered will be used to gauge industry willingness to partner with GTO to test downhole tools, technologies, and methodologies that are currently at a TRL level below commercial readiness and understand the barriers to partnering this way. Wells above 175°C with low permeability are of highest interest, but others will be considered.

This RFI is not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA); therefore, EERE is not accepting applications at this time. EERE may issue a FOA in the future based on or related to the content and responses to this RFI; however, EERE may also elect not to issue a FOA. There is no guarantee that a FOA will be issued as a result of this RFI. Responding to this RFI does not provide any advantage or disadvantage to potential applicants if EERE chooses to issue a FOA regarding the subject matter. Final details, including the anticipated award size, quantity, and timing of EERE funded awards, will be subject to Congressional appropriations and direction.

Any information obtained as a result of this RFI is intended to be used by the Government on a non-attribution basis for planning and strategy development; this RFI does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or abstracts. Your response to this notice will be treated as information only. EERE will review and consider all responses in its formulation of program strategies for the identified materials of interest that are the subject of this request. EERE will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred in responding to this RFI. Respondents are advised that EERE is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted under this RFI. Responses to this RFI do not bind EERE to any further actions related to this topic.

Please see the full RFI in the “Documents” section below for the complete list of questions and instructions for responding.

Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically to GeothermalRFI@ee.doe.gov no later than 5:00pm (ET) on October 25, 2019. Responses must be provided as attachments to an email. It is recommended that attachments with file sizes exceeding 25MB be compressed (i.e., zipped) to ensure message delivery. Responses must be provided as a Microsoft Word (.docx) attachment to the email, and no more than 5 pages in length, 12 point font, 1 inch margins. Attachments that include well data requested above may be included as additional Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) attachments. Only electronic responses will be accepted.

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) is issuing this request for information (RFI) to solicit feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders. This RFI will inform SETO’s strategic planning on research related to the integration of distributed solar energy resources. Specifically, this RFI will inform strategies relating to the modeling, monitoring, predicting, and controlling of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. As the penetration of solar PV on the grid grows, these activities will become more important as grid operators consider how solar adoption impacts grid planning and operations technologies.

This is solely a request for information and not a funding opportunity announcement (FOA). No funding applications are being accepted in response to this RFI.

This RFI is not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA); therefore, EERE is not accepting applications at this time. EERE may issue a FOA in the future based on or related to the content and responses to this RFI; however, EERE may also elect not to issue a FOA. There is no guarantee that a FOA will be issued as a result of this RFI. Responding to this RFI does not provide any advantage or disadvantage to potential applicants if EERE chooses to issue a FOA regarding the subject matter. Final details, including the anticipated award size, quantity, and timing of EERE funded awards, will be subject to Congressional appropriations and direction.

Any information obtained as a result of this RFI is intended to be used by the Government on a non-attribution basis for planning and strategy development; this RFI does not constitute a formal solicitation for proposals or abstracts. Your response to this notice will be treated as information only. EERE will review and consider all responses in its formulation of program strategies for the identified materials of interest that are the subject of this request. EERE will not provide reimbursement for costs incurred in responding to this RFI. Respondents are advised that EERE is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted under this RFI. Responses to this RFI do not bind EERE to any further actions related to this topic.

To respond, please email your response to SETO.RFI.SI@ee.doe.gov no later than 12:00pm (ET) on August 30, 2019. Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically and provided as attachments to an email. It is recommended that attachments with file sizes exceeding 25MB be compressed (i.e., zipped) to ensure message delivery. Responses must be provided as a Microsoft Word (.docx) attachment to the email, and no more than ten (10) pages in length, 12 point font, 1 inch margins. Only electronic responses will be accepted.

NOTICE: The submission deadline for Full Applications has been extended to 09/12/2019 at 5 PM ET. Expected submission deadline for Replies to Reviewer Comments has been extended to 10/23/219 at 5 PM ET. Please see updated Modification 0002 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement below for changes.

NOTICE: The submission deadline for Full Applications has been extended to 09/05/2019, 5:00pm ET. Please see updated Modification 0001 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement below for additional changes.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) supports federal investment in innovative, early-stage advanced manufacturing applied research and development (R&D) projects that focus on specific high-impact manufacturing technology, materials, and process challenges. The topics are aimed at foundational energy-related advanced manufacturing technologies that impact areas relevant to manufacturing processes (where energy costs are a determinant of competitive manufacturing) and broadly applicable platform technologies (the enabling base upon which other systems and applications can be developed). The competitively selected projects will focus on developing next-generation manufacturing material, information, and process technologies that improve energy efficiency in energy intensive and energy dependent processes.

With this FOA, the Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) intends to fund high-impact, early to mid-stage research in the following topic areas:

Topic 1: Innovations for the Manufacture of Advanced Materials

Subtopic 1.1: Accelerate the Manufacturing Process Design and Development Cycle for Advanced Energy Conversion and Storage Materials

Subtopic 1.2: Innovative Manufacturing Processes for Battery Energy Storage

Subtopic 1.3: Materials and Manufacturing Process Development of Nanocrystalline Metal Alloys

Subtopic 1.4: Process-Informed Science, Design, and Engineering of Materials and Devices Operating in Harsh Service Conditions

Topic 2: Lower Thermal Budget (LTB) Processes for Industrial Efficiency & Productivity

Subtopic 2.1: Advances in Industrial and Process Drying

Subtopic 2.2: Thermal Process Intensification

Topic 3: Connected, Flexible and Efficient Manufacturing Facilities and Energy Systems

Subtopic 3.1: Medium-Voltage Power Conditioning Systems to Enable Grid-Dispatchable and Resilient Manufacturing Facilities

Subtopic 3.2: High Power to Heat Ratio, High Efficiency Combined Heat and Power (CHP)

Subtopic 3.3: Verification and Validation of CHP and District Energy

For questions and answers pertaining to this FOA, please reference the DE-FOA-0001980 AMO 2019 FAQ Log at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov.

EERE Exchange is designed to enforce the deadlines specified in this FOA. The “Apply” and “Submit” buttons will automatically disable at the defined submission deadlines. Should applicants experience problems with EERE Exchange, the following information may be helpful.

Applicants that experience issues with submission PRIOR to the FOA deadline: In the event that an applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission, the applicant should contact the EERE Exchange helpdesk for assistance (EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov). The EERE Exchange helpdesk and/or the EERE Exchange system administrators will assist applicants in resolving issues.

Applicants that experience issues with submissions that result in late submissions: In the event that an applicant experiences technical difficulties so severe that they are unable to submit their application by the deadline, the applicant should contact the EERE Exchange helpdesk for assistance (EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov). The EERE Exchange helpdesk and/or the EERE Exchange system administrators will assist the applicant in resolving all issues (including finalizing submission on behalf of and with the applicant’s concurrence). Please note, network traffic is at its heaviest during the final hours and minutes prior to submittal deadline. Applicants who experience this during the final hours or minutes and are unsuccessful in uploading documents will not be able to use this process.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will provide funding to address the highest priority R&D areas within biofuel technologies, bioproducts, and biopower. It includes Areas of Interest (AOIs) from all five BETO programs: Feedstock Supply and Logistics; Advanced Algal Systems; Conversion; Advanced Development and Optimization; and Sustainability and Strategic Analysis. Each AOI supports BETO’s objectives to reduce the minimum selling price of drop-in biofuels, lower the cost of biopower, enable high-value products from biomass or waste resources, and improve the quality of feedstock characterization and reliability of biorefinery operations.

Topics under this FOA include:

• AOI 1: Cultivation Intensification Processes for Algae
• AOI 2a: Relating Biomass Physical and Chemical Characteristics to Feedstock Performance in Handling and Conversion Operations
• AOI 2b: Impact of Storage and Handling on Biomass Characteristics
• AOI 2c: Improving Economics and Development of Coproducts
• AOI 3: Efficient Wood Heaters
• AOI 4: Systems Research of Hydrocarbon Biofuel Technologies
• AOI 5: Optimization of Bio-Derived Jet Fuel Blends
• AOI 6: Renewable Energy from Urban and Suburban Wastes
• AOI 7a: Advanced Bioprocessing
• AOI 7b: Agile BioFoundry
• AOI 8a: Designing Highly Recyclable Plastics
• AOI 8b: Designing Novel Methods for Deconstructing and Upcycling Existing Plastics
• AOI 9: Rethinking Anaerobic Digestion
• AOI 10: Reducing Water, Energy, and Emissions in Bioenergy

Please carefully review the complete Funding Opportunity Announcement, which can be accessed under the "Documents" heading below.

FOA Q&A can also be accessed under the "Documents" heading. Please review the Q&A before submitting a question, as a similar question may already have been answered.

To apply to this FOA, Applicants must register with and submit application materials through EERE Exchange (this website), EERE’s online application portal.

The Exchange system enforces hard deadlines for Concept Paper and Full Application submissions. The APPLY and SUBMIT buttons automatically disable at the defined submission deadlines. The intention of this design is to consistently enforce a standard deadline for all applicants.

Applicants that experience issues with submissions PRIOR to the FOA Deadline should contact the Exchange Helpdesk for assistance at EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov. Applicants are responsible for meeting each submission deadline. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their Concept Papers and Full Applications at least 48 hours in advance of the submission deadline.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is being issued by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Building Technologies Office (BTO). BTO’s overall goal is to improve the energy productivity of buildings without sacrificing occupant comfort or product performance. The goal is to use energy more productively and efficiently, not simply to use less energy. Progress towards achieving this goal will make building energy costs more affordable to the benefit of American families and businesses.