EERE Funding Opportunities

MOD0001

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). The intent of this RFI is to solicit feedback from affected stakeholders on the EES2 Initiative in general and on the draft Microelectronics Energy Efficiency Scaling for 2 Decades (EES2) Research, Development, and Demonstration (RD&D) Roadmap that accompanies this RFI.

The EES2 roadmap focuses on the energy efficiency of computing and the computing stack. Therefore, we have divided our roadmap into eight specialized working groups, each focusing on specific layers of the computing stack or on enabling technologies and approaches. Working group deliberations focused on identifying key emerging, energy-efficient technologies and their challenges and solutions. The EES2 working groups for version 1.0 are:

a. Materials and Devices (MnD)

b. Circuits and Architectures (CnA)

c. Advanced Packaging and Heterogenous Integration (APHI)

d. Algorithms and Software (AnS)

e. Power and Control Electronics (PaCE)

f. Manufacturing Energy Efficiency and Sustainability (MEES)

g. Metrology and Benchmarking (MnB)

h. Education and Workforce Development (EWD)

Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically to micro.electronics@ee.doe.gov no later than 5:00pm (EDT) on September 30, 2024. Responses must be provided as a Microsoft Word (.docx) attachment to an email. It is recommended that attachments with file sizes exceeding 25MB be compressed (i.e., zipped) to ensure message delivery.

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.

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

MOD000003: The purpose of FOA Modification 000003 is to revise the page limit of the Statement of Project Objectives (SOPO) document in Section IV. Application and Submission Information.

MOD000002: The purpose of FOA Modification 000002 is to revise anticipated federal funding amounts in Section I.B ii, Section I.B.iii, and Section II.A.i.

MOD000001: The purpose of FOA Modification 000001 is to revise Section I.B.iv Topic Area 3: Solar and Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Permitting Software, Outreach, Education, and Development, Section I.C.iiTopic Area 3, Section I.E Authorizing Statues, and Section II.A.i Estimated Funding.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) announced the Fiscal Year 2024 Solar Energy Supply Chain Incubator funding opportunity (FOA), which will provide up to $50.5 million for research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) projects that de-risk solar hardware, manufacturing processes, and software products across a wide range of solar technology areas.

The research and development (R&D) and demonstration (RD&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. Specifically, this FOA will support the DOE decarbonization goals by advancing innovative solar hardware, software, and manufacturing processes across a broad range of technology readiness levels, from laboratory-scale to pilot-scale testing and prototype demonstration.

Technologies of interest include photovoltaics (PV), systems integration, and concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) technologies, as well as those that connect solar with storage or electric vehicles and dual-use PV applications like agrivoltaics and vehicle-integrated PV. SETO encourages for-profit applicants to team with diverse institutions including academic institutions, non-profits, state and local governments, and Tribal governments.

The FOA also seeks projects that provide outreach, education, or technology development for software that delivers an automated permit review and approval process for rooftop solar PV with or without energy storage. Both for-profit and non-profit entities are eligible to apply under this topic.

SETO expects to make between 11 and 23 awards ranging from $1 million to $6 million under this FOA. Learn more about past Incubator funding program awardees.

Prior to submitting a full application for this opportunity, a mandatory concept paper is due July 19 at 5 p.m. ET.

Applicants can also access free Application Education Services through the American-Made Network and can engage with Power Connectors.

Modification 000001: Extend the submission deadline for full applications as shown on the cover page of the FOA document.

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) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO). 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 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[1] to the benefit of all Americans.

The research and development (R&D) and demonstration (RD&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. Specifically, the Solar Technologies’ Rapid Integration and Validation for Energy Systems (STRIVES) FOA will fund RD&D projects to improve power systems simulation software tools and demonstrate new business models for distribution systems operations to integrate and optimize the value of inverter-based resources (IBRs) and distributed energy resources (DERs) including solar, wind, energy storage, and other technologies such as buildings and electric vehicles (EVs).

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is part of a collaborative effort by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) to issue multiple FOAs totaling more than $100 million for field demonstration projects and other research to support better planning and operations of the electric grid.

Projects funded under this FOA will address near-term and long-term challenges in operating electric power grids with large deployments of solar energy systems and other DERs. This FOA has two topic areas:

Topic Area 1: Robust Experimentation and Advanced Learning for Distribution System Operators – 8-10 projects, $2.5-3 million each

Projects in this topic area will design and perform field demonstrations of distribution system operator models that consider technology development and the roles of non-traditional stakeholders in potential distribution electricity services and markets.

Topic Area 2: Improved Simulation Tools for Large-Scale IBR Transient and Dynamic Studies – 4-5 projects, $1-2.5 million each

Modification 000001: Submission deadline for full applications has been moved from 6/28 to 7/11. Deadline for replies to reviewer comments has been moved accordingly to 8/16. Expected date for selection notifications has been moved to 10/1 and timeframe for negotiations has been moved to October-December 2024.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is jointly issued by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) and Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) as part of their Interconnection Innovation Exchange (i2X) program1 to support innovative work to enable simpler, faster, and fairer interconnection of clean energy resources while enhancing the reliability, resiliency, and security of our electrical grid.

The two FOA topic areas are as follows:

Topic Area 1: Improved Efficiency of EMT Simulations for Interconnection Studies of IBRs Projects in this topic area will seek to improve the efficiency of the interconnection study process for new IBRs, such as solar and wind plants and battery energy storage systems, by improving software tools to study plant dynamics to increase long-term plant reliability. Projects will achieve this both by improving the speed of advanced, high-fidelity EMT modeling and simulation tools used in power systems interconnection studies and by developing a better understanding of when such high-fidelity simulations are necessary in the interconnection process.

Topic Area 2: Dynamic Stability-Enhanced Network Assessment Tools Projects in this topic area will develop tools to provide stakeholders with data on transmission system characteristics related to stability, voltage, and grid strength while securing confidential and critical energy infrastructure information. Projects will establish the type of information required by stakeholders, develop a tool or tools, and test and evaluate those tools on at least one real transmission system.

Topic Area 1 is primarily focused on the improvement of software tools, methods, or processes used to conduct EMT studies, the results of which will inform the transmission system interconnection stakeholders in Topic Area 2. Projects in Topic Area 2 do not need to be focused solely on transmission system characteristics based on EMT studies.

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).

Modification 000002: The Full Application Submissions Dealine has been extended.

Modification 000001: The Concept Paper Submissions Deadline has been extended.

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) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO). This FOA 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 research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) activities to be funded under this FOA will support the government-wide approach to the climate crisis by driving innovations that can lead to the large-scale deployment of clean energy technologies.

Topic Area 1: System Planning Tools for Future Power Systems

This topic seeks to improve the long-term planning process of the bulk power grid by incorporating the unique features of VRE and new technologies that support VRE into the planning process.

Topic Area 2: Variability Management in Grid Operations

Projects funded under this topic area will develop tools for grid operators to optimally utilize and control IBR connected to the bulk power grid, as well as large numbers of DER, to achieve a more reliable and predictable grid with high penetrations of VRE.

Topic Area 3: Rapid System Health and Risk Assessment Tools for Grid Operators

Modification 0007: The purpose of this modification is reviseSection IV.D.xv. Open Source Software Distribution Plan and Appendix D - Open Source Software.

Modification 0006: The purpose of this modification is to to add two bullets to Section IV.E. Post Selection Information Requests, and add Section IV.I.xiv. Foreign Collaboration Consierdations.

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Modification 0005: The purpose of this modification is to add Budget Period information in Section I.B.i Topic Area 1: High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) for Offshore Wind and Section I.B.ii. Topic Area 2: Advancing Deployment of Distributed (ADD) Wind, to revise Budget Period information in Section I.B.iii. Topic Area 3: Offshore Wind Energy Social Science Research, and to revise Section II.A.ii Period of Performance table.

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Modification 0004: The purpose of this modification is to revise the Submission Deadline for Full Applications, Expected Date for DOE Selection Notifications, and Expected Timeframe for Award Negotiations; and to revise Section II.A.i. Estimated Funding for Topic Area 4.

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Modification 0003: The purpose of this modification is to add Budget Period Information to Section I.B.iii Topic Area 3: Offshore Wind Energy Social Science Research

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Modification 0002: The purpose of this modification is to add Section IV.D.xix. Community Partnership Documentation

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Modification 0001: The purpose of this modification is to clarify Federal agency eligibility language for Topic Area 3.

The Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) is issuing this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) titled Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) FOA to Address Key Deployment Challenges for Offshore, Land-Based, and Distributed Wind.

The activities to be funded under this FOA support BIL section 41007(b)(1) and the broader government-wide approach to enable the innovations needed to advance U.S. wind systems, reduce the cost of electricity, and accelerate the deployment of wind power, 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 consists of four Topic Areas, focusing on High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) for Offshore Wind, Advancing Deployment of Distributed (ADD) Wind, Offshore Wind Energy Social Science Research, and Bat Deterrent Technology Development.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Grid Deployment Office (GDO) is requesting information and feedback from stakeholders on issues related to the development of hydroelectric incentive programs authorized under sections 243 and 247 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Pub. L. 109-58) (EPAct 2005), as amended by sections 40332 and 40333 of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. See 42 U.S.C. 15882 and 15883.^[1]

This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. GDO 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. GDO 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 WPTORFI@ee.doe.gov no later than 11:59pm (ET) on Tuesday, September 6, with subject line “Organization/Name: Response to RFI on Hydroelectric Incentive Programs.” Responses must be provided as attachments to an email. In lieu of or in addition to providing written responses to this RFI, respondents may request a 30-minute individual unrecorded discussion with a DOE staff member regarding the content of their written responses to the RFI questions. Requests for an individual discussion must be requested no later than 5:00pm (ET) on Friday, August 19, 2022 .

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 Adobe PDF (.pdf) attachment to the email, and no more than 15 pages in length, 12-point font, 1-inch margins. Only electronic responses will be accepted.

On Tuesday, August 9, 2022, from 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm ET, DOE will hold an informal webinar to discuss general feedback from interested parties regarding the content of this RFI. To register for this informational webinar, please sign up at: https://bit.ly/RFI_HydroIncentiveProgram. Additional webinar information, participant instructions, and information about the capabilities available to webinar participants will be published on https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/hydropower-incentives-funding-bipartisan-infrastructure-law. Participants are responsible for ensuring their systems are compatible with the webinar software.

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

^[1] Section 243 (Hydroelectric Efficiency Improvement Incentives Program) and Section 247 (Maintaining and Enhancing Hydroelectricity Incentives Program) will be referred to as the Hydroelectric Incentive Programs.

This Request for Information (RFI) is soliciting feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on issues related to building energy management systems (hardware, software, cybersecurity, and interoperability). This information will be used by BTO to update its R&D strategy and support energy savings, emissions reduction, and cost reduction goals, and inform future strategic planning and adjustments to its R&D portfolio. This is solely a request for information and not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). BTO 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.

Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically to emcs_rfi@ee.doe.gov no later than 11:59 pm (ET) on July 18, 2022. Responses must be provided as attachments to an e-mail. 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 e-mail, and no more than six 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:

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

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.

Amendment 0003 – The purposes of this modification are to extend the submission deadline for Concept Papers to 2/3/2021 at 5PM ET, submission deadlines for full applications to 4/7/2021 at 5pm ET, expected submission deadline for replies to reviewer comments to 5/21/2021 at 5pm ET, expected date for EERE selection notifications to 7/30/2021, and expected timeframe for award negotiations to be August – September 2021. This modification will also incorporate the following FOA document changes: to change the language in this FOA to reflect the change in software platform from EPIC to EERE Exchange at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov; to remove from this FOA sections IV.J.xi and VI.B.vii.4, both titled “Compliance with the Executive Order 13950”, as Executive Order 13950 was revoked on 1/20/2021; to remove Open Source Software Distribution Plan from merit review criterion 2; to add a new section VI.B.xvii “Implementation of Executive Order 13798.”, and to add Table of Personnel to FOA section VI.B.xviii. Please note, as of this modification date 01/22/2021 at 5PM ET/3 pm MT, the EPIC system will not accept any further submissions, and all questions and answers related to this FOA will now be posted on EERE Exchange at: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov. Please note that you must first select this specific FOA Number in order to view the questions and answers specific to this FOA.

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. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0002423 will support BETO’s highest priority research and development (R&D) areas in two BETO programs: Feedstock Technologies and Advanced Algal Systems. Both Topic Areas support BETO’s objectives to reduce the minimum selling price of drop-in biofuels, lower the cost of biopower, and enable high-value products from biomass or waste resources.

Under this funding opportunity, BETO is interested in the following Topic Areas:

Topic Area 1: Characterization of Municipal Solid Waste to Enable Production of Conversion-Ready Feedstocks

Subtopic 1a: Measurement of Variability of Key MSW Characteristics within and across Unique MSW Streams

Subtopic 1b: Development of Novel Methods for Rapid/Real-time Measurements

Topic Area 2: Algae Productivity Exceeding Expectations (APEX)

Subtopic 2a: Improvements in Productivity with Traditional Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) Supply

Subtopic 2b: Improvements in Productivity with Direct Air Capture (DAC) of CO₂ from Ambient Air

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 required Concept Paper due date for this FOA is 02/03/2021. The Full Application due date for this FOA is 04/07/2021.

Modification 00003

The purpose of this modification is to:

1) Revise Submission Deadline for Full Applications to April 16, 2021 at 5pm ET as listed on the title page and page 25.

Modification 000002

The purpose of this modification is to:

Modification 000001

The purposes of this modification are to:

1) Revise the Submission Deadline for Full Applications and Submission Deadline for Reply to Reviewer Comments dates as listed on the NOTA's title page and on page 25;

2) Add the Expected Date for Concept Paper Encourage/Discourage Notifications and the Expected Date for Full Application Reviewer Comments on NOTA page 25; and

3) Correct references to “Concept Paper Requirements” on page 29, these are corrected to “Technical Volume Requirements”.

The objectives of this Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Notice of Opportunity for Technical Assistance (NOTA) are to:

* Provide hydropower decision-makers—such as utilities and system operators—with National Lab expertise and capabilities to address challenges and capture opportunities for their systems;

* Validate National Lab-led modeling, analysis, and tools developed under the HydroWIRES initiative for the benefit of the broader community; and

* Further our collective understanding ofpossible roles for hydropower under evolving power system conditions that reach beyond those considered by most planners and operators today.

WPTO anticipates providing Technical Assistance (TA) to up to 6 recipients. Each recipient will receive assistance valued at up to $400,000. WPTO will provide the funding to the TA team that will provide the TA for the selected projects. There is no financial assistance available under this NOTA; only TA will be provided. WPTO will not purchase hardware, software, or provide any direct funding to selected organizations through this NOTA. Recipients will not be required to provide cash cost share, although in-kind contributions for data, information, and critical review of results are necessary for project success.

WPTO is under no obligation to pay for any costs associated with preparation or submission of applications. WPTO reserves the right to provide TA in whole or in part, to any, all, or none of the applications submitted in response to this NOTA.

An informational webinar was held on November 4, 2020, at 2PM EST. The following is the link for the webinar presentation: https://doe.webex.com/recordingservice/sites/doe/recording/playback/9f950d90ed0440138b28dd6ccf6a2b7b

Webinar Password: nSFav3Qy

Webinar Text-Alternative version: https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/de-foa-0002363-notice-opportunity-technical-assistance-nota-improving-hydropower-s-value

A Connected Community (CC) is a group of grid-interactive efficient buildings GEB with diverse, flexible end use equipment and other distributed energy resources (DERs) that collectively work to maximize building, community, and grid efficiency. Under this FOA, DOE will select a portfolio of “Connected Community” projects totaling up to $65 million in varying climates, geographies, building types, building vintages, DERs utility/grid/regulatory structures and resource bases. Through funding these projects, DOE hopes to find and share technical and market solutions that will increase demand flexibility and energy efficiency.

Modification 0001: The purpose of this modification was to add Section I.C.: Teaming List, to page 18 of the FOA.

Modification 0002: The purposes of this modification were to:
1. Remove the down select language under section II.A.i. Award Information, Estimated Funding on page 20;
2. Clarify language around the Open Source Software Distribution Plan on page 46 to make it encouraged but not required;
3. Replace Appendix H - Project Evaluation.

Modification 0003: The purposes of this modification were to:
1. Extend the Concept Paper submission due date to be March 3, 2021;
2. Extend the Full Application submission due date to be March 17, 2021.

Questions regarding the FOA must be submitted to CCPilotsFOA@ee.doe.gov

Answer to questions will be posted to an excel spreadsheet found in the announcement Documents section of the FOA posting.

Informational Webinar: A playback of the informational webinar mentioned in the FOA can be found by following this link:

https://doe.webex.com/doe/lsr.php?RCID=aaf39766b42540d3bfe7feca62a3ff94

Passcode: 65mG7mHK

A full transcript of the Informational Webinar can be found in the Documents section below.

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.

The mission of the Solar Energy Technology Office's Tech-to-Market sub-program is to enable the widespread market penetration of highly impactful solar technologies and solutions through technology research, development and demonstration to overcome technical, institutional and market challenges. The FOA is divided into Tiers that are based on the technology type, hardware or software, as well as its stage in the development cycle, e.g. prototype refinement, manufacturing tooling, beta testing, etc. In addition to achieving rigorous technical milestones, awardees are expected to deliver on business development and commercial metrics that de-risk the technology/solution and enable its progression to the next phase of commercial development. Successful awardees will be well positioned for investment from the private sector and have a path to market impact.

This FOA will be separated into Tiers based on the stage and type of technology development:

Hardware Tiers:

Tier 0: SunShot Incubator Program Round 12 - 20% cost share, up to $1M in funding, up to 24 month project periods - Accelerate transition from a proof-of-concept of all critical components to an early stage functional prototype.

Tier 1: SunShot Incubator Program Round 12 - 20% cost share, up to $2M in funding, up to 24 month project period- Accelerate transition of an early stage functional prototype to a lab made, manufacturing- and commercially-relevant prototype whose full functionality has been proven in all possible commercial use cases.

Tier 2: SunShot Incubator Program Round 12 - 50% cost share, up to $3M in funding, up to 24 months project periods – Accelerate transition of a lab-made, manufacturing and commercially relevant prototype to a full developed prototype whose initial reliability and certification testing has been passed and is ready to begin/develop pilot manufacture.

Tier 3: Solar Manufacturing Technology (SolarMat) Round 5 - 50% cost share, up to $5 in funding, up to 24 months project periods - Develop and demonstrate innovative manufacturing technology, step process(es), or equipment that enable a globally best-in class cost advantage.

Soft cost (Non-Hardware) Tiers:

Tier 1S: SunShot Incubator Round 12 - 20% cost share, up to $800k in funding, 24 month project periods - Accelerate the transition of a proof-of-concept or business plan to alpha capability and early customer trials.

Tier 2S: SunShot Incubator program Round 12 - 50% cost share, up to $2M in funding, 24 month project periods - Transition alpha software capability through beta launch and full commercialization.

11/22/16 Webinar link:  https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4370144583210082563

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE) Technology-to-Market (T2M) team is issuing a Request for Information (RFI) DE-FOA-0001669. The purpose of this RFI is to gain public input on how T2M can best facilitate a more efficient clean energy innovation ecosystem in the U.S. by leveraging prior initiatives. T2M is looking to understand unaddressed challenges faced by early-stage clean energy start-ups and investors (and other capital providers) and industry partners that can help facilitate the transition of new technologies into the marketplace. The information being sought under this RFI is intended to assist EERE in further defining the scope and priorities of its initiatives by capitalizing on prior year investments to strengthen the U.S. Energy innovation ecosystem. Descriptions of current T2M efforts can be found at http://energy.gov/eere/technology-to-market/technology-market-program.

Background

The conventional technology-to-market pathway from invention to market entry has proven to be challenging for disruptive non-software clean energy technologies. Specific challenges include high capital needs, long development times, the need to integrate into complex systems and supply chains, the need to work with established industry in a commodity market, and the need to operate within a shifting regulatory environment.

In this complex landscape where innovation pathways encounter many market barriers, it is critical for the U.S. to build a more efficient and interconnected innovation ecosystem in order to transition to a clean energy economy. For the purpose of this RFI, we define the innovation ecosystem as the set of stakeholders (e.g. universities, business and industry, entrepreneurs and start-ups, labs and facilities, and capital providers) that can collectively enable the commercialization of clean energy technologies.

This RFI from EERE’s Office of Strategic Programs (OSP) T2M program seeks to obtain information from the broad innovation community on challenges that start-up companies face in launching and scaling their products and businesses, and understand the interventions in the clean energy innovation ecosystem that could address these challenges.

In February 2016, the Clean Energy Investment Center (CEIC) within DOE’s Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) issued a RFI on how to utilize DOE’s considerable resources and expertise to support the investor community. The questions posed in that RFI primarily addressed specific services and tools that CEIC could develop to maximize the value of DOE engagement with the investment community and support clean energy investment decision making by the public. In response to stakeholder input from that RFI, CEIC has initiated several efforts to serve the investment community, including the Laboratory-Investor Knowledge Series (LINKS), a forum for public-private discussion of the challenges and opportunities around clean energy investment, and a Lab Partnering Service to connect investors with subject matter experts at the DOE national labs. Descriptions of current OTT efforts can be found at http://energy.gov/technologytransitions/services.

This RFI is intended to build upon DOE initiatives already underway to strengthen the clean energy innovation ecosystem in the U.S.

Please see the full RFI document in the "DOCUMENTS" section below. Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically to T2M@ee.doe.gov no later than 5:00pm (ET) on November 14, 2016.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue, on behalf of the Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO), a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “SunShot Technology to Market: Incubator Round 12, SolarMat Round 5”.

This FOA will enable the widespread market penetration of highly impactful solar technologies and solutions through technology research, development, and demonstration to overcome technical, institutional and market challenges. The FOA is divided into 6 Tiers that are based on the technology type, hardware or software, as well as its stage in the development cycle, e.g. prototype refinement, manufacturing tooling, beta testing, etc. The total federal funding will be approximately $30M with a 20% to 50% awardee cost share required depending on the project Tier. Projects are expected to be funded with a maximum award level of $500,000 to $5M depending on project Tier. In addition to achieving rigorous technical milestones, awardees are expected to deliver on business development and commercial metrics that de-risk the technology/solution and enable its progression to the next phase of commercial development. Successful awardees will be well positioned for investment from the private sector and have a path to market impact.

This is a Notice of Intent (NOI) only. EERE may issue a FOA as described herein, may issue a FOA that is significantly different than the FOA described herein, or EERE may not issue a FOA at all.

*If you missed the webinars on Oct. 28th or January 6th, the slides and script are available for download below.*

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The mission of the Solar Energy Technology Office’s Tech-to-Market sub-program is to enable the widespread market penetration of highly impactful solar technologies and solutions through technology research, development and demonstration to overcome technical, institutional and market challenges. Historically, annual funding opportunities have been separated by stage of technology development (Incubator and SolarMat). In the interest of optimizing the application and selection process, these funding opportunities have been combined into a single FOA, with the goal of bringing disruptive innovation to the solar industry in the near term that will take root in the U.S.

The purpose of this funding program is to help remove barriers that are addressable by technology and business innovation. These solutions cover hardware innovation and manufacturing, software, cost-reductions throughout the value chain, and non-cost (capability) related solutions. These solutions are expected to aid in achieving a ubiquitous solar energy solution and provide a clear path for these highly impactful technologies and solutions to rapidly reach market success. This funding program seeks to fund for-profit entities to develop products and solutions which will further reduce the price of solar energy and de-risk the integration of solar energy to the electricity grid.

This FOA will be separated into Tiers based on the stage and type of technology development:

Hardware Tiers:

Tier 0: SunShot Incubator Program Round 11, 20% cost share, up to $500k in funding, up to 12 month project periods - Accelerate transition from a proof-of-concept of all critical components to an early stage functional prototype.

Tier 1: SunShot Incubator Program Round 11, 20% cost share, up to $1M in funding, up to 12 month project period- Accelerate transition of an early stage functional prototype to a lab made, manufacturing- and commercially-relevant prototype whose full functionality has been proven in all possible commercial use cases.

Tier 2: SunShot Incubator Program Round 11, 50% cost share, up to $2M in funding, up to 18 months project periods – Accelerate transition of a lab made, manufacturing- and commercially-relevant prototype to a full developed prototype whose initial reliability and certification testing has been passed and is ready to begin/develop pilot manufacture.

Tier 3: Solar Manufacturing Technology (SolarMat) Round 4, 50% cost share, up to $5M in funding, up to 24 month project periods - Develop and demonstrate innovative manufacturing technology, step process(es), or equipment that enable a globally best-in-class cost advantage.

Soft Cost (Non-Hardware) Tiers:

Tier 1S: SunShot Incubator Round 11, 20% cost share, up to $500k in funding, 12 month project periods - Accelerate the transition of a proof-of-concept solution or business plan to alpha capability and early customer trials.

Tier 2S: SunShot Incubator program Round 11, 50% cost share, up to $2M in funding, 18 month project periods - Transition alpha capability through beta launch and full commercialization.

Questions about this Funding Opportunity can be sent to SunShot.T2M@ee.doe.gov .

ATTENTION APPLICANTS: Selection decisions have been issued for this FOA. To view your application’s specific strengths and weaknesses, please log in to Exchange.

The mission of the Solar Energy Technology Office’s Tech-to-Market sub-program is to enable the widespread market penetration of highly impactful solar technologies and solutions through technology research, development and demonstration to overcome technical, institutional and market challenges. Historically, annual funding opportunities have been separated by stage of technology development (Incubator, SolarMat, and SUNPATH). In the interest of optimizing the application and selection process, these funding opportunities have been combined into a single FOA, with the goal of bringing disruptive innovation to the solar industry in the near term that will take root in the U.S.

The purpose of this funding program is to help remove barriers that are addressable by technology and business innovation. These solutions cover hardware innovation and manufacturing, software, cost-reductions throughout the value chain, and non-cost (capability) related solutions. These solutions are expected to aid in achieving a ubiquitous solar energy solution and provide a clear path for these highly impactful technologies and solutions to rapidly reach market success. This funding program seeks to fund for-profit entities to develop products and solutions which will further reduce the price of solar energy and de-risk the integration of solar energy to the electricity grid.

This FOA will be separated into Tiers based on the stage and type of technology development:

Hardware Tiers:

Tier 0: SunShot Incubator Program Round 10, 20% cost share, up to $500k in funding, up to 12 month project periods - Accelerate transition from a proof-of-concept of all critical components to an early stage functional prototype.

Tier 1: SunShot Incubator Program Round 10, 20% cost share, up to $1M in funding, up to 12 month project period- Accelerate transition of an early stage functional prototype to a lab made, manufacturing- and commercially-relevant prototype whose full functionality has been proven in all possible commercial use cases.

Tier 2: SunShot Incubator Program Round 10, 50% cost share, up to $2M in funding, up to 18 months project periods – Accelerate transition of a lab made, manufacturing- and commercially-relevant prototype to a full developed prototype whose initial reliability and certification testing has been passed and is ready to begin/develop pilot manufacture.

Tier 3: Solar Manufacturing Technology (SolarMat) Round 3, 50% cost share, up to $4M in funding, up to 24 month project periods - Develop and demonstrate innovative manufacturing technology, step process(es), or equipment that enable a globally best-in-class cost advantage.

Tier 4: SunPath Round 2, 50% cost share, up to $10M in funding, up to 24 month project periods - Catalyze the demonstration of a pilot-scale manufacturing line that enables a commercially relevant product to be manufactured at globally best-in-class costs when scaled.

Soft Cost (Non-Hardware) Tiers:

Tier 1S: SunShot Incubator Round 10, 20% cost share, up to $500k in funding, 12 month project periods - Accelerate the transition of a proof-of-concept solution or business plan to alpha capability and early customer trials.

Tier 2S: SunShot Incubator program Round 10, 50% cost share, up to $2M in funding, 18 month project periods - Transition alpha capability through beta launch and full commercialization.

Questions about this Funding Opportunity can be sent to SunShot.T2M@ee.doe.gov

Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), DE-FOA-0001167 - Buildings University Innovators And Leaders Development (BUILD) - 2015 seeks to improve the competitiveness of American universities to conduct building energy efficiency R&D, develop strong industrial partnerships and improve manufacturing education. This FOA makes available competitive, 2-year cooperative agreements for teams at USA-based institutions of higher education to research and develop innovative building energy efficiency technologies.  Teams of engineering and business students will develop and work toward commercializing building energy-efficient technologies or approaches. Teams may develop a technology (hardware), software, or a manufacturing process with direct application to residential, multi-family and/or commercial buildings in the USA, with significant primary energy savings potential.  The link to the full FOA document is in in the FOA Documents section below.

For questions and answers pertaining to the content of this FOA, please reference DE-FOA-0001167_FAQs in FOA Documents below. 

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue, on behalf of the Building Technologies Office, a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “Buildings University Innovators and Leaders Development (BUILD) – 2015.”

The BUILD FOA will have the following objectives:
(i) Improving the competitiveness of American universities to conduct building energy-efficiency R&D
(ii) Enabling American universities to develop stronger partnerships with industry
(iii) Improving manufacturing education in American universities

EERE envisions awarding multiple competitive financial assistance awards in the form of cooperative agreements with an estimated period of performance of approximately 2 years to USA-based university teams to research and develop innovative building energy efficiency technologies.  These student teams must include undergraduate students, and be led by faculty with relevant expertise in energy efficient technologies, manufacturing (for projects developing hardware), and commercialization.  The Lead Institution must be an Institution of Higher Education, which includes, but is not limited to universities, 2-year community colleges, and predominantly undergraduate institutions.  The Lead Institution can choose to team with external partners such as a manufacturer or a government laboratory, but an external partner is not required at the time of application.  Teams may propose to develop any technology (hardware), software, or manufacturing process with direct application to residential, multi-family and/or commercial buildings in the USA, with significant primary energy savings potential.

The purpose of this Notice is to provide potential applicants advance notice that the Building Technologies Office, on behalf of the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), intends to issue a FOA titled, Buildings University Innovators and Leaders Development (BUILD) - 2015. NO APPLICATIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED THROUGH THIS NOTICE. Please do not submit questions or respond to this Notice of Intent. Prospective applicants to the FOA should begin developing partnerships, formulating ideas, and gathering data in anticipation of the issuance of this FOA. It is anticipated that this FOA will be posted to EERE Exchange in late calander year 2014.

Please  review the full Notice of Intent "Notice of Intent (NOI) DE-FOA-0001191" under the FOA Documents section for more information.

This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. Responses to the RFI will be treated as informational only and will not be viewed as a binding commitment for the respondent to develop or pursue the project or ideas discussed. 

The purpose of this RFI is to solicit feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on issues related to market opportunities to enhance and expand upon certain AMO system software tools and related assets. At the present time these software tool resources/assets are primarily maintained and managed by the U. S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO). This RFI seeks information to assist with the transition of these resources to be primarily or solely managed by a third party (or parties). AMO is particularly interested in business strategies to ensure:

•             The resource content is maintained, improved and enhanced

•             The resources remain available to the industrial sector

•             The current and future market needs for these system assets are addressed

•             Adaptation to rapidly changing and progressing electronic and IT infrastructure is embraced and addressed

Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically to AMOTools@go.doe.gov  with a subject line “Response to RFI” no later than 5:00pm (EDT) on September 30, 2014.   Responses must be provided as a Microsoft Word document (.docx or .doc) of no more than 8 pages in length, 12 point font, 1 inch margins as an attachment to an email. It is recommended that attachments with file sizes exceeding 25MB be compressed (i.e., zipped) to ensure message delivery. Only electronic responses will be accepted.

A modification has been made to the FOA document to correct the instructions for submitting the Data Management Plan. Please see Modification 0002 in the FOA Documents Section below.

This FOA will support the development of instrumentation, associated signal processing algorithms or software, and integration of instrumentation packages for monitoring the environmental impacts of marine and hydrokinetic technologies.  It will also support the development and testing of sensors, instrumentation, or processing techniques to collect physical data on ocean waves (e.g., height, period, directionality, steepness). 

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 (EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov).     

An informational webinar was held on March 20th, 2014.

Please see the .pdf of the webinar slides below in the FOA DOCUMENTS SECTION.

Amendment II - The purpose of this amendment is to add Section II.H. Payment, to clarify the intended method of reimbursement for awards made under this Funding Opportunity Announcement.  Please see Section II.H on page 19.

Amendment I - The purpose of this amendment is to modify the submission deadline for full applications and the deadline for questions regarding this FOA.

SolarMat intends to fund the development and demonstration of innovative, but commercially and technically viable, manufacturing technology that can achieve a significant market or manufacturing impact in 1 to 4 years. The FOA is motivated by the need for manufacturing advances in both Photovoltaic (PV) and Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technologies to significantly reduce costs of solar-generated electricity in the U.S. Consequently, this FOA has two topics areas: PV and CSP. Both topics focus on manufacturing technology and have the same overarching goal of driving down the cost of manufacturing and/or implementing efficiency-increasing technology in manufacturing. Ideally, this opportunity will create the next generation of solar industry-standard manufacturing technology.

Proposed technologies to the PV Topic Area must address 3 key areas. First, how the technology is substantially differentiated compared to what is currently used or being developed in the industry. Second, how the technology affects key manufacturing metrics: throughput, yield, capital expenses, labor, and conversion efficiency at the module level. Third, how the changes to the metrics translate to reductions in $/Wp of PV modules.

Proposed technologies to the CSP Topic Area must be for a hardware demonstration of manufacturing technologies and methodologies that can assemble a collector with attributes such as eliminating the need for a one-time use fabrication facility to be constructed, a pre-assembled (i.e. before either piece is placed in the solar field) reflective surface and collector foundation, utilization of wireless controls and power sources, and use of closed-loop software controls for collector pointing calibration. Proposals must demonstrate collector field costs of less than $75/m2.

Buildings consume over 40% of the total energy consumption in the U.S. A significant portion of the energy consumed in buildings is wasted because of the lack of building controls or the inability to use existing Building Automation Systems (BAS) properly. Over 90% of the buildings in the U.S. are either small-sized (<5,000 square feet, or sf) or medium-sized (between 5,000 sf and 50,000 sf); these buildings typically do not use BAS to monitor and control their building systems from a central location. This FOA seeks to develop a “turn key” BAS solution using Open-Source software and architecture specifically tailored to small and medium buildings to advance opportunities for energy efficiency in this sector.

Note:  Only those applicants who successfully submitted a Letter of Intent by June 9, 2011 are eligible to submit a Full Application to this Funding Opportunity Announcement.

The objective of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to significantly reduce market barriers and the balance of system non-hardware cost components of Photovoltaic (PV) systems.

Under this FOA, DOE intends to support software and database development, advance the utility and regulatory environment and simplify and streamline the process of installing solar systems.

There are three main topics to which an application may be submitted under this FOA:

Topic 1:  Codes, Standards and Processes

Topic 2:  Software Design Tools and Databases

• Sub-Topic 2A: Utility-Scale Project Siting Tool
• Sub-Topic 2B: Plug-and-Play Tools to Facilitate Preparation and Review of Permit Applications
• Sub-Topic 2C: Database of PV Permitting Processes in Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ)
• Sub-Topic 2D: PV System Verification Tool
• Sub-Topic 2E: Utility Rates Database 

Topic 3:  Regulatory and Utility Solutions