EERE Funding Opportunity Announcements

i. Topic Area 1: Scalable Concentrating Solar Collectors

This topic area solicits innovations to decrease the installed costs of solar collectors to $50/m² with high reliability and efficiency over a 30-year lifetime. Heliostat systems, line-focusing collectors, and other novel collector forms are of interest.

Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Advanced manufacturing
• Automated robotic installation
• Communication and control systems
• Structures and facets
• Solar field analysis tools and standards
• Anti-soiling and cleaning technologies
• Wind and weather impact

ii. Topic Area 2: Scalable Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (sCO₂) Turbomachinery

SETO solicits proposals for RD&D to enable the deployment of sCO₂ turbomachinery for advanced CSP systems. Multiple heat engine and heat pump cycles are of interest to enable cost-effective CST plants coupled with thermal energy storage.

iii. Topic Area 3: Scalable Concentrating Solar-thermal Receivers and Reactors

This topic solicits proposals for novel solar receivers, solar reactors, and improvements to existing solar receiver concepts. Successful receiver or reactor technologies will support the deployment of CST systems that can impact the U.S. market. Targeted outcomes include:

• Development of a complete receiver subsystem with ≥10 MW_th capacity and ≥750 ⁰C outlet temperature that can be integrated and tested with a ≥10 MW_e sCO₂ power cycle.
• Development of a ≥1 MW_th reactor archetype that integrates solar thermal energy with industrial production of chemicals, cement, or minerals. Testing and integration of solar steam or heat with the product of industrial products for scaled up reactor use.
• Enabling near-term cost, reliability, and performance improvements of commercial CST receivers.
• De-risking receiver or reactor concepts to enable novel CST systems which can achieve broad commercial deployment.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is issuing Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0003296 on behalf of the Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO). GTO actively pursues research, development, and demonstration projects to facilitate technology validation and demonstration, reduce cost, and improve performance of geothermal technologies. The economic viability of geothermal projects across the resource spectrum depends on developing and improving enabling technologies and detailed understanding of the subsurface, including geologic qualities, permeability, and other attributes.

This funding opportunity comprises two topic areas with separate objectives and technical focus.

Topic Area 1: High-Temperature Tools for Well Integrity Evaluation

Topic Area 1 seeks applications to address ​​wellbore tools and technology to supplement and advance beyond currently available off-the-shelf (OTS) solutions provided by the oil and gas industry for cement and casing evaluation. Current solutions are suitable for the upper end of the oil and gas industry’s temperature needs but are not generally considered adequate for use in hotter, EGS systems.

As advancements and novel methods in casing and cementing are implemented, a critical, early element of success is evaluating their efficacy. Given the harsh conditions often encountered in geothermal borehole environments, obtaining quality inspection and confirmation information can be a costly and difficult task. The projects selected under Topic Area 1 of this FOA will seek to address the availability of downhole cement and casing evaluation tools for use in high temperature and hostile geothermal wellbores.

Topic Area 2: Utilization of Reservoir Thermal Energy Storage (RTES) Technology for Decarbonization of Industrial Processes

Topic Area 2 seeks to demonstrate low-temperature (<130^◦ C) RTES technology with applications to industrial processes such as melting plastic, removing moisture, treating chemicals, and others. RTES takes advantage of large subsurface storage capacities, geothermal gradients, and thermal insulation associated with deep geologic formations to store thermal energy to be extracted in the future for beneficial use on a variety of timescales.

The activities funded through this FOA will advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s goals to achieve carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035 and achieve a net-zero-emissions economy by 2050. Strategic goals for this FOA are derived from DOE’s Enhanced Geothermal Shot and its associated roadmap, and GTO’s GeoVision Roadmap and Multi-Year Program Plan.

Questions regarding the FOA must be submitted to HT.Tools.RTES.FOA@ee.doe.gov

The Teaming Partner 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 Letter of Intent by 5:00pm ET on the due date listed in the FOA to be eligible to submit a Full Application. Letter of Intent 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).

The eXCHANGE system is designed to enforce hard deadlines for Letter of Intentand 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.

Modification 0002: The purpose of this modification is to:

• Update the minimum non-federal cost share amount for Topic 1; and
• Provide clarification on blended cost share.

Modification 0001: The purpose of this modification is to:

• Update estimated funding for Topic Area 4;
• Clarify the requirements for DOE/NNSA and Non-DOE/NNSA FFRDCs regarding a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA);
• Add language to the Content and Form of the Full Application for Topics 4 and 5;
• Add the Community Benefits Plan template;
• Clarify RDD&D Community Benefits Plan language for Topics 2 and 3;
• Add reporting requirements to track progress toward key departmental goals.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is issuing Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0003213 on behalf of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO), which coordinates hydrogen activities with offices across DOE as described in the DOE Hydrogen Program Plan. These activities align with the U.S. National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap, the U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization, and other DOE initiatives as described below.

Building a clean and equitable energy economy and addressing the climate crisis are top priorities of the Biden Administration. This FOA will advance the Biden Administration’s goals to achieve carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035, “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, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&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 goals of the H2@Scale Initiative, which aims to advance affordable hydrogen production, transport, storage, and utilization to enable decarbonization and revenue opportunities across multiple sectors. These objectives align with DOE’s Hydrogen Energy Earthshot^TM (Hydrogen Shot), which targets affordable clean hydrogen production at $1/kg by 2031. Advancing technologies that will facilitate the use of clean hydrogen will support the goal of net zero GHG emissions by 2050.

In addition to RDD&D topics, this FOA will focus on enabling hydrogen deployments through safety and permitting support, equitable community engagement, and developing strategies for effective community benefits.

As part of the whole-of-government approach to advance equity, it is the policy of the Biden Administration that the federal government should pursue a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all, including people of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by persistent poverty and inequality. As part of this approach, this FOA encourages the participation of underserved communities and underrepresented groups.

Topics Include:

Topic 1: Components for Hydrogen Fueling of Medium-and Heavy-Duty Vehicles

Topic 2: Standarized Hydrogen Refueling Station of the Future

Topic 3: Hydrogen Fuel Cell Powered Port Equipment

Topic 4: Enabling Permitting and Safety for Hydrogen Deployment

Topic 5: Equitable Hydrogen Technology Community Engagement

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

Questions regarding the FOA must be submitted to H2FCFOA@ee.doe.gov

The Teaming Partner List is transferred from Notice of Intent (NOI) DE-FOA-0003212. 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).

The eXCHANGE system is 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.

Modification 0001 Announcement:

Updated the section for “Waiver Requests: Foreign Entities and Foreign Work (if applicable)” on page 27.

The RD&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, the solid-state and flow battery manufacturing technologies in this Lab Call each have the potential to make a unique contribution to decarbonization of the grid, industry, and transportation. Generally, this Lab Call supports battery manufacturing innovation to enable the energy infrastructure needed for carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035 and net zero GHG emissions by 2050.

This Lab Call is divided into two topics: Topic 1) Developing Innovative Solid-State Battery Manufacturing Capabilities, and Topic 2) Developing Innovative Flow Battery Manufacturing Capabilities.

This request for information (RFI) is intended to inform the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) on the specific research, development, and demonstration opportunities to enable cost-effective production of hydrogen, ammonia, liquid fuels—such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel—and solid fuels using concentrating solar-thermal energy.

In addition, SETO seeks information on thermal energy storage (TES) for concentrating solar power and concentrating solar-thermal (industrial) applications. While TES is an integral feature of concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) generation, other applications of TES include energy supply for industrial process heat. Multiple modes of TES include sensible heat, latent heat, and thermochemical energy storage. Sensible heat TES using molten nitrate salt is currently used in commercial CSP plants. High temperature sensible heat storage in tanks of large size have had inconsistent operational success. Future generation CSP plants may make use of particles or rock to store thermal energy as they do not suffer from temperature limitations. This RFI will focus on improvements to various TES technologies appropriate for CSP integration for both power and industrial decarbonization applications.

This is a Request for Information (RFI) issued by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of State and Community Energy Programs. The intent of this request is to inform DOE on best practices for the Home Energy Rebate programs to support durable market demand for installations that improve housing energy performance nationwide. The Home Energy Rebate programs are comprised of two provisions authorizing $8.8 billion in spending from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Sec. 50121 and Sec. 50122 of Pub. L. 117-169). Responses to this RFI will be used to create program guidance that will assist states, territories, and Indian Tribes in designing, managing, and improving Home Energy Rebate programs. The goal is to collect information that will ultimately support states, territories, and Indian Tribes in creating Home Energy Rebate programs that effectively serve U.S. households with technology products and services that reduce energy bills, increase home comfort, improve indoor air quality, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. DOE will not pay for information provided under this RFI and no project will be supported because of this RFI. This RFI is not accepting applications for financial assistance or financial incentives. DOE will consider responses to this RFI as it develops program guidance, expected to be issued as an Administrative and Legal Requirements Document (ALRD) in 2023.

This RFI is not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA); therefore, DOE is not currently accepting applications. Responding to this RFI does not provide any advantage or disadvantage to applicants to future funding opportunities regarding the subject matter.

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Responses to this RFI may be submitted in two ways. DOE prefers responses that are submitted via this online form: https://forms.office.com/g/iuwKCbKpJK. The form includes response boxes for all 60 questions included in this RFI. Respondents may answer as many or as few questions as they wish. Using this online form will allow DOE to sort and compare responses by question, which will help agency staff to more easily analyze the responses to inform program guidance.

Responses may also be submitted by email to IRAHomeRebates@hq.doe.gov. Responses must be provided as a Microsoft Word (.docx) attachment to the email, with no more than 10 pages in length, 12-point font, 1-inch margins. It is recommended that attachments with file sizes exceeding 25MB be compressed (i.e., zipped) to ensure message delivery. If submitting responses via email, please identify the specific question number and topic area to which your response is directed, if applicable. Respondents may answer as many or as few questions as they wish.

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Please find the full RFI in the DOCUMENTS section below..

Amendment 000002 - The purpose of this amendment is to modify Subtopic Area 2B Metrics to replace “reduction in variability” with “extension of performance”. And under the third bullet in Subtopic Area 2b Specific Requirements, replace “variability” with “duration”. See FOA DE-FOA-0002636/000002 for details.

Amendment 000001 - The purpose of this amendment is to modify Appendix G to correct an error to allow the following feedstocks for Topic Area 3: Syngas (derived from other allowable feedstocks). See FOA DE-FOA-0002636/000001 for details.

This FOA (Funding Opportunity Announcement) supports two priority areas in the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) research and development (R&D) portfolio. The first of these priority areas addresses new strategies for energy and resource recovery from waste streams. Waste streams including municipal solid waste, animal manure, wastewater residuals and other organic wastes have been identified as a key feedstock for the production of biofuels and bioproducts. These wastes represent significant environmental liabilities in the forms of fugitive methane emissions, air and water quality impacts, and odors, amongst others. These wastes also disproportionately are cited in disadvantaged communities leading to a multitude of health impacts on the surrounding populations. There are also significant costs associated with the management of these waste streams including treatment, hauling, and disposal or tipping fees. These economic factors make these waste streams an economic liability to the communities managing them but also a cost-advantaged feedstock for the production of biofuels and bioproducts.

The second priority area addressed by this FOA targets improved organisms and inorganic catalysts. BETO’s Conversion R&D Program has identified process robustness as a key challenge that must be addressed prior to scale-up. This includes the development of more robust organisms and catalytic processes for the conversion of sustainable feedstocks and intermediates into biofuels and bioproducts. Topic Area 2 of this FOA (including subtopics 2a and 2b) seeks technologies to improve the economic viability of microbial production processes by improving the productivity and robustness of the engineered microorganisms. Topic Area 3 focuses on inorganic catalyst development and investigating catalyst robustness and the mitigation of negative impacts or impurities found in bio-derived streams. Topic Areas 2 and 3 will ultimately improve the economics of sustainable biofuels production to realize cost goals of under $2.50/gallon by 2030 and to enable more processes that are capable of producing sustainable aviation fuel and meet the White House’s goal of reducing aviation emissions by 20% by 2030.

Topic Area 1: MSW Feedstock Technologies

Topic Area 2: Robust Microbial Cells

Topic Area 3: Robust Catalytic Processes

Topic Area 4: Community Scale Resource and Energy Recovery from Organic Wastes

Questions regarding the FOA must be submitted to FY22FeedstockConversionFOA@ee.doe.gov.

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.

Background:

Geothermal energy is a renewable and diverse 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; however, only a fraction of this potential has been realized due to technical and non-technical barriers that constrain industry growth. In fact, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Geothermal Technologies Office’s (GTO) recent GeoVision report concludes that with technology improvements, especially in areas relevant to enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), geothermal power generation could increase 26-fold from today, representing 60 gigawatts-electric (GWe) by 2050[1].

Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) are engineered geothermal reservoirs, created where there is hot rock (175-300+°C), but little to no natural permeability and/or fluid saturation.  During EGS development, subsurface permeability is enhanced via safe, well-engineered stimulation processes that re-open pre-existing fractures, create new ones, or a combination of both.  These open conduits increase permeability and allow fluid to circulate throughout the rock. This fluid transports heat to the surface where electricity can be generated with current power generation technologies. 

In addition to geothermal wells that have been targeted for EGS development, the hydrocarbon[2] industry also has an opportunity to contribute to the development of geothermal resources nationwide through the use of wells for power or heat production. The adaptation of hydrocarbon reservoirs, which are traditionally located in sedimentary basins, to geothermal production and utilization would expand the sector’s geographic reach outside of the Western U.S. where natural geothermal systems reside. Many hydrocarbon fields enounter temperatures high enough for geothermal energy and heat production. This unused heat, combined with the wealth of data, knowledge, workforce, and infrastructure in place in support of these fields underscores the benefits of exploring their geothermal potential. While a comprehensive nationwide resource assessment that evaluates the potential of existing hydrocarbon wells for geothermal development does not yet exist, a number of studies have looked at geographic subsets of the sedimentary basins of the U.S., where most hydrocarbon exploration and development occurs. Blackwell et al. (2006) provided a conservative estimate of 100,000 EJ of thermal energy in basins nationwide deeper than 4km[3]. A more detailed study on a subset of 15 U.S. basins by Porro et al. (2012) reported 135,000 EJ including only basins in the western United States (not including the Gulf Coast region)[4]. Finally, a study by Zafer & Cutright (2014) estimate the thermal energy resource base for the state of Texas alone to be 166,000 EJ[5]. 

Purpose:

Through periodic funding opportunity announcements (FOAs), GTO partners with industry, academia, national laboratories, industry experts, etc. to increase the use of domestic geothermal energy across a range of resource types by improving technologies, reducing costs, and mitigating barriers. Within GTO, the EGS Program actively pursues research, development, and demonstration projects to facilitate technology validation and deployment, reduce cost, and improve performance of EGS. Specifically, the economic viability of EGS depends on developing and improving enabling technologies and a detailed understanding of rock mass behavior and permeability enhancement.  While achieving cost-competitive electricity generation from EGS is a long-term goal, in the near-term, research, development, and demonstration projects will move industry along the learning curve toward technological readiness.

Through the FY21 Wells of Opportunity (referred to as WOO going forward) FOA, GTO is soliciting geothermal and hydrocarbon well owners or operators with existing wells that are willing to partner with DOE to advance and test EGS technologies in-situ.  These wells could be “idle” or currently used for injection, production, and/or monitoring. 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 cost and risks. 

• Topic Area 1 – Amplify (EGS Near-Field RD&D):  This field validation effort will culminate in new power production, adding to the commercial viability of existing geothermal fields. The goal of Amplify is to illustrate that near-field and in-field EGS can be successfully deployed now as a result of recent technology advancements and that low permeability/underproductive wells near and in existing hydrothermal fields can be turned into valuable assets using EGS techniques.

• Topic Area 2 – ReAmplify  (Geothermal production from hydrocarbon wells): The objective of this initiative is to establish the commercial viability of geothermal energy production from existing hydrocarbon fields. The goal of ReAmplify is to establish a pilot program where the production of geothermal heat from existing hydrocarbon fields can be demonstrated for electricity production or direct use applications.

Building a clean 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 “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“^[6] 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 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. Specifically, this FOA focuses on critical aspects of reservoir management needed for widespread commercialization of EGS technologies which directly supports the Biden Administration’s goals for a clean energy future.  In addition, this FOA provides an opportunity to reduce carbon emissions from the fossil fuel sector and facilitate clean geothermal energy/heat production from hydrocarbon wells.  

[1] The GeoVision Roadmap outlines a compilation of technical, economic, and institutional actions that the entire geothermal community including DOE, other government agencies, industry, and academia must address in order for geothermal technologies to play a larger role in the Nation’s energy mix.

[2] Hydrocarbon: An organic chemical compound of hydrogen and carbon in the gaseous, liquid, or solid phase. https://www.eia.gov/tools/glossary/index.php

[3] Blackwell, D., Negraru, P., and Richards, M., 2006. Assessment of the Enhanced Geothermal System Resource Base of the United States. Natural Resources Research, Vol. 15, No. 4, December 2006. DOI: 10.1007/s11053-007-9028-7.

[4] Porro, C., Esposito, A., Augustine, C., and Roberts, B., 2012. An Estimate of the Geothermal Energy Resource in the Major Sedimentary Basins in the United States. GRC Transactions, Vol. 36, 2012.

[5] Zafar, S. and Cutright, B., 2014. Texas’ geothermal resource base: A raster-integration method for estimating in-place geothermal energy resources using ArcGIS. Geothermics, Vol. 50, April 2014.

[6] Executive Order 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” January 27, 2021.

Informational Webinar: 

Please access the information webinar at: https://doe.webex.com/doe/j.php?MTID=ma57725545051bda39fd560f48a740371

Amendment 000001: The purpose of this amendment is to remove the Risk Mitigation Plan for Topic Areas 1b and 1c; update Appendix G - Acceptable Feedstocks, to correct an error and reconcile Topic Area 3a requirements with the text of the FOA; and update Appendix H - Supplemental Content Requirements and Instructions. See FOA DE-FOA-0002396/00001 for details.

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 sector 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] The Department of Energy (DOE) 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.

In support of these Administration priorities, the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) is focused on developing technologies that convert domestic biomass and other waste resources (e.g., municipal solid waste, biosolids) into low-carbon biofuels and bioproducts. These bioenergy technologies can enable a transition to a clean energy economy, create high-quality jobs, support rural economies, and spur innovation in renewable energy and chemicals production – the bioeconomy. The activities funded through this opportunity will mobilize public clean energy investment in the biofuels, chemical and agricultural industries, accelerate the deployment of bioenergy technologies, and support achieving economy-wide net-zero emissions by 2050.

This FOA supports high-impact technology RDD&D to accelerate the bioeconomy and, in particular, the production of low-carbon fuels for the aviation industry. BETO is focusing on applied RDD&D to improve the performance and reduce cost of biofuel production technologies and scale-up production systems in partnership with industry. By reducing cost and technical risk, BETO can help pave the way for industry to deploy commercial-scale integrated biorefineries and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from hard to decarbonize sectors, such as aviation. The Program is focused on developing and demonstrating technologies that are capable of producing low-carbon drop-in biofuels at $2.50 per gallon gasoline equivalent (GGE) by 2030, as well as associated renewable chemical co-products to achieve this target.^[2] BETO is focused on biofuel production pathways that can deliver at least 70% lower lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions than petroleum.

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. Specifically, this FOA will support high-impact RDD&D focusing on the production of low-GHG fuels for the aviation industry, as well as the long-haul trucking and marine industries by soliciting proposals to scale-up technologies; cost effectively produce biomass derived sugars as an intermediate for the production of biofuels and bioproducts; and support cost effective separation technologies. In addition, the FOA will support increasing the efficiency of residential wood heaters and the production of renewable natural gas.

An informational webinar will be held on April 16^th, 2021 at 3:00 PM ET. The webinar will review the Funding Opportunity Announcement and Merit Review process, but will only discuss Topic Area 1: Scale-up of Biotechnologies specific requirements due to the complex nature of the topic area. Please note, there are no particular advantages or disadvantages to the application evaluation process with respect to participating in the webinar. Your participation is completely voluntary. Please register for the webinar at: https://www.energy.gov/eere/bioenergy/events/webinar-scale-biotechnologies

The informational webinar slides have been uploaded to the Announcement Documents section below. The informational webinar recording has been posted to YouTube. Interested parties to this FOA can view the webinar at the following link:

Questions regarding the FOA must be submitted to FY21BETOMultiTopicFOA@ee.doe.gov.

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

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.

[1] Executive Order 14008, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” January 27, 2021.

[2] U.S. Department of Energy (2020), Bioenergy Technologies Office 2019 R&D State of Technology, DOE/EE-2082, https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2020/07/f76/beto-2019-state-of-technology-july-2020-r1.pdf

Amendment 000002: EERE is amending this Notice of Intent to revise the language in the introduction and topic area descriptions to better align with the most recent guidance from the Acting Assistant Secretary.

_____________________________________

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue, on behalf of the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “FY21 Bioenergy Technologies Scale-up and Conversion FOA.”

Building a clean energy economy and addressing the climate crisis is a top priority of the Biden Administration. The Administration has laid out a bold plan to lead the world in building a clean energy economy, addressing climate change and achieving net-zero emissions 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.

In support of these Administration priorities, BETO is focused on developing technologies that convert domestic biomass and other waste resources (e.g. municipal solid waste, biosolids) into low-carbon biofuels and bioproducts. These bioenergy technologies can enable a transition to a clean energy economy, create high-quality jobs, support rural economies, and spur innovation in renewable energy and chemicals production – the bioeconomy. The activities funded through this opportunity will mobilize public clean energy investment in the biofuels, chemical and agricultural industries, accelerate the deployment of bioenergy technologies, and support achieving economy-wide net-zero emissions by 2050.

This FOA may support high-impact technology RDD&D to accelerate the bioeconomy and, in particular, the production of low-carbon fuels for the aviation industry. BETO is focusing on applied RDD&D to improve the performance and reduce cost of biofuel production technologies and scale-up production systems in partnership with industry. By reducing cost and technical risk, BETO can help pave the way for industry to deploy commercial-scale integrated biorefineries and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from hard to decarbonize sectors, such as aviation. The Program is focused on developing and demonstrating technologies that are capable of producing low-carbon drop-in biofuels at $2.50 per gallon gasoline equivalent (GGE) by 2030, as well as associated renewable chemical co-products to achieve this target. BETO is focused on biofuel production pathways that can deliver at least 70% lower lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions than petroleum.

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.

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.

The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to seek broad stakeholder input to inform the strategic direction of the DOE Lighting Research & Development (R&D) portfolio. The purpose of issuing this RFI is to better understand how lighting research goals can be refined to reflect evolving technology needs and to inform related R&D technologies. Specifically, the DOE EERE program is interested in gathering information relevant to four (4) different topic areas: (1) Identify impactful lighting R&D opportunities who immediate applications are beyond general illumination, but have potential to help save energy in the built environment; (2) Identify impactful lighting R&D opportunities within general illumination that are absent (or under-represented) in the 2018 DOE Solid-State Lighting (SSL) R&D Opportunities (RDO) document; (3) Validate the importance of existing R&D opportunities described in the RDO and provide additional context or support, and (4) Provide other comments or information that could improve the quality of the RDO or the general direction of the DOE Lighting R&D Program.

This is solely a request for information and is not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). U.S. Department of Energy is not accepting applications to this RFI.

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.

BTO research is focused on reducing energy intensity for major segments of the sector with the most opportunity for energy savings, while balancing the need to maintain occupant comfort and productivity, and product performance. This includes both new and existing buildings, both residential and commercial, including their energy-consuming and labor-saving equipment. The development of next-generation building technologies, including building materials, components, equipment, energy models and systems, is critical to increasing energy productivity in a cost-effective manner.

BTO’s Emerging Technologies (ET) program invests in the research and development to create the next-generation building technologies, tools and systems to enhance energy efficiency. The program focuses on the most energy-intensive technologies for residential buildings and in commercial buildings, where the opportunity for cost-effective energy savings is greatest. These technologies include air conditioning, space heating, water heating, lighting and sensors & controls, all of which are addressed in this FOA.

Achieving BTO’s priorities across the building technology landscape requires sustained, multifaceted innovation. With this FOA, BTO intends to fund high-impact, early-stage research in the following areas:

Topic 1: Flexible Building Technologies

Topic 2: Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) Technologies

Topic 3: Solid-State Lighting (SSL) Technologies

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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@go.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@go.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 applicant through eXCHANGE within 24 hours of the FOA's posted deadline

BTO: 2019 National Laboratory Call for Core and Competed Activities

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Modification 001 (4-15-2019)

a) Provided additional guidance for proposal submission in Appendix B.3.

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

The Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office (BTO) is seeking multi-year project proposals from national laboratories (“Labs”) for activities to incorporate into the Annual Operating Plans (AOPs). Updates to the Lab Call will be announced on EERE Exchange at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/ .

For some topics, only specific DOE/NNSA Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) and specific DOE Government-Operated Government-Owned laboratories (GOGOs) are eligible to apply for funding as a prime recipient. All DOE laboratories are listed on http://energy.gov/offices under the heading “Labs and Technology Centers.” Only proposals for which the identified DOE national laboratory is the prime applicant will be considered for funding. Prime recipients are encouraged to form teams with other labs and to include other entities as sub-recipients.

Topics of Interest:

Appendix A: Core R&D Topics

A.1. Sensors & Controls:

A.1.1. Sensor and Meter Data Collection and Integration for Building Applications

A.1.2. Automated Fault Detection and Diagnostics (AFDD)

A.1.3. Predictive and Adaptive Controls Testing and Validation

A.2. Indoor Air Quality

A.2.1. Multi-Zone Building Ventilation

A.2.2. Air Sealing and Ventilation Research for Residential Retrofits

Appendix B: Competed R&D Topics

B.1. Building Energy Modeling:

B.1.1. Empirical Validation of Energy Simulation

B.1.2. A Simplified Performance Rating Method for (Small) Commercial Buildings

B.2. Advanced Residential Ventilation Technologies

B.2.1. Advanced Residential Ventilation Technologies

B.3. Solid State Lighting

B.3.1. Open Lighting Topic

Informational Webinar: The Informational Webinar mentioned in the Lab Call is scheduled for April 11th, 2019 at 3:00PM ET.

To Register/Join, go here:

https://doe.webex.com/doe/onstage/g.php?MTID=e37ce8d209d9cdd5f9822c47d63c61c98

• US Toll: +1-415-527-5035
• Access Code: 909 365 359
• Event password: BTOLC2019

For questions and answers pertaining to this FOA, please reference the DE-LC-000L070 BTO Lab CAll 2019 FAQ Log in "Questions and Answers" tab on Exchange.

The eXCHANGE system is designed to enforce hard deadlines for 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 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announces a notice of availability of funds for financial assistance to address gaps in current research and development (R&D) which hinder better utilizing waste streams (e.g. lignin, CO2, and biosolids), improving organic and inorganic catalysts to increase conversion efficiency and decrease costs, and creating high-value performance-advantaged bioproducts to allow for more profitable biorefineries.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) contains six Topic Areas as follows:
• Topic 1: ChemCatBio Industrial Partnerships (CCB)
• Topic 2: Agile BioFoundry Industry Partnership
Initiative (ABF)
• Topic 3: Performance Advantaged Bioproducts (PABP)
• Topic 4: Biofuels and Bioproducts from Wet Organic Waste Streams (WWTE)
• Topic 5: Rewiring Carbon Utilization (Rewiring)
• Topic 6: Lignin Valorization (Lignin)

Each topic area contains different specific areas of interest, required descriptions, and metrics. Each also has different feedstock requirements which are outlined in Appendix D of the FOA document.

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:

In the event that an Applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission PRIOR to the deadline, the Applicant should contact the Exchange helpdesk for assistance (EERE‐ExchangeSupport@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 (EERE‐ExchangeSupport@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.

Applicants must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) at https://www.sam.gov before submitting an application and must provide a valid Dun and Bradstreet Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number in the application. Failure to comply may result in a determination that the applicant is not qualified to receive a Federal award, and that determination could be used as a basis for making a Federal award to another applicant.

EERE conducted an informational webinar on Tuesday, May 15, 2018 3:00 ET. Attendance was not mandatory and will not positively or negatively impact the overall review of any applicant submissions. The webinar recording can be found at:

https://doe.webex.com/doe/ldr.php?RCID=ff640a8cf352e27d3f2331526f343154

Password: 3Dr9NGXw

Modification 000002:

The purpose of this modification is to update the following:
1) Section IV.D.iii – Application and Submission Information, Content and Form of the Full Application, Statement of Project Objectives:

Edited: "Applicants are required to complete a Statement of Project Objectives (SOPO) for the entire scope of the project...The first task of the project will be a pre-verification of application data. Applicants should include the following language in their SOPO to represent this Sub Task in Budget Period 1..."

Modification 000001:

The purpose of this modification is to update the following:
1) Section III.A.ii – Eligibility Information, Eligible Entities, Domestic Entities:

Inserted: For purposes of this FOA, all U.S. Territories are considered state government entities and are eligible to apply for funding as a Prime Recipient or Subrecipient.

2) Section IV.C.i – Application and Submission Information, Content and Form of the Letter of Intent, Letter of Intent Content Requirements:

Edited: To be eligible to submit a Full Application, applicants must submit a Letter of Intent by the specified due date and time. Letters of Intent will be used by EERE to plan for the merit review process. Applicants will be neither encouraged nor discouraged from submitting a Full Application based on the information provided in the letter of intent. EERE will not provide feedback on the letters of intent. The letters should not contain any proprietary or sensitive business information.

EERE will not review or consider ineligible Letters of Intent (see Section III of the FOA).

Each applicant must provide the following information as part of the Letter of Intent:
• Project Title;
• Lead Organization;
• Organization Type (Business < 500 Employees; Business > 1000 Employees; Business 500-1000 Employees; Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC); Government-Owned, Government Operated; Non-Profit; University);
• % of effort contributed by the Lead Organization;
• The Project Team, including:
o The Principal Investigator for the Prime Recipient;
o Team Members (i.e., Subrecipients); and
o Key Participants (i.e., individuals who contribute
in a substantive, measureable way to the execution of
the proposed project);
• Technical Topic or Area; and
• Abstract – The abstract provided should be not more than 4000 characters in length, and should provide a truncated explanation of the proposed project.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to identify, evaluate, and select applications proposing research, development and execution plans to test engineering principles and unit operations for the production and testing of Drop-in Renewable Jet Fuel Blendstocks and Drop-In Renewable Diesel Fuel Blendstocks from eligible feedstocks. In Topic Area 3, the FOA also seeks proposals to convert wet waste feedstocks, including municipal solid wastes and biosolids, into biopower or intermediates used to produce biopower.

Scale-up and verification of these process technologies is essential to enable the industry to design, construct, and operate pilot-scale facilities. This FOA seeks applications for projects to bridge technologies from scientific research to engineering, to integrate unit operations, and to engage in the R&D of integrated processes designed to produce drop-in renewable jet fuel blendstocks, drop-in renewable diesel fuel blendstocks, and biopower. Applicants proposing to produce drop-in renewable jet fuel blendstocks and drop-in renewable diesel fuel blendstocks will be required to verify that resulting fuels meet or exceed industry/market specifications and complete basic engineering packages to enable preliminary cost estimation and techno-economic analysis.

This funding opportunity contains three topic areas as follows:

- Topic Area 1: Drop-in Renewable Jet Fuel Blendstocks

- Topic Area 2: Drop-in Renewable Diesel Fuel Blendstocks

- Topic Area 3: Biomass, Biosolids, and Municipal Solid Waste to Energy

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 Letters of Intenet 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 PRIOR to the deadline, the Applicant should contact the Exchange helpdesk for assistance (EERE‐ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov). The Exchange helpdesk &/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 (EERE‐ExchangeSupport@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.

Applicants must be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) at https://www.sam.gov before submitting an application and must provide a valid Dun and Bradstreet Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number in the application. Failure to comply may result in a determination that the applicant is not qualified to receive a Federal award, and that determination could be used as a basis for making a Federal award to another applicant.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Building Technologies Office (BTO) Emerging Technologies (ET) Program is working in partnership with industry, national laboratories, and academia to develop innovative energy saving technologies, systems, tools, and models that could lead to a significant reduction in building energy consumption.

The ET Program has identified the program-specific goal of supporting the development of cost-effective technologies capable of reducing the energy use of typical buildings by 45% by 2030, relative to high-efficiency technologies available in 2010. Government investment through mechanisms such as the annual solid-state lighting (SSL) funding opporunity targets early-stage R&D enabling industry to develop novel technologies that can improve the efficiency and reduce the energy costs of the nation's buildings.

The objective of this funding opporunity is to select a diverse portfolio of early-stage R&D projects projects which can contribute to achieving:

• Maximized energy-efficiency of SSL products;
• Improved lifetime, color quality, and lighting system performance for SSL technology; and,
• Reduced costs of SSL sources and luminaires.

Success in this portfolio of early-stage R&D is expected to further contribute to the growth, leadership, and sustainability of domestic U.S. advanced manufacturing within ghe SSL industry.

The informational webinar for this FOA took place on May 7, 2018. A copy of the presentation can be found under Announcement Documents. Questions received during the presentation, and their respective answers, can be found under the FOA's Question and Answer section.

The eXCHANGE system is currently designed to enforce 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: 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@go.doe.gov) will assist the Applicant in resolving all issues.

1) Section I.B. - Topic Areas/Technical Areas of Interest

a) Revision of text:

Topic Area 2
Applications are required to be at a minimum starting TRL 2 through 4, and will end at TRL 3 through 5 respectively, that is, each application must advance its technology by at least one TRL level. Projects under this Topic Area require cost share be at least 20% of the total allowable costs for task(s) related to R&D activities, and cost share for tasks) related to pilot and demonstration level activities are required to be 50%. Please note that the required front-end throughput is a minimum of 1 DTPD for biomass feedstocks, at least 25,000 gallons of intermediate per year for an algal process, or utilization of at least 16 mmbtu/day of biogas/industrial flue gas and must be achieved by the end of the project period within Topic Area 2. Tasks that will demonstrate this requirement must have a cost-share of 50%. When applicable, applicants may utilize a blended cost share of 20% for R&D tasks and 50% for technology demonstration tasks.

2) Section III.B. - Cost Sharing

a) Addition of text:

EERE Cost Share 20% and 50%
The cost share must be at least 20% of the total allowable costs (i.e., the sum of the Government share, including FFRDC costs if applicable, and the Recipient share of allowable costs equals the total allowable cost of the project) for research and development projects and 50% of the total allowable costs for demonstration and commercial application projects and must come from non-Federal sources unless otherwise allowed by law. (See 2 CFR 200.306 and 2 CFR 910.130 for the applicable cost sharing requirements.)

3) Submission Deadline for Full Applications extended to 04/05/2017, 5:00 PM ET.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announce a joint funding opportunity to support Integrated Biorefinery Optimization. DOE has funded biorefinery technology development projects, since 2002, to meet two EERE performance goals: 1) reduce dependence on imported oil, thereby enhancing energy security; and 2) spur the creation of a sustainable domestic bio-industry. USDA-NIFA has funded programs and projects that target vital topical areas related to the development of regional systems for the sustainable production of biofuels, industrial chemicals, biopower, and biobased products; as well as investing in America’s scientific corps and developing workforce in bioenergy, bioproducts, and the bioeconomy. Robust scale-up of commercially viable biorefinery technologies will help USDA-NIFA meet two important goals: 1) to enhance energy security through the reduction in the dependence on foreign oil; and 2) to spur the creation of a sustainable domestic bioeconomy. This work supports NIFA’s mission to accelerate deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies to strengthen U.S. energy security, economic vitality, and environmental quality.

Federal support for first-of-a-kind Integrated Biorefineries (IBRs) could significantly reduce the
technical and financial risks associated with new technology deployment, thus accelerating the growth of the U.S. bioeconomy, reducing costs to consumers, enabling reductions in environmental pollution in the transportation sector and improving energy security.

There are still unresolved technical and non-technical challenges within the IBRs that need to be addressed in order to achieve reliable and continuous operation that effectively competes with the petroleum refining and petrochemical industries. Many of these challenges are related to:

• Complexity and variability of non-food feedstocks;

• Operational difficulties encountered with handling of solids in the production process;

• Recalcitrance of feedstocks to efficiently convert into products;

• Inhomogeneity of intermediates resulting in non-uniform heat and mass transfer during the
manufacturing processes;

• Complex multi-step separation and purification steps;

• Non-monetization of byproducts and residual streams;

• Difficulties in translating bench-scale and pilot-scale learnings to the next step in scale-up such as demonstration-scale or pioneer-scale commercial level;

• Non-competitive cost of bioproducts due to higher capital and operational expenses; and

• Shortage of capital for long-term industrial projects.
As a result of these barriers, there are only a few pioneer-scale commercial IBRs in early stages
of commissioning, start-up, and/or production, and a wider deployment of highly-efficient IBR
facilities is still a goal to be realized. A number of the challenges result in schedule delays,
increased capital (CapEx) and operational (OpEx) expenses, and scale-up complications.

The FOA will identify, evaluate, and select applications proposing projects to address challenges encountered with the successful scale-up and reliable continuous operation of IBRs for the manufacture of Advanced or Cellulosic Biofuels (see Definitions) and associated higher value
bioproducts. The FOA seeks applications for projects focused on addressing these challenges,
reducing risks, and providing resources to accelerate commercialization of biofuels and bioproducts.

The FOA includes four topic areas as follows:

• Topic Area 1: Robust, continuous handling of solid materials (dry and wet feedstocks,biosolids, and/or residual solids remaining in the process) and feeding systems to reactors under various operating conditions;

• Topic Area 2: High value products from waste and/or other under-valued streams in an IBR;

• Topic Area 3: Industrial separations within an IBR; and

• Topic Area 4: Analytical modeling of solid materials (dry and wet feedstocks, and/or residual solids remaining in the process) and reactor feeding systems.

The full Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is posted on the EERE eXCHANGE website at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov.

Applications must be submitted through the EERE eXCHANGE
website to be considered for award. The applicant must first register and create an account on the EERE eXCHANGE website. A User Guide for the EERE eXCHANGE can be found on the EERE website https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/Manuals.aspx after logging in to the system.

Information on where to submit questions regarding the content of the announcement and where to submit questions regarding submission of applications is found in the full FOA posted on the EERE eXCHANGE website.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue, on behalf of the Bioenergy Technologies Office and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) – National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “Integrated Biorefinery Optimization”.

This FOA will support research and development of technologies that will improve the quality of feedstock characterization, reliability of operations, decrease the Capital Expenses (CapEx) and Operating Expenses (OpEx) and thereby increase the performance efficiencies of biorefineries resulting in continuous operation and production of biofuels, bioproducts and biopower at prices competitive with fossil-derived equivalents. Validation and scale-up of these technologies is essential to enable the industry to build future commercial scale manufacturing facilities. Plans for processes that convert woody biomass, agricultural residues, dedicated energy crops, algae, municipal solid waste (MSW), sludge from wastewater treatment plants, and wet wastes, into biofuels, biochemicals, and bioproducts will be considered under this funding opportunity.

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

1. Robust, continuous handling of solid materials (dry and wet feedstocks, biosolids, and/or residual solids remaining in the process) and feeding systems to reactors under various operating conditions

2. High value products from waste and/or other under-valued streams in an integrated biorefinery

3. Industrial separations within an integrated biorefinery

4. Analytical modeling of solid materials (dry and wet feedstocks, and/or residual solids remaining in the process) and reactor feeding systems

EERE envisions awarding multiple financial assistance awards in the form of cooperative agreements. The estimated period of performance for each award will be approximately 36 months.

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 on or about December 2016 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.

In prior years, the BENEFIT FOA consisted of two sections (Innovations: early-stage; Frontiers: later-stage, roadmap-driven) to complement the core funding provided by the program ([1], [2], [3], below). This FOA consists of four topic areas within these two sections (e.g., “Innovations” and “Frontiers”), as well as a new third “Scale-up” section for pre-commercial prototype development. Two targeted “Frontiers” topics are focused on Advanced HVAC&R and Miscellaneous Electric Loads (MELs), and two open topics are focused on early-stage R&D applications (“Innovations”) and pre-commercial prototype development and scale-up (“Scale-up”), respectively. This pursuit of early-stage (Innovations), as well as later-stage (Scale-up) investments in the open topics will provide balance to the BTO R&D portfolio and targeted technology topic and program areas.

[1] DE-FOA-0001383: Buildings Energy Efficiency Frontiers and Innovation Technologies (BENEFIT) – 2016, https://eere-exchange.energy.gov

[2] DE-FOA-0001166: Buildings Energy Efficiency Frontiers and Innovation Technologies (BENEFIT) – 2015, https://eere-exchange.energy.gov

[3] DE-FOA-0001027: Buildings Energy Efficiency Frontiers and Innovation Technologies (BENEFIT) – 2014, https://eere-exchange.energy.gov

For questions and answers pertaining to this FOA, please reference the DE-FOA-0001632 BENEFIT 2017 FAQ Log in FOA Documents.

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.

Informational Webinar: The Informational Webinar mentioned in the FOA occured on December 6, 2016 at 3:00 PM ET Eastern Standard Time. Please see documents below in the Documents section for the powerpoint presentation and audio recording.

***EERE eXCHANGE has a system upgrade scheduled at 8PM ET on 2/17/2017 which will leave the system unavailable until approximately 6AM ET 2/18/2017. Since the eXCHANGE system is only scheduled to be down for a short period over a weekend night, DOE has decided not to extend the due date at this time.***

This FOA is for the research and development of low-cost hydrogen production, onboard hydrogen storage, and proton exchange membrane fuel cells to advance the widespread commercialization of fuel cell electric vehicles. Selected projects will leverage national lab consortia launched under DOE’s Energy Materials Network (EMN) this past year, in support of DOE’s materials research and advanced manufacturing priorities.

The fuel cells market is growing rapidly, and has seen an annual growth rate of 30% every year since 2010 as well as $2 billion annual revenue in 2014. Light duty vehicles are an emerging application for fuel cells that already enable 95% lower petroleum consumption per mile than conventional internal combustion engine vehicles.

Applicants to this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) will collaborate with national lab consortia launched within the EMN. The EMN consortia have been established to make unique, world-class capabilities at the national laboratories more accessible to industry, facilitating collaborations that will expedite the development and manufacturing of advanced materials for commercial markets.

The FOA topics include:

Topic 1: PGM-free Catalyst and Electrode R&D – this topic will leverage the Electrocatalysis Consortium (ElectroCat) to accelerate the development of catalysts made without platinum group metals (PGM-free) for use in fuel cells for transportation.

Topic 2: Advanced Water Splitting Materials – this topic will leverage the HydroGEN Consortium to accelerate the development of advanced water splitting materials for hydrogen production, with an initial focus on advanced electrolytic, photoelectrochemical, and solar thermochemical pathways.

Topic 3: Hydrogen Storage Materials Discovery – this topic will leverage the Hydrogen Materials—Advanced Research Consortium (HyMARC) to address unsolved scientific challenges in the development of viable solid-state materials for hydrogen storage onboard fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs).

Topic 4: Precursor Development for Low-Cost, High-Strength Carbon Fiber for Use in Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel Applications – this topic will aim to reduce the cost of onboard hydrogen storage necessary for FCEVs. Applicants for this topic will be encouraged to collaborate with LightMAT, a consortium launched by the DOE Vehicle Technologies Office to enable light-weighting of vehicles through the development of high-strength steels and carbon fiber.

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:

In the event that an Applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission PRIOR to the deadline, the Applicant should contact the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (EERE‐ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov). The eXCHANGE helpdesk &/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 (EERE‐ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov).

The eXCHANGE helpdesk &/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 objectives of this funding opportunity are to:

• Maximize the energy-efficiency of SSL products in the marketplace;
• Remove market barriers through improvements to lifetime, color quality, and lighting system performance;
• Reduce costs of SSL sources and luminaires;
• Improve product consistency while maintaining high quality products; and
• Encourage the growth, leadership, and sustainability of domestic U.S. manufacturing within the SSL industry.

The Topic Areas of Interest for this Announcement include topics for LED and OLED technologies:

Topic Area 1: LED Core Technology Research

Topic Area 2: OLED Core Technology Research

Topic Area 3: LED Product Development

Topic Area 4: OLED Product Development

Topic Area 5: LED Manufacturing Research and Development

Topic Area 6: OLED Manufacturing Research and Development

An informational webinar took place on October 25, 2016. The slide presentation from that webinar can be located under the Documents portion of this announcement.

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@go.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@go.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 applicant through eXCHANGE within 24 hours of the FOA's posted deadline.

1) The minimum throughput requirements for topic areas as described in "Section I.B - Topic Areas/Technical Areas of Interest" and "Appendix D – Allowable Feedstock Definitions".

The purposes of Modification 000001 are to clarify the following:

1) The minimum throughput requirements for topic area;
2) The Period of Performance for Phase 1; and
3) The FOA inbox contact information.

The Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), announces a notice of availability of funding for financial assistance from the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO). DOE has funded biorefinery technology development projects since 2002 to meet two EERE performance goals: 1) dramatically reduce dependence on imported oil; and 2) spur the creation of the domestic bio-industry.

This FOA will identify, evaluate, and select applications proposing project development and execution plans for the manufacture of Advanced or Cellulosic Biofuels (“Biofuels”, as defined in the Energy Investment and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007) §201), bioproducts, refinery compatible intermediates, or biopower in a domestic pilot or demonstration scale Integrated Biorefinery (IBR). Scale-up and validation of these process technologies is essential to enable the industry to build future pioneer- and commercial-scale facilities. The FOA seeks applications for projects to first design, and then construct and operate IBR facilities. There will be a down-select review between the design phase (Phase 1) and the construction/operation phase (Phase 2). The down-select decision will be made by DOE at the completion of the design phase. Project performance in Phase 1, as well as portfolio balance, availability of funds, and other factors will be considered in the down-select decision process. Only projects selected by DOE as a result of the down-select process will receive additional funding and be permitted to proceed into the construction/operation phase (Phase 2).

The FOA will include three topic areas as follows:

• Topic Area 1: Pilot scale production of Biofuels from high impact cellulosic, algal, or biogas feedstocks. Minimum feedstock throughput must be 1 dry metric ton (DMT) per day or equivalent throughput of algal biomass or biogas. Bioproducts and biopower are only allowed as co-products from the facility.
• Topic Area 2: Demonstration scale production of Biofuels from high impact cellulosic, algal, or biogas feedstocks. Minimum feedstock throughput must be 50 DMT per day or equivalent of algal biomass or biogas. Bioproducts and biopower are only allowed as co-products from the facility.
• Topic Area 3: Production of either biopower or Biofuels from biosolids and other allowable Wet Waste Feedstock streams. Bioproducts are also allowed as co-products from the facility. Minimum feedstock throughput must be 1 DMT per day.

Applications submitted in response to this FOA must address the entire process, from feedstock handling through to biofuel, bio-product, or biopower distribution. Applicants who propose the production of biopower must include a discussion of the costs of combined heat and power or electricity generation in the full application.

All applications must stress articulation of the project’s value proposition, target markets, competitors, and distribution channels for proposed technology, along with known or perceived barriers to market penetration, including mitigation strategies. The value proposition should include a discussion of the current and potential market share, and the economic competitiveness of the proposed process.

Applicants who intend to replicate and commercialize the technology through other than scale-up methods, such as through modular deployment or other mechanisms, must present equivalent information to sufficiently describe their envisioned commercialization strategy.
Recognizing the significant capital investments that have been made through prior BETO FOAs, BETO also encourages innovative reuse and repurposing of capital equipment purchased under prior DOE programs.

A limited amount of preparatory work to support the design of the proposed pilot scale project will be allowed within the scope of the project. Typically up to 10% of the total Phase 1 project budget (total allowable budget) may be proposed for the preparatory R&D, but the amount is subject to negotiation after notification of selection for negotiation of an award. Preparatory work may include limited research and development (R&D) including expenses for equipment, salaries, and supplies. All project costs, including any preparatory R&D work, will be subject to the 50% cost share requirement.

All applicants must clearly establish that sufficient work at prior scale has been completed to justify that the proposed IBR meets either Technology Readiness Level 6 criteria for pilot scale applications or Technology Readiness Level 7 criteria for demonstration scale applications. 

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue, on behalf of the Bioenergy Technologies Office, a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “Project Definition for Pilot and Demonstration Scale Manufacturing of Biofuels, Bioproducts, and Biopower (PD2B3).”

This FOA supports technology development plans for the manufacture of drop-in hydrocarbon biofuels, bioproducts, or intermediates in a pilot- or demonstration-scale integrated biorefinery. Scale-up and validation of these process technologies is essential to enable the industry to build future pioneer- and commercial-scale manufacturing facilities. Plans for facilities that use lignocellulosic biomass, algal biomass, or biosolids feedstocks will be considered under this funding opportunity.

Under this FOA, Applicants must address one comprehensive topic area with three main priority areas. These priority areas are:

1. Pilot scale production of Biofuels from high impact lignocellulosic, algal, or bio-gas feedstocks.
2. Demonstration scale production of Biofuels from high impact lignocellulosic, algal, or bio-gas algal feedstocks.
3. Production of bio-power, bio-products, and Biofuels from biosolids and other waste streams.

This notice of intent (NOI) 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 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.

EERE plans to issue the FOA in May 2016 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 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) seeks feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on issues related to “challenges encountered with the successful scale-up and reliable operation of integrated biorefinery plants (IBRs).” Specifically, BETO seeks information that will help it understand additional areas of research, capabilities, and yet to be addressed barriers and opportunities for stakeholder engagement pertaining to technology development and engineering solutions for the reliable operation of IBRs to produce biofuels, biochemicals and bioproducts.

BETO seeks information on all IBR processes and technologies, including any and all systems processes, technologies, methods and equipment employed to convert woody biomass, agricultural residues, dedicated energy crops, algae, municipal solid waste (MSW), sludge from wastewater treatment plants, and wet solids, into biofuels, biochemicals, and bioproducts.BETO seeks information on technical challenges that have hindered, or could in the future hinder, the achievement of reliable continuous operations. BETO is particularly interested in receiving stakeholder input on production systems expected to be in the range of feedstock throughput of 1 DTPD (Dry Tonne per Day) to 1,000 DTPD to:
1. Understand scale-up and mitigate operational risks and challenges for integrated biorefinery plants;
2. Develop robust handling of variable solid materials (dry and wet feedstocks, and/or residual solids remaining in the process)and investigate reactor feed systems operating under vacuum or at positive pressures;
3. Improve pre-processing methodologies to transform diverse types of feedstocks into homogeneous, standardized intermediates;
4. Advance process intensification focused on simplification (such as reduction in number of process steps); enable reliable, robust continuous operations; increase selectivity and enable hybrid separations; cost reduction through innovative fabrication and construction methods (for example, modularization of systems); and/or efficient water management techniques;
5. Address unique process issues (for example, the need to remove oxygen and lignin to facilitate efficient processing of feedstocks into products, the need to remove natural or derivatized contaminants), and pathways including
i. biological;
ii. thermochemical;
iii. catalytic
iv. biochemical;
v. algae; and
vi. hybrid pathways; and
6. Develop strategies to reduce Capital Expense (CapEx) costs by reducing technical risks and ensuring minimum modifications during different phases of the execution (for example, construction, commissioning, operations, etc.) of biorefinery projects.

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. If a FOA is subsequently issued, 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.

Through research and development of solid-state lighting (SSL), including both light-emitting diode (LED) and organic light emitting diode (OLED) technologies, the objectives of this opportunity are to:

The Topic Areas for Interest for this Announcement include topics for LED and OLED technologies:

Topic Area 1: LED Core Technology Research

Topic Area 2: OLED Core Technology Research

Topic Area 3: LED Product Development

Topic Area 4: OLED Product Development

Topic Area 5: LED Manufacturing Research and Development

Topic Area 6: OLED Manufacturing Research and Development

For additional information regarding SSL Research and Development, please see SSL Research and Development Plan:

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 issuse 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@go.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@go.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.

Amendment 000004 to DE-FOA-0001237

The purpose of this amendment is to change the application due date (from August 21 to September 1) as well as to correct omissions and clarify items in response to questions received re the FOA. Affected pages are 22, 32, 33 and 35. Changes are depicted in highlighted text.

The objective of this FOA is to develop and implement an effective purchasing/procurement process designed to coordinate and consolidate bulk orders of alternative fuel vehicles, sub-components, advanced vehicle technologies, alternative fuels, and refueling/charging infrastructure to significantly reduce the incremental cost of commercially available vehicles and/or critical components in markets nationwide. The process will result in increased deployment of efficient alternative fuel vehicles and an associated reduction in reduced U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

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Join us for a Webinar on June 17, 2015
Title: FY2015 Vehicle Technologies Office Clean Cities FOA Webinar
Date: June 17, 2015
Time: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST

System Requirements:
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 8, 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server
Mac®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.6 or newer

Please register for FOA 1237: FY 2015 "Alternative Fuel and Advanced Vehicle Procurement Aggregating Initiatives" Applicant Webinar on Jun 17, 2015 2:00 PM EDT at:

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1284630170519203842

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

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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@go.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@go.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 Emerging Technologies (ET) Program of the Building Technologies Office (BTO) supports applied research and development for technologies and systems that contribute to building energy consumption.  BTO’s goal is to deliver 50% primary energy savings in the year 2030, relative to the baseline energy consumption projected by the 2010 Annual Energy Outlook.  The ET Program is helping to meet this goal by enabling cost-effective, energy-efficient technologies to be developed and introduced into the marketplace.  The ET Program maintains support for the national laboratories in five core areas:  Solid-State Lighting, HVAC (includes water heating and appliances), Sensors & Controls, Windows & Envelope, and Modeling & Tools.  This FOA combines an early-stage research and development topic (Innovations) with a later-stage research and development topic (Frontiers) that complement the core funding provided to the national labs and allow all interested parties, including corporations, universities, and non-profits as well as the national labs, to contribute to advancement in two of these core technological areas:  Non-vapor compression HVAC technologies and advanced vapor compression HVAC technologies. These topics are combined into this single, relatively large FOA in order to reduce administrative costs and to ensure that only the best applications are supported.

For questions and answers pertaining to this FOA, please reference the DE-FOA-0001166 BENEFIT FOA FAQ sheet in FOA Documents.  

Through research and development of solid-state lighting (SSL),including both light-emitting diode (LED) and organic light emitting diode (OLED) technologies, the objectives of this opportunity are to:

·         Maximize the energy-efficiency of SSL products in the marketplace;

·         Remove market barriers through improvements to lifetime, color quality, and lighting system performance;

·         Reduce costs of SSL sources and luminaires;

·         Improve product consistency while maintaining high quality products; and

Encourage the growth, leadership, and sustainability of domestic U.S. manufacturing within the SSL industry. 

The Topic Areas of Interest for this Announcement include topics for LED and OLED technologies: 

Topic Area 1:  LED Core Technology Research

Topic Area 2:  OLED Core Technology Research

Topic Area 3:  LED Product Development-Novel LED Luminaire Systems (MYPP Task B.6.4)

Topic Area 4:  OLED Product Development

Topic Area 5:  LED Manufacturing Research & Development

Topic Area 6:  OLED Manufacturing Research & Development

For additional information regarding Solid-State Lighting Research and Development, please see the program roadmap documents:

Solid-State Lighting Research and Development: Multi-Year Program Plan(http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/ssl/ssl_mypp2014_web.pdf)

Solid-State Lighting Research and Development: Manufacturing Roadmap

(http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/ssl/ssl_mfg_roadmap_aug2014.pdf) 

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 issuse 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@go.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@go.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.

7/7/2014 - The Deadline for Replies to Reviewers comments has been changed to 7/11/2014 5pm, EST.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) announces a notice of availability of funds for financial assistance addressing the development, improvement and demonstration of integrated biological or chemical upgrading technology for the production of substitutes for petroleum‐based feedstocks, products and fuels.

EERE seeks diversification of the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) portfolio to include a variety of chemical and biological upgrading technologies for the production of a suite of hydrocarbon fuels, fuel intermediates and chemicals (beyond ethanol) to be produced in an integrated fashion from biologically or chemically derived intermediate feed streams, such as but not limited to cellulosic sugars, lignocellulose derivatives, lignin, cellulosic alcohols, bio-solids and biogases. For the purposes of this FOA lignocellulosic sugars will not be allowable fuel intermediates.

The eXCHANGE system is 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 &/or the EERE eXCHANGE System Administrators (eXCHANGE@go.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 &/or the EERE eXCHANGE System Administrators (eXCHANGE@go.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.

An informational webinar about the Funding Opportunity Announcement and the application process was held on Tuesday, April 22nd at 3:00 Eastern Time. Attendance was not mandatory and will not positively or negatively impact the overall review of any Applicant submissions. The link to the audio file of the webinar can be found at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/646269008 . Please note you will need to provide the same registration information as you did for the webinar.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) intends to issue, on behalf of the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled “Biological and Chemical Upgrading for Advanced Biofuels and Products”.

This FOA seeks diversification of the BETO portfolio to allow for biological, chemical and hybrid upgrading processes (multi step, chemical and biological) that will broadly encompass pathways found under the BETO Conversion – Biochemical Technology Area. While thermochemical pathways will not be considered, all related new chemical and biological concepts, ideas and approaches will be considered. Allowable biomass feed intermediates for this FOA are cellulosic sugars, lignocellulose derivatives, lignin, cellulosic alcohols, bio-solids and biogases produced through the conversion of organic matter from renewable biomass (excluding syngas).

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. 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 DOE may not issue a FOA at all.

Once the FOA has been released, EERE will provide an avenue for potential Applicants to submit questions. 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 April 2014.

Through research and development of solid-state lighting (SSL),including both light-emitting diode (LED) and organic light emitting diode (OLED) technologies, the objectives of this opportunity are to:

·         Maximize the energy-efficiency of SSL products in the marketplace;

·         Remove market barriers through improvements to lifetime, color quality, and lighting system performance;

·         Reduce costs of SSL sources and luminaires;

·         Improve product consistency while maintaining high quality products; and

Encourage the growth, leadership, and sustainability of domestic U.S. manufacturing within the SSL industry. 

The Topic Areas of Interest for this Announcement include topics for LED and OLED technologies: 

Topic Area 1:  LED Core Technology Research

Topic Area 2:  OLED Core Technology Research

Topic Area 3:  LED Product Development

Topic Area 4:  LED Product Development – Novel LED Luminaire Systems

Topic Area 5:  OLED Product Development

Topic Area 6:  LED Manufacturing Research & Development

Topic Area 7:  OLED Manufacturing Research & Development

For additional information regarding Solid-State Lighting Research and Development, please see the program roadmap documents:

Solid-State Lighting Research and Development: Multi-Year Program Plan  (http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/ssl/ssl_mypp2013_web.pdf)

Solid-State Lighting Research and Development: Manufacturing Roadmap

(http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/ssl/ssl_manuf-roadmap_sept2013.pdf)

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 issuse 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@go.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@go.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.

Questions and answers regarding this FOA are posted in Exchange.  A link to these Q&As is provided under "Frequently Asked Questions" for this FOA and is as follows: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/FAQ.aspx?FoaId=18e3fe40-9465-4d9f-a77a-63c535aabed0.

BTO is seeking innovative approaches for improving the energy performance of buildings.  BTO plans to stimulate new innovations in the ET portfolio by supporting relatively small projects that evaluate new ideas aligned with our program goals. The funding for each project will be between $250K- $750K, with the average award ~ $500K.  These projects will be of relatively short duration (≤ 2 years), with clear milestones for measuring success.  All building energy topics are eligible for submission, with the exception of solid-state lighting.  Note that this FOA is only for the ET program that supports research and development; proposed deployment efforts will not be considered. Technology Innovations supported under this FOA may have the opportunity to seek additional, larger amounts of funding through future BTO FOAs.

All proposed technologies or approaches must have the potential to reduce building energy consumption, energy costs, or GHG emissions, or a combination of these benefits.  Both technology performance improvements and technology cost reductions are of interest.  BTO expects a concise overview, justification for why a proposed technology or approach will lead to significant improvement over the current state-of-the-art, a detailed description of the technical approach, a strong team and resources, and a description of a commercialization path within five years.  Any benefits must be clearly described and justified.  In addition, the commercialization potential of the proposed technology or approach will be considered as part of the evaluation process.  Given the FOA objective of researching and developing technologies that are within 5 years of commercialization, applicants must describe how the proposed technology or approach can be realistically commercialized within 5 years.  For example, if an award from this FOA provides the first 2 years of support, assuming additional follow-on support is obtained what would be the path to commercialization within the remaining 3 years?

The objective of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to achieve cost reduction of solid-state lighting (SSL) for general illumination through improvements in manufacturing equipment, processes, or techniques.  It is anticipated that success will lead to a more rapid adoption/installation of high-quality SSL products resulting in a significant reduction of energy use and a corresponding reduction of environmental pollutants.  A secondary objective is to maintain, in the case of light emitting diodes (LEDs), or establish, in the case of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), the manufacturing and technology base within the US.

The Program Areas of Interest for this Announcement include topics for LED and OLED technologies.  Improvements to cost-influencing metrics through the proposed approach shall not come at the expense of product performance metrics such as efficacy or color quality. 

Program Area of Interest 1:  LED Luminaire/Module Manufacturing

Program Area of Interest 2:  LED Test and Inspection Equipment

Program Area of Interest 3:  OLED Deposition Equipment

Program Area of Interest 4:  OLED Materials Manufacturing

For additional information regarding Solid-State Lighting Research and Development, please see the 2012 Manufacturing Roadmap which can be found at http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/ssl/ssl_manuf-roadmap_august2012.pdf

The full Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is posted on the EERE eXCHANGE website at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov. Applications must be submitted through the EERE eXCHANGE website to be considered for award. The applicant must first register and create an account on the EERE eXCHANGE website. A User Guide for the EERE eXCHANGE can be found on the EERE website http://eere.energy.gov/financing/exchangeExchange/Manuals.aspx after logging in to the system.

Information on where to submit questions regarding the content of the announcement and where to submit questions regarding submission of applications is found in the full FOA posted on the EERE Exchange website.

This FOA marks the first time that the Department of Energy (DOE) has issued three Phase I solicitations in a single year.  This “Release 3” is intended to give small businesses more topics and more opportunities to apply for SBIR/STTR Phase I grants in a given year.  It includes 8 broad topics and 30 subtopics aligned with EERE programs (see below).  Detailed application instructions, including eligibility requirements, can be found on DOE’s SBIR Funding opportunities website under Reference Number DE-FOA-0000715.

EERE leads the Federal government’s research and development (R&D) efforts in energy efficiency and renewable energy. It invests in clean energy R&D designed to reduce the cost of technologies that enable the efficient use of energy and/or the generation of renewable energy. EERE’s SBIR/STTR efforts are part of an integrated portfolio that will lead to economic and environmental benefits. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) EERE program is interested in receiving proposals for research and development projects that offer potential for achieving EERE technology cost and performance targets.  This FOA seeks Applications to select and fund SBIR Phase I research and development (R&D) projects in the follow topics and subtopics:

1. Advanced Manufacturing:  a. Manufacturing Process  b. Advanced Materials

2. Biomass: a. Cellulosic and Algal Biofuels b. Biobased Products

3. Buildings: a. Solid State Lighting (SSL) Devices and Packages;

b. Cold Climate Air Source Heat Pumps

c. High COP Electric Water Heaters

d. GSHP Ground Loop Cost Reduction

e. Fast Payback Solar Hot Water 

f. Building Envelope Materials

g. Building Controls and

h. Commercial Building Power Meters

4. Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies a. Transportation Fuel Cells b. Hydrogen Storage

5. Solar: a. PV module b. Power Electronics & Balance of System (Hardware)

c. Balance of System (Non-Hardware) and

d. Concentrating Solar Power

6. Vehicles: a. Electric Drive Vehicle Batteries; b. Exhaust Aftertreatment Materials

c. Innovative Engine Boosting Technologies

d. Differential Compression and Expansion Technologies

e. Subsystem Component Technologies

f. Thermoelectric Technologies

g. Materials for Traction Drive Motor Laminations, Cores, or Structures and

h. Engine Friction Reduction

7. Water: a. Marine and Hydrokinetic Energy b. Hydropower Applications

8. Wind: a. Logistics for Land-Based Wind Power

The objective of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is achieve cost reduction of solid-state lighting for general illumination through improvements in manufacturing equipment, processes, or techniques.  It is anticipated that success will lead to a more rapid adoption/installation of high-quality SSL products resulting in a significant reduction of energy use and a corresponding reduction of environmental pollutants.  A secondary objective is to maintain, in the case of light emitting diodes (LEDs), or establish, in the case of organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), the manufacturing and technology base within the US.

The Program Areas of Interest for this Announcement include topics for LED and OLED technologies.  Improvements to cost-influencing metrics through the proposed approach shall not come at the expense of product performance metrics such as efficacy or color quality. 

Program Area of Interest 1:  Luminaire/Module Manufacturing

Program Area of Interest 2:  Test and Inspection Equipment

Program Area of Interest 3:  OLED Deposition Equipment

Program Area of Interest 4:  OLED Materials Manufacturing

The goal of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to focus on applied research for technology development, with particular emphasis on meeting efficiency, performance, and cost targets.  Specific emphasis shall be on achieving the performance and cost goals stated in the 2011 Multi-Year Program Plan (http:/apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/ssl/ssl_mypp2011_web.pdf) for Solid-State Lighting Research and Development.  This document can also be found as an attachment to this Announcement.  Successful approaches shall demonstrate a technology path that moves beyond the current performance levels detailed in the 2011 MYPP towards the future performance targets identified for the respective priority metric.

There will be four areas of interest to which an application may be submitted under this FOA:

Area of Interest 1:  (Light Emitting Diode) Emitter Materials Research

Area of Interest 2:  (Light Emitting Diode) Down-converters

Area of Interest 3:  Novel Organic Light Emitting Diodes Materials and Structures

Area of Interest 4:  (Organic Light Emitting Diode) Light Extraction Approaches

The objective of this Funding Opportunity Announcement is to develop or improve commercially viable materials, devices, or systems for solid state lighting general illumination applications. Specific emphasis shall be on achieving the performance and cost goals stated in the 2011 Multi Year Program for Solid State Lighting Research and Development which can be found at http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/ssl/ssl_mypp2011_web.pdf.  This document can also be found as an attachment to this Announcement.  Potential Applicants are strongly encouraged to review and understand the 2011 MYPP.  Successful approaches shall demonstrate a technology path that moves beyond the current performance levels detailed in the MYPP towards the future performance targets identified for the respective priority metric.   There are five areas of interest to which an application may be submitted under this FOA: 

Area of Interest 1:  Light Emitting Diodes Substrate Development

Area of Interest 2:  Light Emitting Diodes Package Architecture

Area of Interest 3:  Novel Light Emitting Diodes Luminaire Systems

Area of Interest 4:  Large Area Organic Light Emitting Diodes

Area of Interest 5:  Organic Light Emitting Diodes Panel Outcoupling