The Solar Prize encourages the rapid development of innovative solar energy solutions capable of addressing the tough challenges facing the solar industry. Solar Prize competitors participate in three contests—the Ready!, Set!, and Go! Contests—to transform their ideas into reality in months, rather than years. Competitors have the chance to win part of $4.1 million in prizes to help them advance in the competition and accelerate the development of their solution.

Round 6 includes an optional additional challenge that focuses on advancing solar in underserved communities. Participants who choose to incorporate this initiative into their solutions have the chance to be considered for a new Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Contest and a bonus cash prize!

The Tribal Energy Innovation (TEI) Fellowship will be entering its third year and is offering a $25,000 award designated for federally-recognized tribal members who are entrepreneurs, or a member of a cooperative or social/business enterprise which supports renewable energy infrastructure and capacity building in tribal communities. The Fellowship is designed to develop and strengthen tribal energy sovereignty and resilience in Indian Country by supporting tribal members who are entrepreneurs or a member of a social/business enterprise that advances sustainable renewable energy solutions and capacity building in tribal communities.

During the year-long, stipend fellowship, fellows learn from GRID staff, from one another, and from industry mentors and professionals on best practices in renewable energy planning, business, workforce development and training, and other areas of technical support. GRID Alternatives and the Tribal Solar Accelerator Fund have partnerships across the U.S. to provide a network of professional, educational support and opportunities with industry leaders, and exposure to advanced technologies from around the world. The fellowship culminates with a business presentation to GRID staff, industry professionals and other renewable energy changemakers looking to invest in innovative approaches to the unique energy needs across Indian Country.

Our mission is to provide Black/Brown woman-identifying founders with access to community, capital, and capacity building in order to meet business milestones that lead to economic advancement through entrepreneurship. We fund and scale tech-enabled, revenue-generating businesses (under $1M) founded by people who identify as Black/Brown and woman. We ignite civic engagement and hyperlocal infrastructure at the intersection of business support services, supplier diversity, social and financial capital.

DOE expects to make two to five awards under this funding opportunity, each ranging from $2 to $5 million. DOE seeks a diverse set of applicants, including universities, research and development centers, individuals, and civil society organizations. DOE encourages the participation of underserved communities and underrepresented groups. As part of the application, applicants should describe how they will incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion objectives in the project.

For more information, view the full FOA or register for the EERE information webinar on June 22.

The Hydrogen Shot Incubator supports teams as they develop transformative concepts into early-stage prototypes ready for lab-scale demonstration, through two phases and culminating with a Pitch Day.

Phase I – due August 17: In the Propose! Phase participants will access resources and environments to foster new solution concepts and develop them into plans for early-stage prototypes in rapid learning cycles. Submission packages must highlight a concept for clean hydrogen production, focusing on lowering the hydrogen production cost. DOE will select up to ten winners to advance in the competition.

Phase II – due June 2023: Winners of the Propose! phase will develop their concepts and designs with the help of national laboratory experts. Submissions for the Prove! phase must include a plan with preliminary designs for a laboratory-scale demonstration along with technoeconomic and emissions analyses to validate the proposed idea. DOE will select up to five winners for additional cash and voucher support.

Available in the following cities for small businesses with at least 51% ownership by BIPOC persons or a woman: Atlanta, GA; Detroit, MI; Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN; Philadelphia, PA; Pittsburgh, PA. 500 grants totaling $5 million will be distributed as follows:

• 100 small businesses in each city
• Each business will receive a $10,000 monetary grant

WomensNet’s Grants give away a $10,000 Amber Grant every month to a woman entrepreneur, and an additional annual $25,000 Amber Grant to one of the preceding 12 monthly Amber Grant winners. They also give away another $10,000 grant every month to a “Business Category” entrepreneur.

Additional Ventures is partnering with Ocean Visions and a consortium of philanthropic funders to invite pre-proposals to develop prototypes that could enable safe, cost-efficient, and scalable OAE. This request for proposals (RFP) is part of the Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement R&D Program, an ambitious effort to accelerate understanding of OAE as a potential method for large-scale carbon dioxide removal (CDR). The OAE Engineering Award complements the recently announced OAE Research Award, which assesses whether OAE can safely, and permanently sequester atmospheric CO₂ at scale.

NASA SBIR Ignite looks to increase private sector commercialization of innovations derived from federal R/R&D, thereby increasing competition, productivity, and economic growth. In particular, NASA seeks to fund ideas that are relevant in the commercial market, while contributing to the agency’s goals in aeronautics and space technology development.

Entrepreneurs looking to shape the aerospace market are encouraged to apply. The program de-risks technology by providing funding to help push R&D, making it more attractive to investors. NASA does not take ownership over award recipients’ intellectual property.

Phase I provides $150,000 with the ability to win Phase II follow-on funding of $1,000,000 per business. The SBIR Ignite Solicitation will be opened in summer 2022; check here for updates.

Each year, Women in Cleantech and Sustainability hosts a startup pitch competition focused on spotlighting companies led by women, either as CEOs or in the C-suite. Six applicants will be selected to pitch their ideas on the WCS stage in front of Silicon Valley VCs and an audience of 300+ industry professionals.

Women from six companies will be selected out of all applications to pitch their innovative cleantech or sustainable-focused business idea to a panel of industry leaders. Startups will have 5 minutes on the virtual stage followed by 3 minutes for Q&A from the judges. Winners will be announced towards the end of the conference.  The winner will be offered consultation time with local Marketing, PR, Accounting, VCs, and relevant industry experts.

Lacuna Fund provides data scientists, researchers, and social entrepreneurs with the resources they need to either produce new labeled datasets to address an underserved population or problem, augment existing datasets to be more representative, or update old datasets to be more sustainable.

Lacuna Fund seeks proposals from organizations interested in developing datasets for equitable climate outcomes in climate & energy and climate & health.