The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the opportunity to apply for $9,169,076 in competitive grants for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Public Transportation on Indian Reservations (Tribal Transit) Program under Assistance Listing Number 20.509.

The purpose of this program is to encourage or enhance tribal engagement with or participation in existing Regional Ocean Partnerships (ROPs) around the country. Proposals submitted in response to this announcement must:

• support tribal activities aligned with ROP priorities, including identification of ocean and coastal priorities;
• provide opportunities for tribes to work together to define intertribal ocean and coastal management priorities and identify alignment and intersection with ROP priorities;
• enhance or create capacity for tribes to engage with and in ROP activities (e.g., webinars, meetings, workshops);
• support the development of partnerships or engagement between a tribal government and a ROP in the management of ocean and coastal resources; and/or
• increase consideration and inclusion of tribal information and knowledge (as appropriate) in regional data portals, enhance tribes’ ability to access data developed by ROPs, or to inform which data and tools are available in regional data portals.

DOE announced the availability of up to $63 million to enable state and local governments to expand battery recycling and modernize American manufacturing by making cutting edge technologies like advanced sensors and modeling more accessible to small- and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs). This funding opportunity advances next-generation tools and resources to achieve the Biden-Harris Administration’s ambitious goal of a net-zero economy by 2050 and will help revitalize and strengthen America’s global leadership in manufacturing.

Through the two Areas of Interest (AOIs), the FOA will provide approximately $63 million in support of programs by state or local government entities with the following purposes:

• AOI 1: State Manufacturing Leadership Program (SMLP)
• AOI 2: State and Local Battery Collection, Recycling, and Reprocessing Program

Recognizing that it takes significant investment to open and develop new export markets, USDA launched the $1.2 billion Regional Agricultural Promotion Program (RAPP) in 2023 in response to a bipartisan request from the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

RAPP aims to diversify and expand market opportunities for U.S. food and agricultural products beyond the traditional top customers. Instead, RAPP will focus on enhancing U.S. exports to new markets in parts of the world – including South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, and others – where the middle class is growing and the desire for high-quality food and farm products is increasing. Gaining market share in these diverse and dynamic markets will help U.S. exporters better weather global shocks and better compete in an increasingly volatile global marketplace.

RAPP funds are available to U.S. agricultural trade organizations, state regional trade groups, agricultural cooperatives, and state agencies that conduct approved market development activities to expand exports, address trade barriers, and showcase American agricultural products in new and diverse markets.

Citizen science, in which individuals or organizations voluntarily participate in one or more aspects of the scientific process, is one of six NOAA science and technology focus areas.  Citizen science has a rich history within NOAA with volunteer observations contributing to our Nation’s prediction and management of weather, oceans, coasts, and fisheries for decades. NOAA supports opportunities for the public to engage with the agency’s mission and address societal needs through science, technology, and innovation. The purpose of this solicitation is to support citizen science projects that can help support federal fisheries stock assessments and climate-ready fisheries management. Funding will prioritize projects that: provide information that can supplement and/or inform stock assessments or increase understanding of current and/or future impacts of climate change on fish stocks and/or fishing communities.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $43 million in funding for projects that will advance research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) in several areas critical to the future of advanced batteries. The funding will drive innovations in low-cost electric vehicle (EV) battery electrode, cell, or pack manufacturing; improve battery safety and reduce cascading failures; and strengthen the domestic supply chain of inexpensive and abundant battery materials. This funding is aligned with strategies detailed in the U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization, which is a landmark interagency framework of strategies and actions to remove all emissions from the transportation sector by 2050, by advancing battery technologies that can power safe and efficient zero-emission EVs.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) announced the Offshore Wind National and Regional Research and Development Funding Opportunity, which will award $48.6 million for projects that address several major areas of need for offshore wind. The areas include accelerating research and development of floating offshore wind platforms; exploring innovations for fixed-bottom foundations; improving offshore wildlife protection through new monitoring technologies; expanding the reach of the domestic supply chain; advancing U.S. academic leadership in floating offshore wind; and investigating solutions to protect future infrastructure from lightning.

The Design Challenge is an annual collegiate competition where interdisciplinary teams create sustainable, high-performance building designs that address real-world issues such as existing building retrofits, community impacts, affordability, and resilience. Teams collaborate on a residential or commercial design project for one or two academic semesters, with the competition culminating each April at the Solar Decathlon Competition Event.

Technology commercialization is notoriously challenging in the building sector. Building tech investments often require long horizons that our planet does not have time for. Additionally, many new projects and businesses fall victim to ‘Valleys of Death’ during their early development stages. IMPEL equips early-stage innovators with technical and communication tools, so they can translate the premise and promise of new building technologies into the language of business. 

Uniquely embedded at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab’s Building Technologies Division, and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office, IMPEL connects its Innovators to public and private sector pipelines, and a diverse network of investors, demonstration and technical experts, industry leaders, and policymakers to help our innovators reach their next milestone.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) Low Carbon Pathways for Multifamily Buildings program offers financial support to New York State Multifamily building owners & property managers to install low carbon energy efficiency upgrades.

Through the program, affordable and market-rate multifamily building owners/property managers can take a step-by-step approach towards achieving whole-building deep carbon reductions and electrification by implementing packages of low carbon upgrades that can more easily leverage existing capital improvement milestones (e.g. equipment end of life, local law compliance, etc.) to reduce the incremental cost of improvements.  In addition to energy and utility bill savings, these low carbon measure packages may lead to reduced operation and maintenance costs, extended equipment life, and increased occupant comfort.

Despite advances in energy storage technologies, and ever-increasing numbers of deployments, several technological optimization opportunities still exist including initial pilots and demonstrations, hardware cost reductions, enhanced system performance, and demonstration of effective integration with the power grid. Improving and optimizing these areas will accelerate growth of long duration electrical energy storage deployments. As New York State’s electrification of transportation and buildings applications increases, long duration electrical energy storage solutions will become critical in meeting times of reduced renewable generation.

NYSERDA seeks to stimulate and grow long duration energy storage solutions in electrical, mechanical, chemical, and thermal-electric energy storage innovation portfolios in New York State by making up to $5.35 million in funds available. This funding is to support innovative and under-utilized long duration energy storage solutions, devices, software, controls, and other complementary technologies that decrease energy storage total hardware and installation costs, improve performance, and demonstrate integration with the power grid. Submissions must demonstrate significant statewide public benefits and quantify all energy, environmental, and/or economic impacts.