Through this R-STEP Opportunity, The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is requesting applications from state-based collaboratives aiming to increase state and local capacity for large-scale renewable energy planning and siting. R-STEP will also serve as a platform for Collaboratives to share learnings and best practices with other stakeholders. A single application should be submitted by a team of organizations interested in working together to form a collaborative. DOE highly encourages state energy offices (or equivalent state agencies) and university extension offices to lead or participate in applications but recognizes that the organizations best suited to perform these activities will vary from state to state. Applicants are encouraged to team with other organizations including, but not limited to: Tribal governments, universities, non-governmental organizations, and community-based organizations. DOE also recommends that teams include organizations familiar with the needs of local communities in the state. They should have experience providing educational or technical assistance services to local communities and have technical expertise on renewable energy siting topics (e.g., environmental impacts, tax policies, land use, zoning ordinance development).

The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (Joint Office), through the Department of Energy (DOE), has made available $54 million in new federal funding for projects that will expand community e-mobility access and provide clean reliable energy. The funding will drive innovation in equitable clean transportation and is aligned with strategies detailed in the U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization. This program will make strategic investments at the local level that address key barriers to expanding access to electrified mobility options for individuals without home charging; accelerate the transition to electrified fleets; and mature the implementation of managed charging systems to mitigate impacts and optimize usage of the grid.

This program aims to provide technical assistance (TA) to employers (which may include public sector entities) and labor unions in the United States and its territories to encourage employment of women in both apprenticeable occupations and nontraditional occupations (A/NTO), specifically in the following ways:

• Developing (establishing, expanding, and/or enhancing) pre-apprenticeship, youth apprenticeship, Registered Apprenticeship, or other nontraditional skills training programs designed to prepare women for careers in A/NTO;
• Providing ongoing orientations or other resources for employers, unions, and workers on creating a successful environment for women in A/NTO; and/or
• Setting up support groups, facilitating networks, and/or providing supportive services for women in A/NTO to improve their retention.

The Clean Energy Innovator Fellowship (CEIF) program funds recent graduates and energy professionals to support critical energy organizations to advance clean energy solutions that will help decarbonize the power system, electrify transportation and industry, and make the U.S. power system more resilient, equitable and inclusive. The goal of the program is to increase access to clean energy career opportunities across the country and accelerate the national transition to resilient and affordable clean energy. The CEIF program is supported by the Grid Deployment Office (GDO), Office of Indian Policy and Programs (IE), and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).

The Hydroelectric Production Incentive Program was authorized by Congress through Section 242 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The program, led by the U.S Department of Energy (DOE), provides incentive payments to qualified hydroelectric facilities for electricity generated and sold. In November 2021, Congress also directed $125 million for the program through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Incentive payments shall be calculated as follows: the amount of eligible kWhs
produced by the hydroelectric generation facility is multiplied by the statutory incentive rate of $0.018/kWh, which is adjusted as required by 42 U.S.C. § 15881(e)(2).

Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) aims to build foundations for Office of Science (SC) research through traineeships at academic institutions that have been historically underrepresented in the SC portfolio. RENEW leverages SC’s unique national laboratories, user facilities, and other research infrastructure to provide training opportunities for students and postdoctoral researchers from these institutions. The hands-on experiences gained through RENEW will open new career avenues for trainees, forming a nucleus for a future pool of talented young scientists, engineers, and technicians with the critical skills and expertise needed for the full breadth of SC research activities.

FAIR is focused on building research capacity at academic institutions that have been historically underrepresented in the SC portfolio. Capacity building is interpreted broadly to include both personnel expertise and infrastructure and is expected to be durable, contributing over time toward sustained research strength at the lead institution. Because collaboration is critical to SC research, relationship building through the partnership is considered a key component of the FAIR program. All applications must be submitted on behalf of a lead institution and include a single partnering team member. The lead institution must be a non-R1 MSI or a non-R1 ERI and the partner must be either a DOE National Laboratory (https://www.energy.gov/national-laboratories), an SC Scientific User Facility (https://science.osti.gov/User-Facilities), or an R1 MSI/ERI.

The Clean Bus Planning Awards (CBPA) program reduces barriers to zero-emission bus deployment by providing school and transit bus fleets with free technical assistance to develop comprehensive and customized fleet electrification transition plans. CBPA is managed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and funded by the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (Joint Office). CBPA connects transit and school bus fleets with technical experts to support planning for bus electrification. Fleets also have the option to receive free deployment assistance from NREL at the completion of their plan.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP) works alongside remote and island communities seeking to transform their energy systems and increase energy resilience. Island and remote communities have unique physical features that fundamentally shape what energy options they have available. For many of these communities, access to resilient, affordable, sustainable, and clean energy resources is a priority. ETIPP helps communities to assess and advance the solutions that best meet their needs. This multi-year, cross-sector technical assistance effort applies a tailored, community-driven approach to clean and resilient energy transitions, leveraging the experience and expertise of the ETIPP partner network: a broad coalition of local stakeholders, regional organizations, national laboratories, and DOE offices.

The Department of Energy announced $45.8 million in new funding for projects that will advance research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) critical to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector. Topic areas in the Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 R&D funding opportunity include:

• Next-generation phosphate-based cathodes.
• Advancing the state of the art for sodium-ion batteries.
• Developing concepts for decreasing greenhouse gas emissions from off-road vehicles such as construction, agriculture, mining, and forestry vehicles.
• Developing and deploying vehicle-to-everything technologies that can lead to meaningful savings at the vehicle and transportation system level.
• Developing high-performance, domestically produced electrical steels (E-steels) for use in electrified powertrains.
• Addressing critical cybersecurity needs for smart and secure electric vehicle charging.

The FOA will award up to $18.8 million to address research and development (R&D) challenges in converting algae, such as seaweeds and other wet waste feedstocks, to biofuels and bioproducts that can decarbonize domestic transportation, industry, and communities.

• Topic Area 1: Conversion of Seaweeds to Low Carbon Fuels and Bioproducts  – This Topic Area, funded by BETO, will focus on laboratory scale R&D on conversion of seaweeds and seaweed blends with other wet wastes to renewable fuels and bioproducts to enable these readily available feedstocks to access new markets.
• Topic Area 2: Conversion of Algal Biomass for Low Carbon Agricultural Bioproducts – This Topic Area, funded by FECM, will support the use of anthropogenic CO₂ streams from industrial sources or utilities to grow micro- and macroalgae for low-carbon bioproducts.

From 2024 through 2027, the Commercial Building Heat Pump Accelerator will work with stakeholders, from commercial building owners and operators to manufacturers, to accelerate the development and adoption of heat pump packaged RTUs to achieve integrated energy efficiency and electrification of buildings. The Accelerator is working to accelerate the production and deployment of heat pump RTUs. Organizations looking to partner with the Accelerator can join the Challenge or the Campaign.