DOE’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) program hereby announces its interest in receiving applications for Building EPSCoR-State/DOE-National Laboratory Partnerships. These partnerships advance the understanding of the physical world by supporting fundamental, early-stage energy research collaborations with DOE National Laboratories. Participation by undergraduate students, graduate students, or postdoctoral fellows is required. Early career faculty from EPSCoR jurisdictions are encouraged to apply, and utilization of DOE user facilities is encouraged.

Regional Initiative for Technical Assistance Partnerships (RITAP) to Advance Deployment of Basin-Scale Carbon Transport and Storage and Community Engagement, will establish partnerships comprised of stakeholders with extensive technical, managerial, regulatory and business expertise specific to carbon transport and storage that will focus on the unique challenges and opportunities of multiple storage-based carbon management projects within a single geologic basin or sub-basin. Results of their efforts will provide a valuable public information resource for project developers, accelerating the socially equitable and environmentally responsible deployment of storage-based carbon management projects.

This FOA is being issued by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) to invest in innovative social science research that generates actionable insights to improve large-scale solar (LSS) siting processes and outcomes for host communities—particularly those that are disadvantaged—and the solar industry. This funding opportunity will support research on the social dimensions of siting LSS facilities that are 1 MWdc or larger and located on private land. LSS facilities may or may not include storage. The goal of this FOA is to generate actionable insights that can guide solar energy developers and owner/operators, local, state, federal, and Tribal governments, landowners, community organizations, and other stakeholders to improve LSS siting processes and outcomes for host communities and the solar industry.

This FOA supports the vision outlined in the U.S. National Clean Hydrogen
Strategy and Roadmap of affordable clean hydrogen for a net-zero carbon
future and a sustainable, resilient, and equitable economy. It targets five topics
of interest critical to enabling increased adoption of clean hydrogen technologies
across sectors, particularly in medium- and heavy-duty (MD/HD) vehicles and
other heavy-duty transportation applications. This FOA will fund projects under the following topic areas:

• Topic 1: Components for Hydrogen Fueling of Medium- and Heavy-Duty (MD/HD) Vehicles.
• Topic 2: Standardized 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.

This FOA seeks applications to address the recycling of EV batteries to support
the establishment of a robust domestic critical materials supply chain. The
activities funded under this FOA include projects that reduce the costs
associated with the transport, disassembly, and preprocessing of EOL EV
batteries for battery recycling and that demonstrate the recycling of plastic EV
battery accessory components. These Topic Areas will support the development
of a domestic critical materials supply chain by ensuring that EV battery recycling
is a financially viable endeavor.

The Women and Minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Fields Grant Program is a competitive grants program supporting research and extension projects that will increase — to the maximum extent practicable — participation by rural women and underrepresented minorities from rural areas in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

NIFA intends this program to address educational needs within broadly defined areas of food and agricultural sciences. Applications recommended for funding must highlight and emphasize the development of a competent and qualified workforce in the food and agricultural sciences. WAMS-funded projects improve the economic health and viability of rural communities by developing research and extension initiatives that focus on new and emerging employment opportunities in STEM occupations. Projects that contribute to the economic viability of rural communities are also encouraged.

The primary objective of the GREENWELLS program is the development of chemical reactors and supporting units that economically store at least 50% of incoming intermittent electrical energy in carbon-containing liquids. To achieve attractive economics, ARPA-E expects that chemical reactors will need to be dynamically operable to optimize the entire system of renewable energy production, electrolysis capital, and energy storage. If successful, the GREENWELLS program will provide low-cost carbon-containing liquids that enable the transportation and storage of renewable energy, are suitable as-is or with upgrading for use in the difficult-to-decarbonize sectors, and will speed the development of new renewable energy projects by alleviating requirements for connection to an electric grid.

Technical approaches of interest include but are not limited to:

(1) Dynamic Reactor Design

(2) Novel Catalyst Development and Optimization

(3) Manufacturing of Modular Reaction Systems

(4) Transient Modelling and Process Optimization

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), on behalf of the Office of Electricity (OE), Grid Controls and Communications Division, Sensor and Data Analytics (SDA) Program, is seeking applications under this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to enhance grid reliability and resilience with demonstrations of sensors and advanced analytics to develop the grid of the future. Demonstrations and direct partnerships with data providers and power sector utilities is strongly encouraged since they ensure that the analytics can meaningfully support planning and operations decision.

The DOE SC program in Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) hereby announces its interest in receiving applications to carry out experimental research in magnetic fusion energy sciences on long-pulse overseas stellarator facilities, namely, Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X – Germany) and the Large Helical Device (LHD – Japan). The research should be related to the planning, execution, and analysis of experiments concerning the topical areas described below. The FES Burning Plasma Science: Long Pulse portfolio supports U.S. researchers who work in collaboration with foreign scientists to explore critical science and technology issues at the frontiers of magnetic fusion research. These collaborations take advantage of the unique capabilities of the most advanced overseas research facilities.

Congress established the Small Business Innovation Research / Technology Transfer (SBIR and STTR) programs to support scientific excellence and technological innovation through the investment of Federal research funds in critical American priorities to build a strong national economy.  Federal agencies with large research and development budgets set aside a small fraction of their funding for competitions among small businesses only. Small businesses that win awards in these R&D programs keep the rights to any technology developed and are encouraged to commercialize the technology. DOE’s Phase 1 Release 2 includes funding for topics at the Offices of:

• Electricity
• Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
• Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response
• Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation R&D
• Fossil Energy and Carbon Management
• Nuclear Energy

This FOA aims to reach across both the midstream and downstream segments of the battery supply chain, supporting both midstream battery materials and component manufacturing, as well as subsequent cell manufacturing and end of life recycling. It is anticipated that the FOA would increase domestic battery manufacturing and create good-paying clean energy jobs. The overall FOA scope includes commercial facilities for battery-grade precursor materials, constituent materials, battery components, and cell manufacturing and recycling.

The purpose of the grant program is to provide funds for extension projects that have national or regional relevancy. In particular, the program supports extension projects that address emerging forest and rangeland resources through the adoption of climate-smart technologies among forest and rangeland owners.

The overall intent of the RREA-NFF for FY24 is to support projects that result in the adoption of climate smart technologies and practices that: 1) strengthen education, training, and technical assistance to forest and rangeland owners and managers; 2) promote conservation, protection, and market development through effective extension educational design; 3) shape the future of forestry and rangeland through effective communication and engagement with forest and rangeland owners; 4) support new and better markets for forestry and rangelands products generated; and 5) can be easily replicated by other institutions, states, and regions.