Transmission Acceleration Grants (TAG) will support State and Tribal efforts to accelerate and improve transmission siting and permitting and strengthen transmission planning for critical transmission lines (100 kV or greater) in any area of the country. Eligible participants are State or Tribal entities, or entities working with them such as regional transmission planning organizations, regional-state committees, or not-for-profit organizations. The TAG Program is making $10 million in funding available at this time.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Utility and Grid Operator Technical Assistance program is designed to solve real-time technical challenges or near-term planning challenges utilities are facing as they transition to clean energy. This application is for utilities and grid operators seeking up to 100 hours of subject matter expertise from NREL and other DOE labs. Focus areas include load forecasting, distribution system planning, distributed energy resources, vehicle-grid integration, building electrification, transmission and distribution coordination, bulk-power planning

Through this R-STEP Opportunity, The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is requesting applications from TA providers who have a deep understanding of renewable energy planning, siting, and permitting topics (e.g., environmental impacts, tax policies, land use, zoning ordinance development) and demonstrated experience providing advisory, educational, or technical assistance services. Selected TA providers will provide technical support to R-STEP collaboratives to improve their understanding of priority LSRE siting topics, inform the development of state-based resources, and strengthen the ability of collaboratives to serve as a trusted source of information within their states.

Eligible applicants for this opportunity include for-profit organizations (e.g., consulting firms, law firms), nonprofit organizations (e.g., environmental nonprofits, trade associations, and community-based organizations), and academic institutions (i.e., colleges and universities).

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship (MLEF) Program is a 10-week summer internship for undergraduate and graduate students in STEM majors. As an MLEF participant you will:

• Complete a hands-on research project at one of DOE’s National Laboratories or DOE Headquarters.
• Learn from our scientists and engineers how we are minimizing the environmental and climate impacts of fossil fuels and industrial processes while working to achieve net-zero emissions.
• Receive a weekly stipend. Travel and housing assistance is also available.

The FY25 CLIMR Lab Call allocates part of the DOE’s Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF), whose mission is to support technologies with commercial potential that originate at DOE national laboratories by attracting partners who will develop products and sell them into viable markets. This process fills a key need for many labs as they assess their own portfolios, identify the highest-quality prospective partners, and assist those industry partners in evaluating technologies for their business models. While only DOE national laboratories are eligible for funding from this lab call, every funded project must include at least one private sector partner. Incubators, accelerators, manufacturers, and trade associations are among the range of partner types encouraged to partner with national labs through the CLIMR lab call, as they are well positioned to help energy-related national lab-developed technology advance toward commercialization.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) seeks to accelerate innovative solutions to address new load growth from computing, manufacturing, buildings, and transportation through use of a Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA). This PIA complements the Connected Communities 2.0 funding opportunity, launched in July, which is designed to validate technology innovations at the grid edge—where electricity distribution transitions between utilities and end users—in real-world situations to help ensure grid readiness for load growth. Here, the PIA will accelerate collection and reporting of performance data at the grid edge, especially from electric and gas distribution systems working with utilities, and associated analysis to increase acceptance of new technologies and planning strategies as viable approaches for efficient infrastructure investment.

The American-Made Partnerships to Accelerate Training & Hiring for Geothermal Heat Pumps (GHP PATHs) Prize is a $3 million-dollar prize competition designed to hire, certify, and train the current and next generation of geothermal heat pump workers. In Phase 1, competitors submit a narrative describing their vision for building a sustainable pathway to training and hiring in their defined region. Up to 20 winning teams will receive $40,000 each in cash and will be eligible to compete in Phase 2.

The Industrial Energy Storage Systems Prize is a $4.8 million challenge sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO). The prize seeks cost-effective energy storage concepts for industrial facilities that enhance energy efficiency and industrial decarbonization and are applicable across industrial sectors.

This prize supports the acceleration of market adoption for cost-effective thermal energy storage technologies that can be charged by thermal or electrical sources, and provide heating, cooling, and/or power to industrial facilities. 

The American-Made Promoting Registration of Inverters and Modules with Ecolabel (PRIME) Prize is a two-phase, $2.7 million competition aimed at increasing EPEAT registration of solar PV modules and inverters. The goal is to help manufacturers meet the high bar for EPEAT product standards and make their products more attractive to purchasers with sustainability goals. The prize incentivizes the registration of PV module and inverter products through the EPEAT ecolabel. EPEAT is an ecolabel operated and maintained by the Global Electronics Council (GEC) for certain electronic products, including solar PV modules and inverters.

The SBIR/STTR Programs Office works collaboratively with 13 program offices throughout the DOE. Each DOE program office considers its high priority research needs and program mission, as well as the Department’s goals for the program in developing research topics.  The specific research topics selected for the SBIR and STTR programs are developed by DOE technical program managers. DOE offers more than sixty technical topics and 250 subtopics, spanning research areas that support the DOE mission in Energy Production, Energy Use, Fundamental Energy Sciences, Environmental Management, and Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation.

As part of National Small Business Week, the U.S. Small Business Administration takes the opportunity to highlight the impact of outstanding entrepreneurs, small business owners, and community members from all 50 states and U.S. territories. Every day, they’re working to grow small businesses, create 21st century jobs, drive innovation, and increase America’s global competitiveness. And in recognizing the changing face of America, the SBA’s National Small Business Week awards honor individuals and businesses that reflect our nation’s rich diversity.

The Molecular Foundations for Sustainability: Sustainable Polymers Enabled by Emerging Data Analytics program (MFS-SPEED) is a cross-directorate funding call in response to The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 and the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. It is supported by the NSF Directorates for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) and Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP), and five industry partners: Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, BASF, Dow, and IBM. The goal of MFS-SPEED is to support fundamental research enabling the accelerated discovery and ultimate manufacturing of sustainable polymers using state-of-the-art data science, and to enhance development of a cross-disciplinary workforce skilled in this area. In particular, through this solicitation the research community is encouraged to address the discovery and elaboration of new sustainable polymers or sustainable pathways to existing polymers by the creation and use of a data-centric environment where research projects are: (1) focused on new approaches to predicting structure and properties of polymers and advanced soft materials, (2) with insights enabled by data analytics including Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning; (3) This includes more efficient, scalable preparation of monomers and polymers using existing or new synthetic routes (4) and this call aims to train a technical workforce that leverages data analytics to create sustainable polymers and soft materials. Molecular Foundations for Sustainability: Sustainable Polymers Enabled by Emerging Data Analytics (MFS-SPEED,) research grants – Awards will be supported in FY24/25 up to $2M per award for up to a three-year grant period, commensurate with the scope and team size. This program seeks to fund collaborative team research that transcends the traditional boundaries of individual disciplines to achieve the program goals.