This funding opportunity announcement (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). SETO supports solar energy research and development (R&D) in three technology areas—photovoltaics (PV), concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP), and systems integration—with the goal of improving the affordability, reliability, and performance of solar technologies on the grid. This section describes the overall goals of the Solar Energy Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2020 (SETO 2020) funding program and the types of projects being solicited for funding support through this FOA.

The SETO 2020 funding program seeks to advance R&D of solar technologies that reduce the cost of solar, increase the competitiveness of American manufacturing and businesses, and improve the reliability of the grid. These projects will advance R&D in PV, CSP, and energy management technologies, while also working to improve cybersecurity, expand solar to new applications like agricultural solar, integrate solar and storage, and utilize artificial intelligence to address research challenges.

The Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) is within the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). EERE advances America’s leadership in science and technology through early-stage research and development in sustainable transportation, renewable power, and energy efficiency.

WETO enables growth and U.S. competitiveness in the domestic wind industry by supporting early-stage research on technologies that enhance energy affordability, reliability, and resilience and strengthen U.S. energy security, economic growth, and environmental quality. More information is available at www.energy.gov/eere/wind.

WETO works with DOE National Laboratories, industry, universities, and other federal agencies to conduct research and development activities through competitively selected, directly funded, and cost-shared projects. WETO’s efforts target land-based utility-scale, offshore, and distributed wind power to fully support a national clean energy economy.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is issuing, on behalf of the Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO), Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) DE-FOA-0002236 entitled “Offshore Wind Atmospheric Science and Project Development.”

This FOA has Two Topic Areas

Topic Area 1: The overall goal of this Topic Area is to provide funding for a project that will improve wind resource modeling and predictions in offshore wind energy development areas. Using lessons-learned and information gained during the previous program work in complex-terrain wind resource modeling and prediction, this Topic Area will focus on improving wind resource model physics for foundational wind forecasts and other applications in offshore wind energy development areas.

Topic Area 2: The overall goal of this Topic Area is to provide funding for a project(s) that will enable demonstration of a novel technology and/or methodology that will advance the state-of-the-art of offshore wind energy in the United States. The proposed project must either implement an innovative technology at engineering/pilot or full-scale, and/or employ a novel methodology that has yet to be utilized commercially in the United States for offshore wind.

This is a competitive grant solicitation. The California Energy Commission’s Clean Transportation Program announces the availability of up to $115.7 million in grant funds, subject to future appropriations and Clean Transportation Program Investment Plan funding allocations, for hydrogen refueling infrastructure projects that will expand California’s early commercial light duty hydrogen refueling and fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) markets and to accommodate the projected FCEV roll-out in 2021-2024. Of the up-to amount, $45.7 million is currently available.

This solicitation encourages projects with fueling agreements with fleets of commercial vehicles and transit buses to increase station throughput and to aid in the transition of California’s commercial vehicle and bus fleets to a zero-emission alternative. The network of hydrogen refueling stations, hydrogen fuel supply, and the use of FCEVs will support California’s air quality improvement and climate change goals. Hydrogen is one of the alternative fuels that contributes to reducing the carbon intensity (CI) of transportation fuels.

76West is an unparalleled competition focused on growing entrepreneurs and attracting resources from the U.S. and around the world to build clean energy businesses and jobs in New York State’s Southern Tier region. Each year, 76West awards one grand prize winner of $1 million, and three $500,000 awards, all payable in increments based on specific milestone accomplishments. Along with a cash prize, competition organizers will also seek to provide additional specialized support based on the winners’ business goals. Winning clean energy startups that are located outside of New York State will need to demonstrate economic impact in one of four ways to meet prize requirements. See competition details to learn more.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has issued its FY 2020 Phase I Release 2 Funding Opportunity Announcement (DE-FOA-0002146) for the SBIR and STTR Programs.  Qualified small businesses with strong research capabilities in science or engineering in any of the research areas sought in the announcement are encouraged to apply.

The following DOE program offices are participating in this Funding Opportunity Announcement:

• Office of Cyber Security, Energy Security, and Emergency Response
• Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation
• Office of Electricity
• Office of Environmental Management
• Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
• Office of Fossil Energy
• Office of Fusion Energy Sciences
• Office of High Energy Physics
• Office of Nuclear Energy

Read the full list of DOE FY 2020 Phase 1 release 2 topics.

DOE is soliciting unique solutions to complex wind energy projects from interdisciplinary teams of undergraduate students. The competition would challenge students to research, design, and build a turbine for deployment in the high wind environment of Eastern Colorado. In addition, the participants would also be required to financially analyze the wind plant. The students would be imparted real-world experience as they prepare to enter the wind industry workforce.

DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) intends to accelerate wide-scale deployment of Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage using cost-effective anthropogenic CO2 commercial-scale storage sites, carbon capture and purification technologies. The major areas of interest are site characterization of a commercial-scale CO2 storage site, Underground injection control, CO2 capture assessment and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Office intends to gauge industry willingness to partner over exploration of underutilized geothermal resources and understand the barriers in such a partnership. The dimensions of interest include Well characteristics, associated Risk and Liability. Diverse applicants from industry, academia, research laboratories, and government agencies are requested to provide their feedback.

For more information: Click here

The DOE plans to organize a competition focusing on increasing resource recovery from municipal wastewater treatment plants in order to improve energy efficiency. Applicants would be expected to come up with a novel, systems-based solutions capable of resource recovery at small-to-medium-sized wastewater treatment plants. Inputs to this RFI would be used to set the competition objectives, rules, metrics, and incentives.

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The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) promotes American energy independence by supporting advanced biofuel producers with quarterly payments for finished products. The basic criteria for applicants would be to meet the requirements of advanced biofuels and ensure the independence of buyers and sellers from each other. Interested biofuel producers (based in the US only) are requested to apply to this program.

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Chain Reaction Innovations (CRI) offers a two-year fellowship for innovators focusing on clean energy and science technologies. Through an annual call for innovators, four to six individuals will be selected to join CRI. Program participants will receive the financial and technical support needed to perform early-stage research and development (R&D) that may launch energy or manufacturing businesses in the future.

• Fellowship stipend of $115k per year for two years plus healthcare benefits
• Non-dilutive funding for de-risking technological innovations
• Access to technical experts, facilities, and unique capabilities at Argonne National Laboratory
• Networking access to business experts, investors, mentors, and corporate partners
• Argonne takes no equity stake

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is providing guaranteed grant financing for renewable energy systems to increase American energy independence through energy efficiency improvements that lower the energy costs for small businesses and agricultural producers. Selected rural small businesses may utilize the funds for purchase, installation, and construction of energy efficiency improvements.

For more information: Click here