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) to invest in innovative research and development (R&D) that accelerates the large-scale development and deployment of solar technology to support an equitable transition to a decarbonized electricity system by 2035 and decarbonized energy sector by 2050. By investing in research on the co-location of solar photovoltaics (PV) and agriculture (“agrivoltaics”), this FOA will advance the decarbonization of the energy system while providing new economic opportunities to farmers, rural communities, and the solar industry. The office supports solar energy research, development, demonstration, and technical assistance in five areas—PV, concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP), systems integration, manufacturing and competitiveness, and soft costs—to improve the affordability, reliability, and domestic benefit of solar technologies on the electric grid.

As the U.S. works to decarbonize the transportation sector and produce an increasing amount of “clean” (zero emission) electricity, electric vehicles (EVs) become logical alternatives to internal combustion engines (ICEs). However, to accelerate and/or broaden EV adoption, consumer-centric considerations need to be more thoroughly addressed, including cost, convenience, reliability, and safety. Although it is expected that EVs will continue to gain market share domestically, significantly more effort is required to address and remove key technology barriers to EV adoption among a greater percentage of the population. In response to these challenges, ARPA-E’s Electric Vehicles for American Low-Carbon Living (EVs4ALL) program will focus on advancing next-generation battery technologies that have the potential to significantly improve affordability, convenience, reliability, and safety of EVs compared to those available today. Final submission deadline TBD.

The DOE’s National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP) as a partner is a coalition of community solar stakeholders working to expand access to affordable community solar to every U.S. household.

This partnership will enable the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office and its national laboratory partners to:
– Create a platform for collaboration
– Develop practical resources
– Facilitate peer-to-peer learning
– Offer a variety of technical assistance opportunities to help you set goals, reach objectives, track progress, and report key metrics.

The Carbon to Value (C2V) Initiative—a unique partnership among the Urban Future Lab at New York University-Tandon, Greentown Labs, and Fraunhofer USA, and Founding Partner NYSERDA—combines a best-in-class partnership accelerator program with exclusive access to industry leaders shaping the carbontech marketplace of tomorrow. We’re seeking groundbreaking carbontech startups between TRL 4 and TRL 7 that are developing scalable solutions that capture carbon and/or incorporate captured carbon as a major input for valorization.

Technology areas include, but are not limited to:

• Carbontech solutions related to carbon capture (direct air capture or point source), carbon utilization/conversion into value-added products (e.g., fuels, chemicals, building materials, advanced materials, proteins/food), and/or carbon sequestration/removal technologies (e.g., mineralization and other sequestration methods)

• Carbontech solutions specifically for net-zero steel and/or low-carbon cement

• Carbontech solutions that utilize operational waste streams from heavy industries (e.g., mine tailings, slag, fly ash)

• Carbontech solutions specifically focused on blue carbon—carbon captured by the world’s ocean and coastal ecosystems (e.g., seaweed)

The MSI STEM Research & Development Consortium (MSRDC) is a solutions provider, research development partner and strategic asset to more than 60 minority-serving research institutions, industry and government partners. Our members use a combination of basic, applied, and/or advanced technology development research to pioneer groundbreaking solutions. With MSRDC’s unique funding vehicle, its members enjoy access to accelerate and elevate their research from concept to prototype and beyond. Current R&D funding opportunities include:

• Opaque Building Envelopes
• Thermal Energy Storage
• Next Generation Electric Machines (NGEM)
• Directed Energy Weapons – Ultra-Short Pulse Laser and Atmospheric Characterization
• High-Temperature Technologies for Naval Applications
• Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning for Photonics, Power & Energy, Atmospherics, and Quantum Science

This 12-week, in-person incubator program provides mentorship, access to prototyping services, training workshops, and partnership opportunities. The program will take place in Knoxville, TN and stipends are provided to defray travel and living costs. Up to six companies will be accepted for the next cohort. Apply by April 11.

Small grants and pro-bono professional support for smaller nonprofits is available from the ERM Foundation. This foundation invests in organizations and programs that focus on:

• Protecting and restoring biodiversity (including environmental education)
• Improving access to low carbon products and services
• Investing in women’s livelihoods in the ‘green’ economy
• Improving access to clean water and sanitation

The Impact Together Community is an initiative of the team at BASE Associates. Membership is free and limited to the founders, CEOs and leaders of companies working on solutions for the climate crisis and environmental sustainability. Members benefit from: free coaching, free bi-monthly workshop, free bi-monthly resources, partnership opportunities and community awards.

The Miller Center Accelerator is designed for high-potential social enterprises with proven traction, working on women’s economic empowerment, climate resilience, or the intersection of both. This 6-month accelerator program combines mentorship with structured curriculum to help social entrepreneurs address gaps in their impact model, business model, and growth strategies, and ultimately move them along the path toward growth, significant scale, and investment.

The primary purpose of CalSEED is to address a critical funding gap in the early stages of the energy technology development pipeline. Most entrepreneurs and researchers require multiple rounds of funding over several years to successfully commercialize their new energy invention. To obtain this sustained, long-term funding – either through private capital or large government grants—entrepreneurs and researchers must first demonstrate that their concept is feasible.

CalSEED provides small funding awards to help California entrepreneurs, researchers and businesses prove out the feasibility of new scientific concepts for energy applications. These small funding awards, along with support services, provide a launch pad to help entrepreneurs be successful in their clean energy ventures.

ETIPP employs a community-driven approach to identify and plan strategic clean energy and energy resilience solutions that address a community’s specific challenges. This approach leverages the experience and expertise of local community leaders, residents, and organizations with the ETIPP partner network. The ETIPP partner network connects selected communities with regional nonprofit or academic organizations, energy experts at DOE research institutions, and DOE offices to navigate options for addressing local clean energy and energy resilience challenges.

By participating in ETIPP, communities receive substantial support from ETIPP experts in the form of technical assistance on energy analysis and planning (see Technical Assistance below). Each community is also supported by an ETIPP regional partner that can assist with identifying and developing a community’s needs and goals.

Bloomberg Philanthropies and Kapwa Consulting recently announced the Climate Challenge Justice 40 Capacity Building Fund (J40 Fund). The purpose of the J40 Fund is to provide funding to support community-based organizations to engage and partner with their local government to advance community-led projects that align with the Justice40 Initiative.

Investment areas include: clean energy and energy efficiency, clean transit, affordable and sustainable housing, training and workforce development, the remediation and reduction of legacy pollution, and the development of critical clean water infrastructure.

The fund is managed by Kapwa Consulting, LLC, who will issue approved awards as direct professional service subcontracts to qualified contractors. Contract amounts for community-based organizations are estimated to be up to $30,000. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the pool of funds is depleted; to apply to Round 3, do so by April 14th.