Funding Opportunities in Energy

DOE to issue FOA – University Training and Research for Fossil Energy and Carbon Management

DOE announced this NOI for the University Training and Research (UTR) Program(DE-FOA-0003215), which has mission objectives to 1) train and educate the next generation of engineers and scientists; 2) support early-stage research at universities; 3) increase research and development opportunities for underrepresented and marginalized communities; and 4) ensure that students are equipped with skillsets that allow them to contribute to the US workforce and greater economy over the course of a longstanding and enduring career. Further information will come when the FOA is released. See the NOI information here.

Energy Storage Pilot Demonstrations

DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations announced the Energy Storage Pilot Demonstrations program, which will fund demonstrations for storage at the pilot-scale, focusing on non-lithium technologies, long duration (10+ hour discharge) systems, and stationary storage applications. The program seeks to advance non-lithium storage technology for commercial and utility-scale applications, generate high-quality operational datasets and techno-economic models, and build investor, utility, and other end user confidence in the viability of solutions. Concept papers are due October 16th while full applications are due February 13th, 2025. Review further information here.

DOE to issue FOA – Advanced Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies to Drive National Decarbonization

DOE announced this NOI to issue the Advanced Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies to Drive National Decarbonization (DE-FOA-0003439). This notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) supports the vision of the US National Clean Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap: affordable clean hydrogen for a net-zero carbon future and a sustainable, resilient, and equitable economy, targeting research, development, and demonstration topics for scaling and enabling hydrogen infrastructure. Review further information on this NOI here.

FY24 Scale-up of Integrated Biorefineries

DOE announced the FOA for scaling up integrated biorefineries, which supports higher-risk bioenergy technologies that are ready to scale, ultimately demonstrating feedstock-conversion variations, or production pathways, to support commercialization and meet the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) grand challenge goal of 35 billion gallons per year of SAF produced by 2050  and the Clean Fuels and Products Shot goal of 50% projected demand for maritime, rail, off-road, and renewable carbon-based chemicals by 2050. The activities of this FOA will include preparations for scaling from pre-pilot (TRL 5) biofuel technologies to pilot scale, preparations for scaling from pilot (TRL 6) biofuel technologies to demonstration scale (TRL 7-8), and preparations for scaling of pre-pilot and pilot (TRL 5-6) biochemical technologies to pilot and demonstration scale (TRL 6-8). An informational webinar will be hosted October 2nd, the concept papers are due November 7th, and full applications are due January 16th, 2025. Review further information here.

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program

The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship supports outstanding graduate students who are pursuing full-time research-based master’s and doctoral degrees in STEM disciplines, providing three years of support over a five-year fellowship period. NSF GRFP encourages applications from undergraduate seniors and Bachelor’s degree-holders, as well as first- and second-year graduate students. Applications are due in October according to the NSF application deadlines, dependent on discipline. Please note that reference letters are due prior to the application deadline dates on October 11th, 2024. Learn more about the GRFP.

DOE Applications open for 2025 Student Internships

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science (SC) is now accepting applications for the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI) program and the Community College Internships (CCI) program through October 2, 2024 at 5:00 PM. Interns will discover careers at DOE national labs and gain experience that will translate from internships to employment. While the CCI program is focused exclusively on community college students, SULI is applicable for undergraduates and recent bachelor’s and associate’s graduates and applications are due October 2nd, 2024.  More information can be found at the Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS) website

Moore Inventor Fellows Program

The Moore Inventor Fellowship supports the creation of technologies and tools with potential to improve three core areas; scientific discovery, environmental conservation, and patient care, broadly accepting projects that fall within those program areas. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation will support each fellow with $675,000 over three years to drive innovation. The candidates must be no more than 10 years past receiving their terminal advanced degree in their field (M.S., Ph.D, or M.D.). This is a limited submission opportunity, with OVPR internal submission due on October 1st, 2024. Institutions will submit a nomination form by November 15th.  Learn more about the Moore Inventor Fellows Program.

ARPA-E SPARKS

The ARPA-E Spurring Projects to Advance energy Research and Knowledge Swiftly program (SPARKS) provides quick support of early-stage applied research to explore new concepts that can create disruptive transformations in energy technology. The SPARKS FOA was released November of 2023 and awards single-phase efforts of durations of 18 months or less with a total project cost of up to $500,000. Applications will be accepted any time while the FOA remains open. ARPA-E has just recently provided a dedicated email address for SPARKS technical inquiries. See DE-FOA-0003164 on the ARPA-E Exchange for more details.

DOE Critical Facility Energy Resilience (CiFER)

The DOE’s Office of Electricity aims to advance innovative storage technologies through the Critical Facility Energy Resilience grant, spanning early stage R&D through widespread commercialization. Projects will include performing an analysis of resiliency benefits and how the benefits are allocated to end user, investor, and community stakeholders. CiFER outcomes include but are not limited to: identifying a host site with resiliency needs, deploying energy technology at a host site, demonstrating benefits, and analyzing the value of resiliency provided by the energy storage system. The closing date for applications is October 4th, 2024 and further details about this funding opportunity can be found at Grants.gov CiFER.

FY 2024 Vehicle Technologies Office Batteries FOA

The DOE FY 2024 Vehicle Technologies Office Batteries Funding Opportunity is intended to advance key research areas critical to net-zero greenhouse gas emission goals, including battery chemistry and component material development, risk reduction for battery fires, and improving efficient and effective manufacturing of battery components. Concept papers were due September 9th, 2024 and the closing date for applications is October 30th, 2024. More information can be found for FY 2024 VTO Batteries Funding.

DOE to issue FOA – Advancing Technology Development for Securing a Domestic Supply of Critical Minerals and Materials (CMM)

DOE announced this NOI to issue the FOA titled Advancing Technology Development for Securing a Domestic Supply of Critical Minerals and Materials. The intended FOA has four areas of interest; 1) coproduction of critical minerals and materials and carbon manufacturing precursor materials from unconventional coal and other carbon-based feedstocks, 2) recovery of heavy rare earth elements form secondary and unconventional resources, 3) critical mineral recovery from produced water, 4) process diversification: production of rare earth elements from secondary/unconventional resources and recycled materials. Further information will be available when the FOA is released. See the NOI information here.

DOE to issue FOA – Fiscal Year 2025 Solar Module and Solar Hardware (SMASH) Incubator

DOE, on behalf of the Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) announced this NOI to issue the FY25 Solar Module and Solar Hardware (SMASH) Incubator. This opportunity seeks to address the lack of private investment available to successfully commercialize research and development activities that help bring innovative photovoltaic technology to market. While prime recipients of the awards funded through this funding opportunity will be for-profit entities, institutions of higher education are an eligible subrecipient. Applications will be selected from three topic areas: 1) crystalline silicon (c-Si)module technology; 2) Cadmium telluride (CdTe) module technology; and 3) Non-module hardware technology. Review further information on this notice of intent here.

Science and Technology Centers: Integrative Partnerships

The Science and Technology Centers (STC): Integrative Partnerships program solicits projects with broad scientific and societal impact, providing support for any area of science and engineering that NSF supports. Centers must promote research, education, broadening participation, and the facilitation of knowledge transfer. Preliminary proposals are due November 20th, 2024 and the closing date for applications is June 2nd, 2025. Further information on STC Integrative Partnerships can be found through the posting on Grants.gov.

Water Power Innovation Network

The DOE’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) is issuing this funding announcement to support innovative water power systems and solutions which promote the advancement of marine energy and next-generation hydropower for an improved grid. WPTO is focused on water power incubation and acceleration through this solicitation, funding programs that accelerate commercialization and adoption of water power systems through programs that promote entrepreneurs and small businesses. Concept papers were due on August 28th and full applications are due October 23rd. More information can be found under DE-FOA-0003323 on EERE Exchange.

Offshore Wind National and Regional Research and Development

The DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) have put forward this funding opportunity to improve offshore wind energy. Specific goals of the FOA include accelerating floating offshore wind deployment, simplify port and vessel constraints, improve ecological monitoring, leverage strengths of the great lakes region, seed university education, and advance understanding of lightning impacts to offshore wind farms. Concept papers were due September 3rd, 2024, full applications are due November 7th, and further information can be found at DE-FOA-0003334 on EERE Exchange.

Carbon Management Funding Announcement

DOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) will make an additional $54.4 million available to advance diverse carbon management approaches to reduce CO2 pollution. The funding will support development of technologies that capture CO2 from industrial and power generation sources or directly from the atmosphere. Round six of this opportunity has 3 areas of interest: 1) carbon conversion technology, 2) point source carbon capture technology, and 3) carbon transport and storage. The submission deadline for the full application for round six is due October 14th, 2024. Further information on this opportunity can be found here.

Carbon Capture, Removal, and Conversion Test Centers

DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory posted the funding opportunity for Carbon Capture, Removal, and Conversion Test Centers, which is focused on the development of test centers through three AOIs:1) Carbon Capture, Removal, and Conversion Test Center at an Electric Generating Unit, 2) Enabling Capital Improvements at Existing Carbon Capture Test Facilities, and 3) Carbon Capture, Removal, and Conversion Test Center at a Cement Manufacturing Facility. Prospective test center sites should only be submitted to one AOI. Further details regarding the requirements for these AOIs can be found in the related documents of DE-FOA-0003365. The closing date for applications is October 31st, 2024.

Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure

NSF posted the Mid-scale Research Infrastructure-1(Mid-scale RI-1) funding opportunity. This opportunity is intended to provide NSF with a foundation-wide process for funding experimental research in the mid-scale range between Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program and Major Multi-user facilities (Major Facilities) program. The Mid-scale RI-1 program supports a range of activities from design to implementation, as well as upgrades to existing research infrastructure. Preliminary proposals are due November 18th, 2024 and full applications will be accepted until March 19th, 2025. Please find further information at NSF Publication 24-598.

DOE OCED Announces Plans to Fund up to $400 Million for Clean Energy Projects in Rural and Remote Areas

DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) issued a notice of intent (NOI) for up to $400 million for community-focused clean energy solutions in rural and remote areas in the United States. This upcoming investment is part of the Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas Program and builds upon three previous funding rounds from the program. Eligible projects must address one of the following: improving overall cost-effectiveness of energy generation, transmission, or distribution systems; siting or upgrading transmission and distribution lines; reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy generation in rural or remote areas; providing or modernizing electric generation facilities; developing microgrids; or increasing energy efficiency. OCED plans to fund between 16 and 69 projects with a range of funding from $2 million to $50 million. DOE anticipates releasing the funding opportunity notice this fall. Read the NOI here.