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Program and FOA Description for Grants.gov:Request for Information (RFI)DE-FOA-0003027: Achieving Circularity of the Domestic Battery Supply ChainThe purpose of this RFI is to solicit input for a potential future ARPA-E research program focused on achieving a circular and domestic battery supply chain for various types of electric vehicles including scooters, cars, buses, trucks, trains, ships, and aircrafts. A circular battery supply chain keeps materials and products in circulation at their highest level of performance for as long possible. It is based on a system-level approach that minimize material use, waste, and emissions through the selection of regenerative materials and sustainable designs and manufacturing processes of parts and products. From an economic standpoint, it aims to manage supply chain risks and recover lost manufacturing value.The potential program is not concerned with supplies of critical minerals or with existing battery recycling processes. Instead, it focuses on alternative strategies that can be implemented to achieve circularity including servicing, upgrading, refurbishing, and remanufacturing of batteries. The primary goals are (1) to identify materials (e.g., electrode materials, electrolytes, adhesives) amenable to in-cell regeneration to prolong the life of batteries, (2) to develop sustainable design and manufacturing of battery cells, modules, and packs that facilitate serviceability, disassembly, refurbishing, and recovery of materials and/or components at the end of life, and (3) to minimize waste, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions during the battery lifecycle. Such transformation should be achieved without affecting the performance and safety of the battery packs. ARPA-E is seeking information at this time regarding transformative and implementable technologies that can:(a) Extend the life of battery materials, cells, modules, and/or pack through regeneration, servicing or maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, and remanufacturing. Examples include selection of electrode materials that can be regenerated through thermomechanical, chemical, and/or electrochemical treatments,(b) Develop designs and manufacturing processes for cells, modules and packs that can be easily disassembled to enable servicing, reuse, refurbishing, or remanufacturing, and(c) Minimize the overall amount of waste generated, energy consumed, and greenhouse gas emitted throughout the battery manufacturing, servicing, and recycling processes. Examples include designs that avoid permanent bonding or any fabrication that requires destructive disassembly (e.g., shredding).To view the RFI in its entirety, please visit https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov.

Request for Information (RFI): Stimulating Geochemical Reactions in the Subsurface for in-situ Generation of Hydrogen and Helium Production This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. This RFI is not accepting applications for financial assistance. The purpose of this RFI is solely to solicit input for ARPA-E consideration to inform the possible formulation of future programs. The purpose of this RFI is to solicit input for a potential future ARPA-E research program focused on enabling technical advances which could lead to subsurface chemical reactors and gas separations. ARPA-E is seeking information to test the hypothesis that the subsurface can be used as a reactive environment to produce hydrogen at $1/kg, per DOE’s Hydrogen Shot target , and helium with no carbon emissions. Subsurface reactions have and do occur every day without human intervention, ranging from the mundane like abiogenic methane formation to the exotic like nuclear fission. The subsurface has a number of features which could make it amenable to performing chemical synthesis including hot temperatures (200-400+°F), high pressures, and catalytically relevant metals contained in rocks. It is already known that geothermal heat is a significant source of renewable energy. There are several initiatives devoted to resource discovery and development through the DOE’s Geothermal Technology Office which aim to use this thermal energy to produce electricity or to provide hot water and space heating. However, it may be possible to use this thermal energy for chemical synthesis. Typical deep geothermal temperature ranges (175-400°F) overlap well with chemical and other high-temperature processes. In addition to warm thermal conditions, the subsurface is characterized by high pressures. The pressure gradient at depth is related to hydrostatic pressure change (10 kPa/m). Pressures relevant to typical industrial processes can be accessed at depths that are well within the normal range of subsurface activities today. For example, a typical Haber Bosch process is done at pressures of 400 atm: approximately the same pressure found at a depth of 2 km. Finally, rocks may contain metals which are catalytically relevant for several industrial chemical processes. Nickel-iron alloys are frequently found in rocks and both nickel and iron are common catalytic metals in industrial processes. In this RFI, ARPA-E seeks to test the hypothesis of whether the temperature, pressure, and metals in the subsurface could be exploited for chemicals synthesis. ARPA-E is specifically interested in information to understand the technical potential of stimulating hydrogen generation in hard rock and hydrocarbon-rich basins. Within the context of hard rock, hydrogen is naturally produced via radiolysis where radioactive decay interacts with water to produce hydrogen and oxygen or via serpentinization where mafic and ultramafic rocks containing iron react with water in an oxidation-reduction reaction; the iron is oxidized and the water reduced to produce hydrogen and oxygen. Estimates of annual natural hydrogen production rates in terrestrial seeps place these rates equivalent to anywhere from 0.1-33% of today’s global hydrogen production from fossil fuels . Exact production rates are unknown, thereby contributing to the large variation in estimates, but it is clear that hydrogen-forming reactions occur in old, Precambrian rock which constitutes approximately 70% of the global continental crustal surface area. ARPA-E seeks information regarding the technical potential to stimulate hydrogen-forming reactions in old Precambrian rock as a way to produce clean hydrogen, using the subsurface as a georeactor. Another avenue that ARPA-E is exploring for producing hydrogen in the subsurface is by cracking hydrocarbons. Today, hydrogen is predominantly produced from hydrocarbons at the surface, either from steam methane reforming (76% of hydrogen production) or coal gasification (23%) . However, these processes are associated with significant carbon emissions, ranging from 9 tons CO2 per ton H2 in steam methane reforming to 19 tons CO2 per ton H2 in coal gasification. Minimizing the carbon footprint from hydrogen production in these instances will require retrofitting current processes to capture and sequester significant amounts of carbon, increasing the cost of hydrogen production overall and adding complexity to the process. ARPA-E is seeking insight to test the hypothesis that it can be more economical to produce hydrogen from fossil fuels in the subsurface, keeping the carbon in place and extracting only hydrogen at the surface. Producing hydrogen this way mitigates adding a separate carbon capture and sequestering step, but it is not clear if this is technically feasible or if it has the potential to be more economical than hydrogen production from fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage at the surface. To read the RFI in its entirety, please visit https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov.

This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. This RFI is not accepting applications for financial assistance. The purpose of this RFI is solely to solicit input for ARPA-E consideration to inform the possible formulation of future programs. The purpose of this RFI is to solicit input for a potential future ARPA-E research and development program focused on development of materials and device technologies to support advances in grid resiliency and reliability. ARPA-E seeks input from power electronics, optoelectronics, photonics, and other related communities regarding the development and demonstration of next-generation ultra-fast semiconductor devices (potentially light controlled/triggered) for enhanced resiliency and reliability of power electronics systems ranging from kilowatts to gigawatts of power. Consistent with the agency’s mission, ARPA-E is seeking clearly disruptive, novel technologies, early in the R&D cycle, and not integration strategies for existing technologies. Power electronic conversion systems are capable of decoupling dynamics between system sources, distribution, and loads, while improving system controllability, reliability, resilience, and efficiency. These benefits are already being realized in a variety of applications, such as electric cars, ships, and airplanes, where power electronics replace traditional thermal, mechanical, hydraulic, and pneumatic systems. To realize these benefits in grid applications and to enable widespread integration while maintaining and improving grid resiliency and reliability, new approaches are needed to overcome several technical challenges, including: • Device operation at voltages and currents more compatible with H/MV grid requirements (15 kV-110kV+) • Electromagnetic Interference issues and losses being driven by increased switching speed • Ultra-fast switching required to protect against faults and power surges (avoiding thermal overload) Despite great strides made, today’s semiconductor power electronics suffer from performance limitations. They still cannot reach current and voltage levels required by high and medium voltage (H/MV) grid applications, requiring series and/or parallel stacking of multiple devices in multi-level modules to meet current and voltages requirements. This poses challenges to reliability and introduces additional complexity and cost due to increased part count. Theoretical limitations of performance of a single device are related to fundamental material properties, such as critical field. While wide band gap (WBG) materials are pushing device performance to higher voltage and current levels, relative to Si, ultra-wide band gap (UWBG) materials are even more attractive with their superior properties. However, they suffer from significant challenges, for example difficulty with doping and material quality. Optically stimulated ionization of deep dopants may offer a solution to this problem, along with other novel options. The trend of increased switching speed of power electronic conversion, driven by reduction of size, weight and power (SWaP) and switching losses, is driving the electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues, which must be managed at an increased system complexity and cost. Elimination of electrical connections to the gate, such as that offered by optical interconnects, offers a potential solution to mitigating this problem. A related benefit may include advances in device/module stacking and control. Although power electronics are more capable than traditional solutions, they do need to be protected at lower power levels because they are smaller and cannot handle the thermal loads. Thus they may need to be switched off faster to be protected against faults. Additionally, some grid threats (typically associated with space weather or certain categories of man-made threats) are expected to create fault conditions at much faster speeds than current protection systems can address. Improving the temporal response of grid protection devices is needed. The growing penetration of power electronics as grid interfaces will also require the development of new control architectures, algorithms, and systems, capable of regulating power electronic interfaces on a sub-microsecond scale, rather than current high inertia, slow mechanical interfaces. Consequently, small perturbances can cause instabilities in frequency and line voltage, which can lead to further outages. To address this problem, the development of power electronic devices with improved performance (i.e., operation at voltages and currents more compatible with H/MV grid requirements) and faster operation (to enable more sophisticated grid control methods) is needed. ARPA-E seeks solutions to development of power electronics capable of overcoming these challenges through a variety of approaches, such as (but not limited to) development and demonstration of devices based on UWBG materials, utilization of optical stimuli to modulate conductivity, application of optical gate control to improve switching performance, EMI immunity, efficiency, and reliability. ARPA-E is most interested in learning about potential solutions at material/device/module level rather than circuit or system topology development and integration, although would want to understand how demonstration of specific device performance will impact and/or enable potential future control approaches. To view the RFI in its entirety, please visit https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov.

This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. This RFI is not accepting applications for financial assistance. The purpose of this RFI is solely to solicit input for ARPA-E consideration to inform the possible formulation of future programs. The purpose of this RFI is to solicit input for a potential future ARPA-E-funded research program focused on two overarching themes: (A) Improving fusion power plant performance and (B) Increasing fusion power plant availability. ARPA-E identifies and funds applied research and development to translate science into breakthrough energy technologies with large commercial impact. The ALPHA (Accelerating Low-Cost Plasma Heating and Assembly) , BETHE (Breakthroughs Enabling THermonuclear-fusion Energy) , and GAMOW (Galvanizing Advances in Market-Aligned Fusion for an Overabundance of Watts) fusion programs, each contribute to enabling timely, commercially viable thermonuclear fusion energy. However, there remain technological and economic gaps that need to be closed to enable timely demonstration and deployment of fusion energy. To close these gaps, a path forward should include the development of low-cost enabling technologies that improve fusion power plant performance as well as increase plant availability. Improving performance with innovative heating schemes and high-performance targets: For both magnetic fusion energy (MFE) and laser inertial fusion energy (IFE) concepts, increasing the wall-plug efficiency (WPE) of plasma heating systems and lasers, respectively, reduces the required recirculating power and therefore increases the fraction of the fusion power which can be delivered to the grid, thereby reducing the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). An additional challenge for IFE concepts is the need for large quantities (~million/day) of low-cost targets designed for to the chosen laser technology that can survive injection into the target chamber at high velocity. Increasing FPP availability through accelerated discovery of novel fusion materials: Presently, there is no solution for a plasma-facing material that can handle the expected heat, neutron flux, and particle load without significant erosion and melting, requiring periodic replacement at high cost. The development of materials with the ability to survive the harsh reactor environment is essential for cost competitive fusion energy. The economic viability of a FPP is improved significantly with the development of novel structural materials with better reliability and longer life. Structural materials development for FPPs must also require consideration of change in nuclide composition (transmutation) under neutron irradiation. Additionally, some of these newly created nuclides may be radioactive, leading to activation of the material. Autonomous and accelerated discovery of novel materials for FPPs will enable realizing fusion power within a reasonable timeframe. Advancements in enabling technologies in the areas of high-throughput material synthesis and characterization will certainly help with these efforts. Successes in earlier data-driven approaches that fuse high-throughput materials synthesis and characterization with machine learning algorithms and closed-loop discovery automation should be leveraged to reduce the development timeline. To view the RFI in its entirety, please visit https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov.

Request for Information (RFI): Manufacturing Carbon Negative Materials to Reduce Embodied Emissions in Buildings This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. This RFI is not soliciting application for financial assistance. The purpose of this RFI is solely to solicit input for ARPA-E consideration to inform the possible formulation of future programs. The purpose of this RFI is to solicit input for a potential future ARPA-E research program focused on technologies that could enable buildings to be transformed into carbon sinks to reduce their embodied emissions while also providing a pathway for expanding carbon utilization approaches. This vision entails manufacturing novel materials derived from feedstocks including forestry and other purpose-grown raw materials, agricultural residues, as well as direct use of greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide, methane). The aim is to use these materials in place of existing building construction materials wherever possible, as well as to enable more efficient building designs. Attaining this vision requires a radical departure from the use of modern building materials, and likely from the conventional manufacturing methods for building materials. At the same time, operational energy performance and the structural and fireproof code requirements of the buildings themselves must not be sacrificed. Comprehensive and robust life-cycle analyses and carbon accounting, along with permanency of storage and end-of-life design, will also be necessary. For these reasons, ARPA-E is especially interested in perspectives from both inside and outside the buildings sector community. Many of today’s buildings consist of steel, concrete, stone, brick and masonry materials. Their continued use is challenged by the energy intensive nature of their processing and manufacture. These manufacturing approaches can be particularly difficult to decarbonize. Wood, another common construction material, has seen a resurgence in interest with engineered woods and mass timber opening new possibilities due, in part, to their ability to store carbon. Land usage, transportation, and environmental impacts of adhesives used in engineered wood and mass timber production must be considered, however, for widespread adoption and to offset associated emissions. Additional pathways for increasing carbon storage content of the building stock, as well as exploring alternative materials with additional drawdown capabilities using greenhouse gas-based feedstocks will require advancements in materials and processing-to-scale. The nascency of these alternative materials pose an additional challenge for implementation in the risk-averse construction industry. To view the RFI in its entirety, please visit https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov. The information you provide may be used by ARPA-E in support of program planning. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THIS NOTICE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA). NO FOA EXISTS AT THIS TIME.

This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. This RFI is not accepting applications for financial assistance. The purpose of this RFI is solely to solicit input for ARPA-E consideration to inform the possible formulation of future programs. The purpose of this RFI is to solicit input for a potential future ARPA-E program focused on energy storage technologies that can deliver a specific energy equivalent to, or exceeding, 1000 watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg). Of particular interest are technologies that are not extensions of current mainstream electrochemical device thinking or short-term technology road maps. The goal is to gauge the potential to realize exceptionally high-energy storage solutions that would be capable of catalyzing broad electrification of the aviation, railroad, and maritime transport sectors. ARPA-E is seeking information at this time regarding transformative and implementable technologies that could accelerate electrification of transport including the following industries: (a) Aviation: “Battery 1K” can enable regional flight on aircraft transporting up to 100 people. (b) Railways: “Battery 1K” can enable cross-country travel in the United States (U.S.) with fewer stops while also reducing the amount of infrastructure needed for charging/refueling. (c) Maritime: This is a diverse category but higher energy density options will open up additional electrification possibilities. (d) Trucks: Strategies and plans to electrify this sector are in place however, “Battery 1K” would enable longer range and higher freight loads. Upon consideration of metrics discussed in the RFI, the traditional energy storage device “playbook” must be cast aside. An overwhelming majority of batteries “live” in boxes, are “plugged-in” to charge, and in the case of personal passenger electric vehicles (EVs) are used only 5% of the time. For the remaining 95%, EVs are typically parked with a battery that is either idle or charging slowly. In sharp contrast, for the transportation sectors of interest to this RFI, the energy storage device may be required to (1) operate continuously over extended periods of time, (2) refuel/recharge/reset rapidly, and (3) achieve exceptional longevity. It is also worth noting that constraints on volumetric energy density are reasonably anticipated to be dependent on the specific application, although perhaps less important than gravimetric energy density in the case of aviation, for example. Certainly, an energy storage technology that can deliver = 1000 Wh/kg and = 2000 Watt-hours per liter (Wh/L) would represent a >3x improvement relative to today’s state-of-the-art (SoA) lithium-ion battery (LiB) solutions, and which may be necessary for electrifying the sectors of interest identified in this RFI. As the constraints of classical energy storage thinking are reconsidered, operating temperature, fuels versus oxidizers and the physical boundaries of the energy storage system are all up for grabs. Think less “out of the box” and more that there is no box. To view the RFI in its entirety, please visit https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov.

Request for Information (RFI): Engineered Strategies for Net-Negative Emissions Pathways via Enhanced Terrestrial Ecosystems This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. This RFI is not soliciting application for financial assistance. The purpose of this RFI is solely to solicit input for ARPA-E consideration to inform the possible formulation of future programs. The purpose of this RFI is solely to solicit input for ARPA-E consideration to inform the possible formulation of future research programs. ARPA-E will not provide funding or compensation for any information submitted in response to this RFI, and ARPA-E may use information submitted to this RFI without any attribution to the source. This RFI provides the broad research community with an opportunity to contribute views and opinions. ARPA-E is seeking insight into both parallel and exclusive approaches to terrestrial carbon removal and sequestration, including, but not limited to, approaches that employ recent advancements in biological, geochemical, or hybrid technologies. Additionally, ARPA-E is requesting information on how agriculture systems and feedstock crops may be engineered and bred to better feed into economically viable BECCS pathways for large-scale, near-term carbon removal opportunities. To view the RFI in its entirety, please visit https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov. The information you provide may be used by ARPA-E in support of program planning. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THIS NOTICE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA). NO FOA EXISTS AT THIS TIME.

RFI: Technology Advancements for Subsurface Exploration for Renewable Energy Resources or Carbon Storage This is a Request for Information (RFI) only. This RFI is not soliciting application for financial assistance. The purpose of this RFI is solely to solicit input for ARPA-E consideration to inform the possible formulation of future programs. The purpose of this RFI is to solicit input for a potential future ARPA-E research program focused on technologies that enable high-resolution, wide-area subsurface mapping in order to identify opportunities for renewable energy technologies and the future low-carbon economy. Examples where advances in subsurface imaging will be critical include, but are not limited to, locating reservoirs for carbon capture and storage (CCS), identifying new geothermal sites, mapping natural accumulations of energy-relevant minerals, and assessing potential resources of geologic hydrogen. The goal is to better understand how subsurface imaging technologies today may need to expand, adapt, or improve beyond technologies which have been optimized for oil and gas exploration. ARPA-E is seeking information at this time regarding the state of the art in subsurface imaging technologies and transformative and implementable technologies that could: 1. Reduce frontier exploration costs for renewable energy or carbon storage projects by an order of magnitude or more, leveraging advancements in subsurface imaging, data collection, and data processing. For new renewable technologies or CCS projects, identifying potential geologic sites with the requisite properties requires honing in on sites from a much larger region, often in areas that have not been traditionally explored by oil and gas interests and where there is little prior high-quality imaging data. Isolating regions of interest could mean developing new, cost-effective wide-area subsurface exploration technologies, using a combination of imaging techniques paired with multi-physics models, using data processing or novel geostatistical methods to upgrade or augment existing datasets, and/or developing machine learning algorithms which can fill in data gaps. 2. Advance data processing to accommodate larger amounts of data and reduce processing time by orders of magnitude for wide-area and/or nationwide subsurface imaging surveys. 3. Dramatically improve project success rates. Successful technologies would result in outcomes such as reduced incidence of dry wells in geothermal energy projects or identification of new energy-relevant mineral deposits. These outcomes can be facilitated by acquiring higher-quality and/or more comprehensive data in order to discern sites with high probability factors. 4. Monitor dynamic changes in the subsurface over time (4D mapping) with more sensitive surveys techniques, more comprehensive models, and/or algorithms. ARPA-E expects that subsurface changes of interest to renewable energy or CCS projects (e.g. changes in rock morphology, active water-rock chemical reactions, fluid migration, fracture network development, biological processes) may be different than those typically modelled for the oil and gas industry and that current models may need to be expanded to include these processes. 5. Reveal opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration, combining the expertise of groups that traditionally do not interact, in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of dynamic geologic processes. To view the RFI in its entirety, please visit https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov. The information you provide may be used by ARPA-E in support of program planning. THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THIS NOTICE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA). NO FOA EXISTS AT THIS TIME.

Request for Information (RFI): Nuclear Hybrid and Non-Electricity Energy Systems The purpose of this RFI is to solicit input for a potential future ARPA-E research program focused on the integration of nuclear reactor facilities into industrial processes to enable their provision of carbon-free heat and/or power. ARPA-E is seeking information regarding transformative and implementable technologies to facilitate this integration. Traditionally, nuclear energy produces electricity via the conversion of fission reactions to heat, to mechanical energy, and finally to electricity. As a fundamentally clean, zero-carbon source of heat, nuclear energy offers a path to decarbonization in hard-to-abate industries where heat, especially high-quality heat, is a major energy input. Historically, there have been applications of nuclear heat outside of electricity generation, such as desalination and district heating, but with the imminent deployment of advanced reactors (ARs), the opportunity to widen the application scope is expanding. ARs are distributed bi-axially in terms of thermal and electric output and temperature. Capacity ranges from a single megawatt (MW) for microreactors, to a few tens or low hundreds of MWs for small modular reactors (SMRs), and even up to gigawatt scale. Operating temperatures range from 300 up to 900°C. The recent focus on decarbonization and sustainability has created new opportunities for novel combinations of existing, or emerging, technologies in new sector applications. Industrial processes, which generate 24% of our nation’s greenhouse gas emissions , remain difficult to decarbonize due to their large heat requirements. The potential to integrate advanced nuclear reactors with industrial processes offers a potential pathway to reduce or eliminate carbon emissions from this sector.

Program and FOA Description for Grants.gov:DE-FOA-0002998: Unlocking Lasting Transformative Resiliency Advances by Faster Actuation of Power Semiconductor Technologies (ULTRAFAST)To obtain a copy of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) please go to the ARPA-E website at https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov. To apply to this FOA, Applicants must register with and submit application materials through ARPA-E eXCHANGE (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Registration.aspx). For detailed guidance on using ARPA-E eXCHANGE, please refer to the ARPA-E eXCHANGE User Guide (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Manuals.aspx). ARPA-E will not review or consider concept papers submitted through other means. For problems with ARPA-E eXCHANGE, email ExchangeHelp@hq.doe.gov (with FOA name and number in the subject line).Questions about this FOA? Check the Frequently Asked Questions available at http://arpa-e.energy.gov/faq. For questions that have not already been answered, email ARPA-E-CO@hq.doe.gov.Agency Overview:The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), an organization within the Department of Energy (DOE), is chartered by Congress in the America COMPETES Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-69), as amended by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-358), as further amended by the Energy Act of 2020 (P.L. 116-260):“(A) to enhance the economic and energy security of the United States through the development of energy technologies that—(i) reduce imports of energy from foreign sources;(ii) reduce energy-related emissions, including greenhouse gases;(iii) improve the energy efficiency of all economic sectors;(iv) provide transformative solutions to improve the management, clean-up, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel; and(v) improve the resilience, reliability, and security of infrastructure to produce, deliver, and store energy; and(B) to ensure that the United States maintains a technological lead in developing and deploying advanced energy technologies.”ARPA-E issues this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) under its authorizing statute codified at 42 U.S.C. § 16538. The FOA and any cooperative agreements or grants made under this FOA are subject to 2 C.F.R. Part 200 as supplemented by 2 C.F.R. Part 910.ARPA-E funds research on, and the development of, transformative science and technology solutions to address the energy and environmental missions of the Department. The agency focuses on technologies that can be meaningfully advanced with a modest investment over a defined period of time in order to catalyze the translation from scientific discovery to early-stage technology. For the latest news and information about ARPA-E, its programs and the research projects currently supported, see: http://arpa-e.energy.gov/.ARPA-E funds transformational research. Existing energy technologies generally progress on established “learning curves” where refinements to a technology and the economies of scale that accrue as manufacturing and distribution develop drive improvements to the cost/performance metric in a gradual fashion. This continual improvement of a technology is important to its increased commercial deployment and is appropriately the focus of the private sector or the applied technology offices within DOE. By contrast, ARPA-E supports transformative research that has the potential to create fundamentally new learning curves. ARPA-E technology projects typically start with cost/performance estimates well above the level of an incumbent technology. Given the high risk inherent in these projects, many will fail to progress, but some may succeed in generating a new learning curve with a projected cost/performance metric that is significantly better than that of the incumbent technology.Questions about this FOA? Check the Frequently Asked Questions available at http://arpa-e.energy.gov/faq. For questions that have not already been answered, email ARPA-E-CO@hq.doe.gov (with FOA name and number in subject line); see FOA Sec. VII.A.Problems with ARPA-E eXCHANGE? Email ExchangeHelp@hq.doe.gov (with FOA name and number in subject line).ARPA-E funds technology with the potential to be disruptive in the marketplace. The mere creation of a new learning curve does not ensure market penetration. Rather, the ultimate value of a technology is determined by the marketplace, and impactful technologies ultimately become disruptive – that is, they are widely adopted and displace existing technologies from the marketplace or create entirely new markets. ARPA-E understands that definitive proof of market disruption takes time, particularly for energy technologies. Therefore, ARPA-E funds the development of technologies that, if technically successful, have clear disruptive potential, e.g., by demonstrating capability for manufacturing at competitive cost and deployment at scale.ARPA-E funds applied research and development. The Office of Management and Budget defines “applied research” as an “original investigation undertaken in order to acquire new knowledge…directed primarily towards a specific practical aim or objective” and defines “experimental development” as “creative and systematic work, drawing on knowledge gained from research and practical experience, which is directed at producing new products or processes or improving existing products or processes.”1 Applicants interested in receiving financial assistance for basic research (defined by the Office of Management and Budget as “experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts”)2 should contact the DOE’s Office of Science (http://science.energy.gov/). Office of Science national scientific user facilities (http://science.energy.gov/user-facilities/) are open to all researchers, including ARPA-E Applicants and awardees. These facilities provide advanced tools of modern science including accelerators, colliders, supercomputers, light sources and neutron sources, as well as facilities for studying the nanoworld, the environment, and the atmosphere. Projects focused on early-stage R&D for the improvement of technology along defined roadmaps may be more appropriate for support through the DOE applied energy offices including: the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (http://www.eere.energy.gov/), the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (https://www.energy.gov/fecm/office-fossil-energy-and-carbon-management), the Office of Nuclear Energy (http://www.energy.gov/ne/office-nuclear-energy), and the Office of Electricity (https://www.energy.gov/oe/office-electricity).PROGRAM OVERVIEWTechnological advances in power electronics have enabled the unprecedented growth of renewable energy sources in the electrical power grid over the past several decades. Power electronics innovations have brought significant improvements in controllability, performance, and energy availability at a specific electronic interface, but are also fundamentally changing the nature of the grid as a system. Because of the growing proportion of fast dynamic electronic interfaces relative to slow dynamic (i.e., conventional, asynchronous, machine-controlled) interfaces, grid performance, stability, and reliability are becoming increasingly jeopardized. This phenomenon is not restricted only to the grid. Modern electronic power distribution systems for airplanes, ships, electric vehicles, data centers, and homes contain potentially hundreds of power electronics converters. The inclusion of power electronics in a multitude of new areas is driven by gains in performance, efficiency, and reliability, in concert with reductions in size, weight, and operational costs.The goal of this FOA, entitled Unlocking Lasting Transformative Resiliency Advances by Faster Actuation of power Semiconductor Technologies (ULTRAFAST), is to advance the performance limits of silicon (Si), wide bandgap (WBG), and ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) semiconductor devices3 and significantly improve their actuation methods to support a more capable, resilient, and reliable future grid. This new program seeks to engage technical experts from power electronics, optoelectronics, photonics, and other related fields to support the development of next-generation ultra-fast semiconductor devices and modules for enhanced resiliency, reliability, and control of power flow at all grid interfaces.ARPA-E expects that ULTRAFAST projects will create new material, device, and/or power module technologies that enable realization of transformative power management and control not only to enable a dramatically improved grid, but also for future autonomous power distribution systems such as those for electric vehicles, all-electric aviation, and others. More specifically, ARPA-E is looking for semiconductor material, device and/or power module level advances to enable faster switching and/or triggering at higher current and voltage levels for improved control and protection of the grid.This program will support the development of technologies that enable semiconductor devices and/or modules capable of operating at high switching frequencies, and featuring high slew-rates, current, and voltage levels while mitigating electromagnetic interference (EMI) issues.Specific categories include: (1) device and/or module technologies targeting protection functions at high current and voltage levels by achieving very fast by-pass, shunt, or interrupt capability at as low level of integration as possible with nanosecond-level reaction time (and corresponding slew rates). (2) high switching frequency devices and/or modules which enable efficient high-power, high-speed power electronics converters. These devices, depending on the power level, are required to switch between 1 kHz and 100 kHz in order to enable improved large-signal bandwidth of power converters for grid applications. Lastly, complementary technologies in category 3 such as wireless sensing of voltage and current, high-density packaging with the integrated wireless actuators and device/module-level protection, power cell-level capacitors and inductors, and thermal management strategies to support those in categories 1 and 2.To view the FOA in its entirety, please visit https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov.