Funding Wizard

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is issuing, on behalf of the Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) through its HydroWIRES Initiative, a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) titled “Technology Innovation to Increase Hydropower Flexibility.” The FOA seeks next-generation technologies from manufacturers, equipment vendors, and research organizations to improve the flexible capabilities of the U.S. hydropower fleet. The development of technical solutions to improve hydropower flexibility – either by improving performance across various dimensions of unit-level flexibility, or by reducing potential negative impacts of flexible operations – can improve hydropower’s ability to integrate additional variable renewable resources and support power system decarbonization. To view the full FOA document, visit EERE Exchange at https://eere-Exchange.energy.gov.

The activities to be funded under this FOA will support the government-wide approach to the climate crisis by driving the innovation that can lead to the deployment of clean energy technologies, which are critical for climate protection. Specifically, this funding program will help to reduce the soft costs of solar energy deployment—those costs not associated with the hardware—which account for up to 64% of the upfront cost of a residential solar installation. This FOA seeks an entity to manage and expand DOE’s SolSmart program, which supports and recognizes local governments that reduce soft costs and expand access to solar energy. This community designation and technical assistance program was launched in 2016 and has recognized almost 400 communities from Florida to Alaska. Now, DOE is expanding the program to incorporate new solar-related technologies and respond to the evolving needs of local governments. The chosen entity will manage the program for the next five years.

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 will drive down costs and develop next-generation technologies ready for commercialization. SETO works to accelerate the development and deployment of solar technology to support an equitable transition to a decarbonized electricity system by 2035 and a decarbonized energy sector by 2050. Achieving these goals will support the nationwide effort to meet the threat of climate change and ensure that all Americans benefit from the transition to a clean energy economy. The office supports solar energy research, development, demonstration, and technical assistance in five areas—photovoltaics (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.

Solar Energy Technologies Office Fiscal Year 2020 Perovskite Funding Program

Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) Fiscal Year 2021 Systems Integration and Hardware Incubator Funding Program

Small Innovative Projects in Solar 2022- Concentrating Solar Thermal Power and Photovoltaics

This Request for Information (RFI) is intended to inform the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity (ED) on enabling an inclusive and just entrepreneurial innovation ecosystem in climate and energy technologies. DOE seeks to understand the barriers to entry to DOE funding opportunities and other forms of assistance for first-time applicants, people and organizations from underrepresented communities, underserved and frontline communities, and from other non-traditional backgrounds, as well as understanding programmatic, operational, or other internal measures that DOE can implement to remove these barriers. Measures may encompass application support services for funding opportunities, incubation and acceleration services for entrepreneurship; and other measures to support a just and inclusive innovation ecosystem. This RFI is not aimed at policy recommendations that require changes in the law, but those that DOE can implement using its existing authorities.

Research, Development, and Demonstration Opportunities for FY 2022 Solar Manufacturing Incubator

The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) is issuing this request for information (RFI) to solicit feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders. This RFI will inform SETO’s strategic planning on research related to the integration of solar energy resources. Specifically, this RFI will inform SETO’s strategies relating to prediction of (a) solar irradiance reaching the surface of the earth, and (b) power output from solar generation plants, using either photovoltaic (PV) or concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies. Improving solar generation prediction will better inform grid operators as they consider the impacts of solar power variability on grid planning and operations technologies, as well as the owners and operators of utility-scale plants and aggregators of distributed PV systems.

The purpose of this RFI is to solicit feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on issues related to two topic areas: 1) potential structure and capabilities of Centers of Excellence focused on offshore wind and 2) potential synergies between aquaculture production, offshore wind energy, and marine energy. This is solely a request for information and not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). EERE is not accepting applications. Please see the full RFI document in the Documents section below. This is an RFI only. DOE will not pay for information provided under this RFI and no project will be supported as a result of this RFI. This RFI is not accepting applications for financial assistance or financial incentives. DOE may or may not issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) based on consideration of the input received from this RFI. Responses to this RFI must be submitted electronically to WindEnergyRFI@ee.doe.gov no later than 5:00pm (ET) on Friday, March 15, 2023. Responses must be provided as attachments to an email. To view the complete RFI document, visit the eXCHANGE website at: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/.