The U.S. Department of Energy, in partnership with the National Alliance for Water Innovation (NAWI), announced a $5 million solicitation for small-scale desalination and water-reuse technologies that will improve the safety, security, and affordability of America’s water supply. The Pilot Program request for proposals (RFP) offers applicants the chance to design, build, operate, and test desalination and water reuse treatment systems that produce clean water from non-traditional water sources, such as brackish water, seawater, produced and extracted water, and wastewater.

The energy stored in the motion of waves and currents has the potential to provide a carbon-free, renewable source of energy to meet a significant portion of society’s needs. To reach this potential and move marine energy technologies closer to market, researchers and developers must first refine the most promising technologies and advance their progression toward achieving commercial viability, all while navigating development and testing barriers along the way.

The Testing Expertise and Access for Marine Energy Research (TEAMER™) program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and directed by the Pacific Ocean Energy Trust (POET), will accelerate that process through 2-3 annual open funding calls over each of the next three years to support developers seeking access to the nation’s best facilities and expertise. Over this time, TEAMER plans to distribute approximately $9 million through the periodic competitive opportunities (known as Requests for Technical Support, RFTSs) to support marine renewable energy (MRE) testing and development projects.

With over 450 designees nationwide, SolSmart helps local governments and regional organizations bring new business to their community, promote economic growth, and foster the creation of new jobs. As a program funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office, our goal is to make it faster, easier, and more affordable to go solar.

To help communities achieve designation, SolSmart provides no-cost technical assistance from a team of national experts who work to evaluate programs and practices that impact solar markets, and identify high-prospect opportunities for improvement. A select number of communities also hosted SolSmart Advisors: fully-funded, experienced staff who work in communities for periods of up to six months.

NASA SBIR Ignite looks to increase private sector commercialization of innovations derived from federal R/R&D, thereby increasing competition, productivity, and economic growth. In particular, NASA seeks to fund ideas that are relevant in the commercial market, while contributing to the agency’s goals in aeronautics and space technology development.

Entrepreneurs looking to shape the aerospace market are encouraged to apply. The program de-risks technology by providing funding to help push R&D, making it more attractive to investors. NASA does not take ownership over award recipients’ intellectual property.

Phase I provides $150,000 with the ability to win Phase II follow-on funding of $1,000,000 per business. The SBIR Ignite Solicitation will be opened in summer 2022; check here for updates.

The RENEW program provides research opportunities to historically underrepresented groups in STEM and diversify American leadership in the physical and climate sciences through internships, training programs, and mentor opportunities. Beneficiaries will include Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), and other research institutions.

Applications are due at various times, including with letters of intent due throughout June; information can be found here.

The  U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in partnership with the National Alliance for Water Innovation (NAWI), released a $5 million solicitation for small-scale desalination and water-reuse technologies that will improve the safety, security, and affordability of America’s water supply.

The Pilot Program request for proposals (RFP) offers applicants the chance to design, build, operate, and test desalination and water reuse treatment systems that produce clean water from non-traditional water sources, such as brackish water, seawater, produced and extracted water, and wastewater.

The High Performance Computing for Energy Innovation (HPC4EI) Program seeks qualified industry partners to participate in short-term, collaborative projects with the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Laboratories. HPC4EI is the umbrella initiative for the HPC4Manufacturing (HPC4Mfg) and HPC4Materials (HPC4Mtls) Programs. DOE’s HPC4Mfg Program is interested in establishing collaborations that address key energy and decarbonization related challenges for domestic manufacturers. The HPC4Mfg Program is designed to improve manufacturing processes, address products’ lifecycle energy consumption, and increase the efficiency of energy conversion and storage technologies by providing access to national lab supercomputing resources and expertise for high performance computing projects.

The Advanced Energy Manufacturing and Recycling Grant Program will provide technical assistance and grants to small- and medium-sized manufacturers in former coal communities, with priority given to minority-owned manufacturers. The program provides $750 million for grants to expand or establish manufacturing or recycling facilities for the production or recycling of advanced energy technologies (including clean electricity, industrial decarbonization, clean transportation, and clean fuels), or to re-equip existing manufacturing facilities with equipment designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As a first step, DOE is providing tailored technical assistance to eligible manufacturers interested in seeking a grant under the program.

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.

Projects awarded under this FOA will be funded, in whole or in part, with funds appropriated by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). The activities to be funded under this FOA support BIL Sections 40207 (b) & (c) and the broader government-wide approach to upgrading and modernizing infrastructure, including by strengthening critical domestic manufacturing and supply chains to maximize the benefits of the clean energy transition as the nation works to curb the climate crisis and advance environmental justice. This FOA provides approximately $3.1 billion to successful applicants to fund investments within the electric vehicle battery supply chain, increase domestic battery manufacturing, and create good-paying clean energy jobs. The overall scope in this FOA includes demonstration and commercial facilities for battery grade precursor materials, battery components, and cell manufacturing and recycling. Letters of Intent are due May 27.

Projects awarded under this FOA will be funded, in whole or in part, with funds appropriated by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). This FOA and any related activities support BIL section 40208. The sections are focused on Electric Drive Vehicle Battery Recycling and Second-Life Program which includes second-life applications for electric drive vehicle batteries that have been used to power electric drive vehicles; and technologies and processes for final recycling and disposal of the electric drive vehicle batteries.