Building a clean and equitable energy economy and addressing the climate crisis is a top priority of the Biden Administration. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will advance the Biden Administration’s goals to achieve carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035 and to “deliver an equitable, clean energy future, and put the United States on a path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050” to the benefit of all Americans. The Department of Energy is committed to pushing the frontiers of science and engineering, catalyzing clean energy jobs through research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D), and ensuring environmental justice and inclusion of underserved communities.
Building a clean and equitable energy economy and addressing the climate crisis is a top priority of the Biden Administration. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will advance the Biden Administration’s goals to achieve carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035 and to “deliver an equitable, clean energy future, and put the United States on a path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050” to the benefit of all Americans. The Department of Energy is committed to pushing the frontiers of science and engineering, catalyzing clean energy jobs through research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D), and ensuring environmental justice and inclusion of underserved communities.
EERE funds Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institutes (Institutes) as part of an effort to strengthen U.S. manufacturing competitiveness by developing advanced, energy-efficient technologies. Institutes are the cornerstone of Manufacturing USA, previously known as the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI), which was proposed in 2012 in recognition of the vital role the advanced manufacturing sector plays in driving the U.S. economy. DOE establishes Institutes in areas where a consortium has been determined to have high potential to address a significant and potentially impactful clean energy-related advanced manufacturing opportunity through public engagement, requests for information, and internal analysis.
This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) aims to create a new Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institute that will accelerate the development, scale-up, and demonstration of technologies that enable electrified processes to be one of the economically viable pathways for industrial decarbonization. Through the development of electrified heating processes and modeling, simulation, and evaluation tools, this Institute will contribute substantially to an efficient, productive, and decarbonized industrial sector. Technical advancements are needed, in particular, to develop electrified processes used to achieve mid- and high-temperatures for various industrial operations including melting, drying, pre-heating, annealing, distillation, pasteurization, hydrocarbon cracking, and others. Analysis of the electrification of thirteen major manufactured commodities shows a total opportunity of 134 million metric tons of CO2 saved per year by 2050 as the grid becomes 100% carbon emission-free. Electrification of industrial process heating presents a large opportunity to decarbonize the industrial sector, but there are several key challenges that have stalled deployment.
An entity may only submit one Concept Paper and one Full Application to this FOA.
Deadlines:
- Required Concept Papers: Aug. 9, 2022
- Full Applications: Oct. 25, 2022
This Funding Opportunity Announcement seeks to establish a Clean Energy Manufacturing Innovation Institute that will address electrification of industrial process heating. To accelerate the deployment of electrified process heating technologies, the Institute will identify and address critical barriers to technology adoption. To do so, activities in three key areas will be needed, summarized here and expanded upon below:
Collaborative Research, Development, and Demonstration of Electrified Heating Technologies. Electrification of process heating presents technical challenges in achieving required temperatures economically and at scale. However, electric heating technologies can also provide co-benefits in higher energy efficiency, improved productivity and product quality, and zero on-site emissions. A successful Institute should work to accelerate deployment of electrified heating technologies by researching novel electrified heating technologies, developing hardware for complete modules and integration into a plant, convening the supply chain to facilitate manufacturing and scaling, and demonstrating the co-benefits to transitioning away from conventional heating processes.
Process Modeling and Optimization Tools. Integrating electric heating equipment into specific manufacturing operations and applications will require advanced process design expertise and modeling software to de-risk deployment and optimize productivity. Additionally, the superior precision and controllability of electrotechnologies provide opportunities to develop advanced sensors and digital twin models that can monitor and control operations to minimize energy use.
Technology, Market, and Impact Analysis. Transitioning to novel electrified heating technologies comes with inherent technical and financial risk, with additional uncertainty that desired outcomes, like emissions reduction, will be achieved. Technoeconomic evaluation tools reduce uncertainty and can identify the most promising applications for a given technology. Analysis tools and methodologies that allow for consistent evaluation across technologies on multiple dimensions (e.g., cost, reliability, lifecycle impacts, policy regimes) and use vetted data to ensure fidelity, can reduce investment risk and direct funds to the most promising technologies. Lifecycle impact assessments and place-based analyses can identify opportunities to reduce GHG emissions and local exposure to criteria air pollutants. The Institute will leverage technical and market analysis as well as stakeholder input to develop a roadmap that reduces the investment burden by directing funds towards high-impact, economically feasible areas. Taken together, these tools can accelerate deployment by guiding manufacturers towards technologies with the highest likelihood of achieving the desired impacts.
An effective Institute will include a diverse set of multi-disciplinary experts from industry, academia, state and local governments, NGOs, non-profits, labor unions, national laboratories, and FFRDCs with expertise in the topic area and the facilities and capabilities to address the broad set of challenges. Teams that include representation from Minority Serving Institutions, Historically Black colleges or universities; Tribal colleges or universities; and Minority Business Enterprises; Minority-Owned Businesses; Woman-Owned Businesses, Veteran-Owned Businesses, Tribal Nations, and labor unions are encouraged.
The proposed prime recipients and subrecipients must be domestic entities. The following types of domestic entities are eligible to participate as a prime recipient or subrecipient of this FOA:
- Institutions of higher education;
- For-profit entities;
- Non-profit entities, including those registered as 501(c)(5); and
- State and local governments, and Tribal Nations.
EERE expects to make a total of approximately $70,000,000 of federal funding available for one new award under this FOA, subject to the availability of appropriated funds.