This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is jointly issued by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) and Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) as part of their Interconnection Innovation Exchange (i2X) program1 to support innovative work to enable simpler, faster, and fairer interconnection of clean energy resources while enhancing the reliability, resiliency, and security of our electrical grid.
Solar and wind energy technologies are essential to achieving a 100% clean electricity system by 2035 and a net-zero energy system by 2050. According to analysis from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), to achieve 100% clean electricity by 2035, 4 solar and wind power will need to grow to provide up to 80% of U.S. electricity from a combined 2 terawatts (TW) of capacity. This will require growth rates as high as 90 gigawatts (GW)/year for solar capacity and as high as 145 GW/year for wind capacity, both representing sizable increases from the pace of growth forecast by the U.S. Energy Information Administration in 2024. 5 The research and development (R&D) activities to be funded under this FOA will support the government-wide approach to the climate crisis by driving innovation leading to the deployment of critical clean energy technologies. Specifically, this FOA will provide new analytical tools and approaches to stakeholders that will accelerate and improve the reliable interconnection of renewable energy into the transmission system, also known as the bulk power system (BPS). The transmission system is the highvoltage system used to move large amounts of power between regions, as opposed to the local distribution system that serves customers.
Deadlines:
- Required Concept Papers: April 17, 2024
- Full Applications: June 28, 2024
Topic Area 1: Improved Efficiency of EMT Simulations for Interconnection Studies of IBRs: Projects in this topic area will seek to improve the efficiency of the interconnection study process for new IBRs, such as solar and wind plants and battery energy storage systems, by improving software tools to study plant dynamics to increase long-term plant reliability. Projects will achieve this both by improving the speed of advanced, high-fidelity EMT modeling and simulation tools used in power systems interconnection studies and by developing a better understanding of when such high-fidelity simulations are necessary in the interconnection process.
Topic Area 2: Dynamic Stability-Enhanced Network Assessment Tools: Projects in this topic area will develop tools to provide stakeholders with data on transmission system characteristics related to stability, voltage, and grid strength while securing confidential and critical energy infrastructure information. Projects will establish the type of information required by stakeholders, develop a tool or tools, and test and evaluate those tools on at least one real transmission system.
Topic Area 1 is primarily focused on the improvement of software tools, methods, or processes used to conduct EMT studies, the results of which will inform the transmission system interconnection stakeholders in Topic Area 2. Projects in Topic Area 2 do not need to be focused solely on transmission system characteristics based on EMT studies.
The proposed prime recipient and subrecipient(s) must be domestic entities. The following types of domestic entities are eligible to participate as a prime recipient or subrecipient of this FOA: 1. Institutions of higher education; 2. For-profit entities; 3. Nonprofit entities; and 4. State and local governmental entities and federally recognized Indian Tribes (Indian Tribes).
An entity may submit more than one Concept Paper and Full Application to this FOA, provided that each application describes a unique, scientifically distinct project and an eligible Concept Paper was submitted for each Full Application.
EERE expects to make a total of approximately $10,000,000 of federal funding available for new awards under this FOA, subject to the availability of appropriated funds. EERE anticipates making approximately 2-10 awards under this FOA. EERE may issue one, multiple, or no awards. Individual awards may vary between $1,000,000 and $2,500,000.