Cooperative Agreements to USA Nonprofits, For-Profits, and Agencies for Research and Development Related to Solar Energy

Small Innovative Projects in Solar: Concentrating Solar Power and Photovoltaics (SIPS: CSP & PV) - Annual

Agency

Federal

GrantWatch ID#

195532

Funding Source

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO)

CFDA Number: 81.087

Funding or PIN Number: DE-FOA-0002888

Geographic Focus

All USA
USA Territories: American Samoa (USA); Guam (USA); Puerto Rico (USA); Virgin Islands (USA); Northern Mariana Islands (USA);

Important Dates

Deadline: 06/01/23 5:00 PM ET

Grant Description

Cooperative agreements to USA and territories nonprofit and for-profit entities, IHEs, and government entities for research and development projects related to solar energy. Applicants are advised that required registrations may take several weeks to complete. Funding is intended to combat climate change through the development of clean energy technologies.

This FOA will advance the Biden Administration’s goals to achieve carbon-pollution-free electricity by 2035 and “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 research and development (R&D) 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.

This FOA will enable the development of novel technologies that help achieve SETO’s research goals for concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) and photovoltaic (PV) technologies, while advancing and accelerating market adoption of solar technologies. SIPS is an agile funding vehicle for SETO investments with two major aims: to investigate high-risk ideas that address a major technology barrier or open the possibility of a novel concept, and to attract new entrants into the applied solar R&D community.

Small Innovative Projects in Solar (SIPS) for CSP and PV is an agile funding vehicle for SETO investments with two major aims: to investigate high-risk ideas that address a major technology barrier or open the possibility of a novel concept, and to attract new entrants into the applied solar R&D community. Projects will focus on innovative and novel ideas that are appropriate for 12-18 months of research to determine feasibility.

Topic Area 1: SIPS: CSP. This topic area will support small, focused projects investigating the applicability and robustness of novel ideas in CSP. Responsive concepts include all aspects of CSP plants with thermal energy storage, as well as solar-thermal industrial process heat (SIPH) innovations, and solar-thermal fuel systems.

Topic Area 2: SIPS: PV. Projects in this topic area will focus on new and emerging areas of PV research that can produce significant results within the first year of performance and, if successful, lay the foundation for continued research. These projects should aim to significantly lower costs and focus on improving the power conversion efficiency, fielded energy output, reuse and recycling of system components, service lifetime, and manufacturability of PV technologies.

Further information on the topic areas can be found on p. 13 of the FOA in Supporting Documents.

Recipient

Eligibility

Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity below), subject to any clarification in the text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility"

Additional Eligibility Criteria

The proposed prime recipient and subrecipient(s) must be domestic entities, unless granted a waiver. 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. Lage for-profit entities;
3. Non-profit entities;
4. State and local governmental entities, and Indian tribes; and
5. DOE/NNSA FFRDCs

To qualify as a domestic entity, the entity must be organized, chartered or incorporated (or otherwise formed) under the laws of a particular state or territory of the United States; have majority domestic ownership and control; and have a physical place of business in the United States.

Small Business Firms shall not be able to apply as prime recipients and can only be included as subrecipients on applications.

State, local, and tribal government entities are eligible to apply for funding as a prime recipient or subrecipient.

DOE/NNSA FFRDCs are eligible to apply for funding as a prime recipient or subrecipient.

Non-DOE/NNSA FFRDCs are eligible to participate as a subrecipient, but are not eligible to apply as a prime recipient.

Federal agencies and instrumentalities (other than DOE) are eligible to participate as a subrecipient but are not eligible to apply as a prime recipient.

Foreign Entities: In limited circumstances, DOE may approve a waiver to allow a foreign entity to participate as a prime recipient or subrecipient. A foreign entity may submit a Full Application to this FOA, but the Full Application must be accompanied by an explicit written waiver request. Likewise, if the applicant seeks to include a foreign entity as a subrecipient, the applicant must submit a separate explicit written waiver request in the Full Application for each proposed foreign subrecipient.

Additional eligibility requirements can be found on p. 25 of the FOA in Supporting Documents.

Ineligible

Entities banned from doing business with the United States government such as entities debarred, suspended, or otherwise excluded from or ineligible for participating in Federal programs are not eligible.

Non-profit organizations described in Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995, are not eligible to apply for funding.

Applications will be deemed nonresponsive and will not be reviewed or considered (See Section III.D. of the FOA) if they:
- Fall outside the technical parameters specified in Section I.A. and I.B. of the FOA;
- Are not based on sound scientific principles (e.g., violate the laws of thermodynamics);
- Do not describe how they resolve the uncertainties of new concepts;
- Are not designed to produce results in 12-18 months; or
- Do not sufficiently justify how the work will benefit the U.S. solar industry.

For Funding Restrictions, see p. 42 of the FOA in Supporting Documents.

Pre-Application Information

Timeline:
- FOA Issue Date: 04/13/2023
- Submission Deadline for Full Applications: 06/01/2023 5 p.m. ET
- Expected Date for EERE Selection Notifications: October 2023
- Expected Timeframe for Award Negotiations: Fall 2023
- Estimated FOA Re-Issue Date: Winter 2024

Applicants are responsible for meeting the submission deadline. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their Full Applications at least 48 hours in advance of the submission deadline. Under normal conditions (i.e., at least 48 hours in advance of the submission deadline), applicants should allow at least 1 hour to submit a Full Application. Once the Full Application is submitted in EERE Exchange, applicants may revise or update that submission until the expiration of the applicable deadline. If changes are made to any of these documents, the applicant must resubmit the Full Application before the applicable deadline.

EERE will accept only new applications under this FOA. EERE will not consider applications for renewals of existing EERE-funded awards through this FOA.

There are several one-time actions before submitting an application in response to this FOA, and it is vital that applicants address these items as soon as possible. Some may take several weeks, and failure to complete them could interfere with an applicant’s ability to apply to this FOA, or to meet the negotiation deadlines and receive an award if the application is selected. These requirements are as follows:
1. EERE Exchange. Register and create an account on EERE Exchange at https://eereExchange.energy.gov.
2. System for Award Management. Register with the SAM at https://www.sam.gov.
3. FedConnect. Register in FedConnect at https://www.fedconnect.net.
4. Grants.gov. Register in Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov) to receive automatic updates when Amendments to this FOA are posted.

The cost share must be at least 20% of the total allowable costs for research and development projects (i.e., the sum of the government share, including FFRDC costs if applicable, and the recipient share of allowable costs equals the total allowable cost of the project) and must come from non-federal sources unless otherwise allowed by law. For further cost share information, see p. 22 of the FOA in Supporting Documents.

View this opportunity on Grants.gov: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=347787

Additional Funding Information

Estimated Total Program Funding:

$6,500,000

Number of Grants

EERE anticipates making approximately 14-24 awards under this FOA.

Estimated Size of Grant

Anticipated Award Size:
- Topic Area 1: $400,000
- Topic Area 2: $250,000

Term of Contract

Anticipated Period of Performance:
- Topic Area 1: 18 months
- Topic Area 2: 12 months

Contact Information

Apply online: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/SubmissionDetailsEdit.aspx?foaId=00bbd52e-b9bb-4bda-af02-2a96fb672e4b

Contact information:
- SETO.SIPS@ee.doe.gov, for questions related to the content of the FOA.
- EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov, for questions related to the registration process and use of the EERE eXCHANGE website.

Cooperative Agreements to USA Nonprofits, For-Profits, and Agencies for Research and Development Related to Solar Energy

Small Innovative Projects in Solar: Concentrating Solar Power and Photovoltaics (SIPS: CSP & PV) - Annual

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