Clean Energy and Climate Solutions Federal Funding Database | Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Wilson Sonsini is pleased to share our January 2024 update to the Clean Energy and Climate Solutions Federal Funding Database. This month, the database features funding opportunity announcements (FOAs), notices of intent (NOIs), requests for information (RFIs), and information for a variety of opportunities, including:

• FOA—Production of Liquid Fuels to Store Grid-Free Renewable Energy (GREENWELLS)—The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Research Projects Agency — Energy (ARPA-E) issued an FOA under its Grid-Free Renewable Energy Enabling New Ways to Economical Liquids and Long-Term Storage (GREENWELLS) program. The primary objective of the GREENWELLS program is the development of chemical reactors and supporting units that economically store at least 50 percent of incoming intermittent electrical energy in carbon-containing liquids. 

• To achieve attractive economics, ARPA-E expects that chemical reactors will need to be dynamically operable to optimize the entire system of renewable energy production, electrolysis capital, and energy storage. Thermal, electrochemical, plasmonic, photonic, biological, and other technical process approaches are expected to potentially address this problem.

• If successful, the GREENWELLS program will provide low-cost carbon-containing liquids that,

1. enable the transportation and storage of renewable energy,
2. are suitable as-is or with upgrading for use in the difficult-to-decarbonize sectors, and
3. will speed the development of new renewable energy projects by alleviating requirements for connection to an electric grid. 

• Four Technical Approaches of Interest are expected: Dynamic Reactor Design, Novel Catalyst Development and Optimization, Manufacturing of Modular Reaction Systems, and Transient Modeling and Process Optimization. Liquid fuels can be easily transported, allowing for the export of energy from areas of high renewable energy production to areas of lower renewable energy production. Liquid fuels can also be easily stored, dramatically decreasing the cost of storing and transporting renewable energy versus a battery. 

• ARPA-E expects to make approximately $38 million available for up to 15 new awards. Mandatory Concept Papers are due on January 25, 2024, and the due date of full applications is to be determined, though is expected to be finalized in a March 2024 amendment to this FOA.

• FOA—Advancing the National Clean Hydrogen Strategy—The DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) issued an FOA, “Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office FOA to Advance the National Clean Hydrogen Strategy.” The FOA targets Research, Development, Demonstration & Deployment (RDD&D) topics critical to enabling increased adoption of clean hydrogen across sectors, particularly in heavy-duty vehicles and other heavy-duty transportation applications, in support of existing decarbonization goals. 

• The FOA’s objectives support DOE’s Hydrogen Shot goal, which targets affordable clean hydrogen production at $1 per kilogram within a decade. This FOA includes five Topic Areas:

1. Components for Hydrogen Fueling of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles
2. Standardized Hydrogen Refueling Station of the Future
3. Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Powered Port Equipment
4. Enabling Permitting and Safety for Hydrogen Development
5. Equitable Hydrogen Technology Community Engagement. 

• A total of $59 million of total funding is available for between 17 and 32 awards with anticipated award size depending on the Topic Area. Mandatory Concept Papers are due on January 26, 2024, and full applications are due on March 22, 2024.  

• FOA—IRA: Assistance for the Adoption of Latest and Zero Energy Building Codes and Standards—the DOE’s Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP) issued an FOA, “IRA: Assistance for the Adoption of the Latest and Zero Building Energy Codes or Standards.” The SCEP is providing funding to states’ and local governments’ (including Tribes’) efforts to update building energy codes, or equivalent standards, and to develop effective code workforce, training, compliance and enforcement programs. 

• All domestic nonprofit and for-profit entities are eligible to receive funds as a subrecipient under this FOA. To ensure adopted codes are successfully implemented,  awards will also specify that each jurisdiction receiving grant funds must implement a plan to achieve full compliance in new and renovated residential and commercial buildings. This compliance plan must include active training and enforcement programs and measurement of the rate of compliance each year. 

• Approximately $1 billion of total funding is available under this program, with $670 million specifically for adoption of Zero Energy Codes that meet or exceed the zero energy provisions of the 2021 IECC for residential and commercial buildings or a code/standard that will achieve equivalent or greater energy savings.

• The first round of mandatory concept papers is due on February 9, 2024, and the first round of full applications are due on April 30, 2024. Future rounds of funding are pending the availability of funds. 

• NOI—FY 2024 Vehicles Technologies Office R&D Funding—The DOE’s EERE, on behalf of the Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO), issued an FOA, “Fiscal Year 2024 Technology Integration (TI).” The Technology Integration Program supports a broad technology portfolio that includes alternative fuels, workforce development and training, and other efficient advanced technologies that can reduce transportation energy costs for businesses and consumers. 

• Three Areas of Interest are expected:

1. Clean Cities Outreach, Engagement, and Technical Assistance, which will not support technology demonstration of any pre-commercial technology nor deployment of any vehicles or fueling infrastructure
2. Training on Zero Emission Vehicle and Infrastructure Technologies for Critical Emergency Response Workers, programs under which are encouraged to provide in-person training workshops or build partnerships to incorporate existing online training materials into local, first-responder training programs
3. Demonstration and Deployment Open Topics, which can explore novel solutions to transportation and energy challenges through small-scale demonstration projects not otherwise addressed in the planned FOA.

• The EERE plans to release the full FOA in first quarter of 2024.

Read the latest complete list of federal funding opportunities here. If you would like to receive alerts when the database is updated, subscribe here. As a reminder, refer to the white paper for a general guide to understanding how this federal funding works at a high level.

Additionally, we remind you to read our recent alert, “Treasury and IRS Release Proposed Regulations on Section 45V Hydrogen Production Tax Credit,” where we provide a brief summary of proposed regulations recently issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the IRS regarding the Clean Hydrogen Production credit under Section 45V of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, pursuant to changes authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

Finally, we invite you to review our IRA of 2022 Resource, Wilson Sonsini’s single-source digital platform of relevant information related to IRA implementation. The resource page’s “Implementation Tracker” provides the latest overall implementation status for each credit and bonus credit regarding their implementation as of January 8, 2024.