Funding Opportunity in Support of the Hydrogen Shot and a University Research Consortium on Grid Resilience | DE FOA 0002792

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002792

The Department of Energy (DOE), through its Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and the Golden Field Office, released a discretionary funding opportunity (DE-FOA-0002792) to advance two major priorities: accelerating progress toward the DOE Hydrogen Shot and strengthening U.S. electricity grid resilience through a university-led research consortium. Funding is planned to be issued through cooperative agreements, which typically means DOE expects an active partnership role during the project period (for example, with shared technical oversight, milestones, and regular coordination rather than a hands-off grant structure). The FOA was created on August 23, 2022, with an original closing date of December 1, 2022, and it lists an award ceiling of up to $20,000,000 and an anticipated total of 27 awards.

The opportunity is organized into two Areas of Interest with five total topics. Area of Interest 1 focuses on hydrogen and fuel cell technologies that support the Hydrogen Shot, the DOE initiative aimed at dramatically reducing the cost of clean hydrogen and speeding up commercialization across production, delivery, storage, and end use. Within this hydrogen-focused area, Topic 1 supports HydroGEN work on producing solar fuels via photoelectrochemical and solar thermochemical water splitting, emphasizing pathways that directly use sunlight to split water and generate hydrogen. Topic 2 targets the development and validation of sensor technologies to monitor and measure hydrogen losses, which is a practical need for safety, emissions accounting, and operational reliability as hydrogen systems scale. Topic 3 funds materials-based hydrogen storage demonstrations, pointing to real-world testing of solid-state or other material-centered storage approaches intended to improve volumetric/gravimetric capacity, cycling durability, and deployability. Topic 4 is aligned with the Million Mile Fuel Cell Truck (M2FCT) effort and seeks high-performing, durable, low-platinum-group-metal (low-PGM) catalysts and membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) tailored to medium- and heavy-duty transportation, where cost, lifetime, and performance under demanding duty cycles are critical for market adoption.

Area of Interest 2 moves beyond hydrogen and addresses improving electricity grid resilience, with Topic 5 establishing or supporting a University Research Consortium on Grid Resilience. This topic is framed as an EERE-wide priority and is intended to bring together academic expertise in a coordinated structure that can tackle resilience challenges from multiple angles, such as grid disturbance preparedness, recovery strategies, hardening and adaptation, and research-to-deployment pipelines. The consortium approach suggests DOE is looking for an organized, multi-institution collaboration that can produce actionable research, shared infrastructure or data resources, and workforce development outcomes that help the grid better withstand and recover from extreme weather, cyber or physical threats, and other disruptive events.

Eligibility is broad and includes state, county, and municipal governments; special districts; independent school districts; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities; nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)); individuals; for-profit entities (including those other than small businesses); small businesses; and additional eligible applicants as clarified in the FOA. This wide eligibility indicates DOE is open to proposals led by universities, national or regional partnerships, private technology developers, and cross-sector teams, depending on the topic requirements and expected deliverables.

A key procedural requirement is that applicants must submit a Concept Paper by 5:00 pm Eastern Time on the deadline specified in the FOA in order to be eligible to submit a Full Application. Both Concept Papers and Full Applications are accepted only through the EERE eXCHANGE portal, making that system the exclusive submission channel. For applicants encountering technical issues before the deadline, DOE directs them to contact the eXCHANGE helpdesk at exchangehelp@hq.doe.gov, underscoring that timely submission and early troubleshooting are important given the strict cutoff times typical of DOE competitions.

• The Department of Energy, Golden Field Office in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Funding Opportunity in Support of the Hydrogen Shot and a University Research Consortium on Grid Resilience" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.087.
• This funding opportunity was created on Aug 23, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Dec 01, 2022. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $20,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 27 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Individuals, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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