Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and other federal funding announcements

The Minnesota Department of Commerce seeks to work with and facilitate connections with local and Tribal governments, utilities, businesses, communities and other entities interested in energy-related partnerships. The opportunities outlined below are funded by the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (IIJA), the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and other federal programs.

Letters of Support from Minnesota Department of Commerce

The Minnesota Department of Commerce will gladly consider supplying a letter of support for funding proposals. Please send any requests for Commerce Letters of Support via email to [email protected], allowing at least 3 weeks for processing, if at all possible. Please include information on what funding opportunity is being applied to, and a short recap of the proposal project being submitted, the total project cost, and how much federal funding is being sought.? In the Subject line of the email, please include ?Letter of Support request for XXXXX, due date YYYYY??(where XXXXX is the title or section number of the funding request, and YYYYY is when the proposal is due).

40103(c) Energy for Rural and Remote Areas

The deadline for submission of 40103(c) Energy for Rural and Remote Areas proposals is April 14, 2023. If you are applying for this and would like a Commerce support letter, please email the request to [email protected] as soon as possible, and Commerce will fast-tack the request as possible.

Recent and Expected Federal Funding Activity

The federal government issues a variety of announcements related to federal funding opportunities: Requests for Information (RFI), Notices of Intent (NOI) and Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA). More information can be found on the Commerce Federal Funding Opportunities?web page or by clicking the links below.

To facilitate a quick review of this newsletter, the subject matter of included items is previewed here; full details can be found in the body of the newsletter.

• Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA), Administrative and Legal Requirements Document (ALRD), Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), and Requests for Applications (RFA)
• Carbon Capture Large-Scale Pilots Funding Opportunity Announcement
• Clean Hydrogen Technologies?Funding Opportunity Announcement
• Low or No Emission Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive Programs FY2023 Notice of Funding Opportunity
• 2023 Port Infrastructure Development Program Notice of Funding Opportunity
• The 2023 Conversion Research and Development (R&D) Funding Opportunity Announcement
• Science Foundations for Energy Earthshots?Funding Opportunity Announcement
• Grid Overhaul with Proactive, High-Speed Undergrounding for Reliability, Resilience, and Security SBIR/STTR (GOPHURRS SBIR/STTR)

• Notices of Intent (NOI)
  • Development of Domestic Production of Large Net Shape Components

• Requests For Information (RFI)
  • Increasing the Recyclability and Reusability of Materials to Reduce Waste and Decarbonize the U.S. Economy

• Incentive Payments
  • 40331 ? Hydroelectric Production Incentives & 40332 - Hydroelectric Efficiency Improvement Incentives

• Prizes/Competitions
  • DOE Prize to Harness the Power of Ocean Waves with New Technologies
  • The Battery Workforce Challenge
  • The Energizing Rural Communities Prize

• Technical Assistance
  • SolSmart Expands to Advance Equitable Solar Energy Adoption

• Webinars
  • Continuing Education Course: Community Solar Program and Subscription Design

• Publications/Videos/Webpages
  • The Solar Shepherd ? A shining Example of an Agrivoltaic Partnership
  • Connect the Dots on Community Solar Webpage

• Competitions for College Students
  • Second Annual Hydropower and Fifth Annual Marine Energy Collegiate Competitions

IIJA Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA)

• 41004(a) - Carbon Capture Large-Scale Pilots
  • Deadlines: Concept Paper April 5, 2023|Application June 21, 2023
  • DE-FOA-0002963
  • $937 million to support large-scale carbon capture pilot projects designed to accelerate the development, deployment, and commercialization of innovative and transformative technologies that capture carbon emissions.
  • Projects funded under this FOA will generate operational data for verification and validation of the commercial potential of innovative technologies, including data on technology performance, non-CO2 air emissions, process models, life cycle impacts, costs, scaling factors, and community benefits or negative impacts of carbon capture technologies.

• 40314 - Clean Hydrogen Electrolysis, Manufacturing and Recycling
  • Deadlines: Concept Paper: April 19, 2023 | Full Application: July 19, 2023

  • DE-FOA-0002922

  • The program will provide $750 million to fund?research, development, and demonstration efforts to dramatically reduce the cost of clean hydrogen, addressing?underlying technical barriers to cost reduction insurmountable by scale alone.?DOE envisions granting multiple awards in the form of cooperative agreements, with a period of performance of approximately 2-5 years.

Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)

• Low or No Emission Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive Programs FY2023 Notice of Funding Opportunity
• Deadline: April 13, 2023
• ?FTA-2023-002-TPM-LWNO, FTA-2023-003-TPM-BUS
• The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced the opportunity to apply for $1.2 billion in competitive grants under the Low or No Emission Grant Program (Low-No Program) and $470 million under the Grants for Buses and Bus Facilities Competitive Program. FTA is joining these two grant opportunities in one NOFO, and applicants are welcome to apply to either program or both. The Low-No Program provides funding to state, Tribal, and local governmental authorities for the purchase or lease of zero-emission and low-emission transit buses, including acquisition, construction, and leasing of required supporting facilities.
• FTA hosted a webinar on Thursday, February 16, 2023, which provided an overview of the programs, described eligible applicants and projects, provided an overview of the evaluation criteria and selection considerations, and information on the submission process.
• Watch the?recording
• View the?presentation

• IIJA 54301/Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) Funding?2023 Port Infrastructure Development Program Notice of Funding Opportunity
  • Deadline: April 28, 2023
  • Notice of Funding Opportunity
  • Eligible projects include: loading, unloading and movement of goods; environmental and emissions mitigation, port electrification, development of microgrids, idling reduction infrastructure, hydrogen refueling, and other projects.

Non-IIJA Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA)

• The 2023 Conversion Research and Development (R&D) Funding Opportunity Announcement DE-FOA-0002946
  • Deadlines: Concept Paper: April 21, 2023 | Application: June 16, 2023
  • This FOA will accelerate the growth of the bioeconomy by supporting the development of high-impact technologies that convert domestic biomass and waste resources into affordable biofuels and bioproducts through two topic areas:
    • Topic 1: Overcoming Barriers to Syngas Conversion
    • Topic 2: Strategic Opportunities for Decarbonization of the Chemicals Industry Through Biocatalysts
  • Both topic areas contribute to goals outlined in the DOE Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap to produce low-carbon, renewable chemicals, and the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge to produce 35 billion gallons of SAF annually by 2050.?
  • View the full funding opportunity announcement and register to apply on the EERE Exchange.

• Science Foundations for Energy Earthshots??
  • Deadlines:?Required Pre-application: April 25, 2023 | Application: June 21, 2023
  • DE-FOA-0003003
  • The Office of Science issued a funding announcement in support of the Department of Energy?s Energy Earthshots? initiative. The Energy Earthshots? initiative drives integrated program development and execution across the Department of Energy?s basic science and energy technology offices, and will accelerate breakthroughs to progress towards more abundant, affordable, and reliable clean energy solutions. This FOA will support small teams to build the scientific foundations in support of for the Energy Earthshots? initiative goals.
• Grid Overhaul with Proactive, High-Speed Undergrounding for Reliability, Resilience, and Security SBIR/STTR (GOPHURRS SBIR/STTR)
  • Deadlines:?Concept Paper: May 9, 2023 | Application: TBD
  • DE-FOA-0003048
  • GOPHURRS (Grid Overhaul with Proactive, High-Speed Undergrounding for Reliability, Resilience, and Security) intends to fund a portfolio of new technologies based on bold and unconventional ideas that will transform the construction of underground medium voltage (MV, 5 ? 46 kV) power distribution grids (e.g., primary feeders and laterals) in urban and suburban areas and reduce the cost of undergrounding electric power grids by at least 50% in order to improve the overall reliability, resilience, and security of power infrastructure in the United States.
  • The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are Government-wide programs with objectives to stimulate cooperative partnerships of ideas and technologies between Small Business Concerns and partnering Research Institutions through Federally funded R&D activities.

IIJA Notice of Intent (NOI)

• Development of Domestic Production of Large Net Shape Components
  • The Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy office intends to issue this FOA via EERE Exchange in April 2023.
  • View the full notice of intent
  • At present, approximately 95% of U.S. carbon-free power generation relies on complex systems consisting of large (10+ ton) near net shape metallic components. Near Net Shape manufacturing reduces both the amount of raw materials and energy used to create these components, by creating components that are close to their final or ?net? shape, and the amount of post-processing operations that follow the manufacturing process.
  • The funding opportunity is expected to provide approximately $30 million in federal funding. EERE envisions awarding multiple financial assistance awards in the form of cooperative agreements.?

Request for Information (RFI)

• The Department of Energy Seeks Information on Increasing the Recyclability and Reusability of Materials to Reduce Waste and Decarbonize the U.S. Economy
  • Deadline: May 1, 2023
  • DOE?s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) is facilitating this request for public input to better understand the barriers of moving from a linear to a more circular flow of materials through the manufacturing sector and larger domestic economy.
  • Read the RFI and learn how to submit your feedback here.

Incentive Payments

• 40331 ? Hydroelectric Production Incentives & 40332 - Hydroelectric Efficiency Improvement Incentives
  • The Grid Deployment Office has issued application guidance and opened solicitations for up to $200 million in funding from the Hydroelectric Incentives Program. The Hydroelectric Production?Incentives will?provide up to $125 million in incentive payments to qualified hydroelectric facilities for electricity generated and sold in calendar years 2021 and 2022. The Hydroelectric Efficiency Improvement Incentives will invest $75 million to enable implementation of capital improvements to boost efficiency.
  • An informational webinar will be held on Wednesday, April 5, 2023, for additional information.
    • Registration is required.

Prizes/Challenges

• DOE Launches Prize to Harness the Power of Ocean Waves with New Technologies
  • Deadline: The first phase is now open for submissions and will close on August 25, 2023.
  • DOE?s Water Power Technologies Office has launched the?Innovating Distributed Embedded Energy Prize (InDEEP), which will award up to $2.3 million to competitors investigating novel technologies for harnessing and converting the power of ocean waves into usable types of energy.??
  • The prize seeks to foster the development of distributed embedded energy converter technologies (DEEC-Tec), which combine many small energy converters, often less than a few centimeters in size, into a single, larger ocean wave energy converter. This larger system could convert energy from a wide range of ocean locations and wave types. InDEEP aims to support early-stage DEEC-Tec research that lays the foundation for the eventual deployment of these technologies at all scales, including to provide power to electricity grids.?
  • The prize phases will increase in complexity for competitors. Phase I will center on team building and concept creation, awarding up to 20 teams $15,000 each.

• The Department of Energy and Stellantis Announce the Battery Workforce Challenge
  • Kicking off in Fall 2023, the Battery Workforce Challenge includes an advanced battery design and development student competition that invites universities and vocational schools from across North America to design, build, test and integrate an advanced EV battery into a future Stellantis vehicle.?
  • The Battery Workforce Challenge includes a three-year collegiate engineering competition; vocational training; youth education in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM); and career and technical education.?
  • For more background about the Battery Workforce Challenge, please visit battchallenge.org
• The Energizing Rural Communities Prize
  • Deadline: May 24, 2023?
  • Energizing Rural Communities Prize
  • DOE is launching the Energizing Rural Communities Prize to support capacity building to remove two of the biggest barriers to improving energy systems in rural or remote areas: developing necessary partnerships and securing financing. Through $15 million in funding, this prize competition will help build partnerships by connecting communities to government funding and a network of partners that can help implement clean energy projects. The prize will help selectees develop plans to access capital and/or develop community ownership models.

Technical Assistance

• SolSmart Expands to Advance Equitable Solar Energy Adoption
  • The U.S. Department of Energy announced an expansion of its SolSmart program to support and recognize local governments across the country who are taking steps to reduce barriers to solar energy access. The expanded program adds a new Platinum-level designation?for the most forward-looking communities, establishes new priorities around support for disadvantaged communities, and sets a goal of designating a total of 1,000 communities by 2027. The program has also extended its designation criteria to include solar plus battery storage, codes and standards, innovative financing, and data collection and metrics.
  • SolSmart?s updated and expanded designation criteria address new areas, such as:?

• Integration of solar with other technologies, such as battery storage
• Equitable access to solar energy
• Updating local codes?
• Data collection and metrics to measure community progress
• Innovative financing programs for solar energy
• Community planning for large-scale solar installation
• SolSmart invites all cities, towns, counties, and regional organizations in the U.S. to contact the program and begin receiving no-cost technical assistance to achieve designation. For those communities that are already SolSmart-designated, the program invites them to ?level up? to designation as Silver, Gold, or Platinum.

Webinars

• Continuing Education Course: Community Solar Program and Subscription Design
  • May 23-24, 2023, 11:00 AM CT
  • Information
  • Learn and discuss the various elements of community solar program design, as well as ownership options relevant to municipal utilities in this new continuing education course presented in partnership with the American Public Power Association and NREL.

Publications/Videos/Webinars

• Video: The Solar Shepherd ? A Shining Example of an Agrivoltaic Partnership
  • Meet Dan Finnegan and Reggie the Wonder Dog. The two of them are partnering with SETO-funded AgriSolar Clearinghouse to make the most of a family farm in Massachusetts, raising sheep and solar energy on the same piece of land.

• Find information on the benefits of community solar, Solar Energy Technologies Office work, and community solar resources on the Connect the Dots on Community Solar webpage.??

Competitions for College Students

• Second Annual Hydropower and Fifth Annual Marine Energy Collegiate Competitions
  • Deadlines: April 24, 2023
  • The?U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today opened applications for the second annual?Hydropower Collegiate Competition (HCC)and fifth annual?Marine Energy Collegiate Competition (MECC).?These two competitions help undergraduate and graduate students prepare for jobs in hydropower, marine energy, and related industries by challenging them to develop unique solutions to advance these technologies.

Federal Tax Credits Under the Inflation Reduction Act

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 created and updated several energy-related tax credits and deductions that may affect federal tax returns for individuals and businesses. For details ? including tax credits for clean vehicles, energy efficiency, and other provisions ? see?Credits and Deductions Under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022?on the IRS website.

For Stakeholders Planning on Applying Directly to the U.S. Government for Funding

NOTE: Due to the high demand of UEI requests and SAM registrations, entity legal business name and address validations are taking longer than expected to process. Entities should start the UEI and SAM registration/update process immediately as the processing time to complete a registration/update currently may take weeks to months. This includes address and expired registration updates. If entities have technical difficulties with the UEI validation or SAM registration process they should utilize the HELP feature on SAM.gov. SAM.gov will work entity service tickets in the order in which they are received and asks that entities not create multiple service tickets for the same request or technical issue. Additional entity validation resources can be found here: GSAFSD Tier 0 Knowledge Base - Validating your Entity.

The MN Commerce Department is your partner for energy-specific federal funding opportunities

Interested in partnering with the Commerce Department on funding opportunities or have questions? Email?[email protected].?Stay updated on the latest programs, opportunities and RFPs by clicking subscribe below.?