February 5, 2024

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and other state and 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 state and federal programs.

Announcements: Department of Commerce Energy Programs

• Electric Vehicle (EV) Rebate Program

The Minnesota Department of Commerce opens applications for the Electric Vehicle (EV) Rebate program at 10 a.m. Wednesday, February 7, 2024. The State of Minnesota has limited funds for EV rebates. When the program launches on February 7, 2024, completed applications will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis.

For an overview of the Electric Vehicle Rebate Program, how to create an account for a rebate, frequently asked questions, and other resources on this rebate program please visit the Electric Vehicle Rebate Program at mn.gov/evrebates.

• Solar on Public Buildings Grant Program – Public Engagement Webinar on February 22

The Solar on Public Buildings Grant Program will equip cities, towns, counties, and other local governments and Tribal Nations to lower utilities costs, increase energy independence, expand our clean energy workforce, and take essential action on the climate crisis.

State funding will be distributed to local governments to build solar arrays (system size up to 40 kilowatts) across Xcel Energy territory in Minnesota. These grants can be paired with federal clean energy tax credits now available to local governments.

Join the webinar on Thursday, February 22, 10:00-11:00 am to learn about the program, give your input, and prepare for the upcoming grant application. 

New Commerce Energy Program Web Pages

State Competitiveness Fund

As required in Minnesota Statutes 216C.391, Commerce has delivered a Notification to the Minnesota Legislative Advisory Committee (LAC) with the results of the Quick Response Round of the State Competitiveness Fund Match Program. The Notification describes the Quick Response funding application round, the available funding under this application round, and the list of Responders who were awarded fund reservations.  The Notification to LAC is posted on Commerce’s State Competitiveness Fund webpage for public viewing.  

Energy-related Funding Awards to Minnesota Entities

Read on to learn more about the most recent innovative Minnesota energy projects (listed by Funding Opportunity Program), and the funding they have been awarded.  Congratulations to all the recipients!

SETO Small Innovative Projects in Solar 2023: Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power and Photovoltaics Funding Program

The DOE recently announced 24 projects to receive $7.8 million in funding for SIPS Programs that target early-stage ideas in solar energy research that can provide significant results in one year. Projects that concentrate solar-thermal power (CSP) investigate novel ideas and include aspects of CSP plants with thermal energy storage and solar-thermal industrial heat innovations and solar-thermal fuel systems.

• Certainteed LLC – Shakopee, MN – (Rochelle Samuel, Principal Investigator) was awarded $400,000 from DOE for the project: Carbon Reduction via Concentrating Solar-Thermal Integration into Thermal Fluid Heaters at CertainTeed Asphalt Roofing Manufacturing Sites. The project aims to demonstrate the Solarflux parabolic dish concentrator at scale via a solar thermal concentrator array (STCA) at CertainTeed’s Shakopee, MN plant. The STCA will provide heat to a thermal oil loop used within the Shakopee plant’s manufacturing process. The team seeks to validate key assumptions behind the Solarflux’s parabolic dish concentrator performance, deployment, and operating model to address challenges with cost and complexity.

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 energy 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), Requests for Applications (RFA)

• Carbon Utilization Procurement Grants
• Industrial Assessment Centers (IAC) Implementation Grants
• FY24 Energy and Emissions Intensive Industries
• Small Innovative Projects in Solar: Concentrating Solar Power and Photovoltaics (SIPS: CSP & PV)
• Platform Technologies for Transformative Battery Manufacturing
• Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR)
• Combined Wellbore Construction High Temperature Tools and Reservoir Thermal Energy Storage (RTES)
• Distributed Communication and Control Technologies Research, Development, and Demonstration

Notice of Intent

• Clean Energy Technology Deployment on Tribal Lands - 2024

Request for Information (RFI)

• Solar Plus Storage Deployment Serving Low-Income and Disadvantaged Communities
• Offshore Wind National and Regional Research and Development Priorities
• Industrial Deployment and Demonstration Opportunities for Carbon Capture Technologies
• Receivers and Reactors for Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power Plants and Solar Industrial Process Heat

Webinars

• Concentrating Solar Receiver and Reactors
• Successful Grant Applications for Tribal Clean Energy Projects

Workshops, Meetings, Conferences

• National Community Solar Partnership Annual Summit

Publications/Videos/Webpages

• New Survey Investigates the State of US Solar and Wind Sighting 

IIJA Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA)

• Section 40302 Carbon Utilization Procurement Grants
• DE-FOA-0002829
• Deadlines: Concept paper: Required, can be submitted anytime. Full application due April 30, 2024

The DOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) Carbon Utilization Procurement grant program has up to $100 million to support states, local governments, and public utilities in purchasing products derived from converted carbon emissions; speeding up the adoption of advanced carbon management technologies and creating a market for environmentally sustainable alternatives in fuels, chemicals, and building products sourced from captured emissions. ties.  The Utilization Procurement Grants program will award demonstration grants to allow eligible entities to procure and use commercial or industrial products that are derived from anthropogenic carbon oxides.

• Section 40521 - Industrial Assessment Centers (IAC) Implementation Grants

• Information & Application

• Deadline: This FOA is open on a rolling basis with deadlines on: March 31, June 30, and September 30, 2024.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in collaboration with its Partnership Intermediary, ENERGYWERX, has re-opened applications for small and medium-sized manufacturing firms (SMMs) to receive grants of up to $300,000, at 50% cost share, to implement recommendations made in Industrial Assessment Centers (IAC) assessments and/or DOE Combined Heat and Power Technical Assistance Partnership (CHP TAP). Eligible SMMs must be a manufacturer, have gross annual sales of less than $100 million, annual energy bills between $100,000 and $3.5 million, and have fewer than 500 employees.

Other Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA)

• FY24 Energy and Emissions Intensive Industries
  • DE-FOA-0003219
  • Deadlines: Concept Papers: March 19, 2024 | Application: June 11, 2024

Issued by the DOE’s Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office, this $83 million FOA will focus on applied R&D and pilot demonstration for the highest industrial greenhouse gas emitting subsectors. Topic areas include:

* Decarbonizing Chemicals and Fuels

* Decarbonizing Iron and Steel

* Decarbonizing Food and Beverage Products

* Decarbonizing Building and Infrastructure Materials – Cement and Concrete, Asphalt, and Glass

* Decarbonizing Forest Products

* Innovative Industrial Pre-FEED Studies

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

  • DE-FOA-0003308

  • Deadline: March 6, 2024

This FOA is being issued by the DOE Offices of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and Solar Energy Technologies. Small Innovative Projects in Solar (SIPS) is an agile funding vehicle 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 Research and Development (R&D) community.

Topic Area 1: SIPS: Concentrating Solar-thermal power (CSP) - with the following Areas of Interest:

* Heliostat Technology Development

* Particle Transport Technology Development

* Distributed Scale SIPH

* Hybrid CSP Energy Systems

* CSP Control System Innovation

* Technology and Analysis Impacting CSP Soft Costs

Topic Area 2: SIPS: PV - with the following Areas of Interest:

Mitigating Performance Losses in Silicon and Cadmium Telluride PV Modules

* Photovoltaics and Storage

* Utility-scale PV Installation, Commissioning, and Design for Resilience

* Advance Stable Perovskite Cell Architectures and Interfaces, Module Integration and Quality Control

* Manufacturing Equipment Feasibility

• Platform Technologies for Transformative Battery Manufacturing

  • DE-FOA-0003236

  • Deadlines: Concept Paper: March 4, 2024 | Application: May 7, 2024

This FOA comes from the DOE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office to support the development of manufacturing platform technologies that can assist in scaling up domestic battery manufacturing. Approximately $15.7 million in federal funding will be available for this FOA with approximately 5 – 13 awards made between $1 and $4 million. Topic Areas include:

Topic Area 1: Platforms for Next Generation Battery Manufacturing

               Subtopic 1.1: Processes and Machines for Sodium-Ion Batteries

                Subtopic 1.2: Processes and Design for Manufacturability of Flow Batteries

                Subtopic 1.3: Scalable Manufacturing of Nanolayered Films for Energy Storage

Topic Area 2: Smart Manufacturing Platforms for Battery Production

• Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) 
  • DE-FOA-0003202
  • Deadline: Letter of Intent: February 2, 2024 | Application: March 12, 2024

Multiple DOE offices have jointly released the Phase 1, Release 2 FOA for SBIR/STTR with $65 million to support small businesses in research and pre-commercialization projects. Phase 1 of the opportunity funds projects with up to $250K; approximately 40% of Phase 1 awards will be invited for Phase 2, which has awards of up to $1.85 million depending on the topic area. The long-standing, multi-agency SBIR/STTR program now has IIJA funding for selected topics of interest, including: hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, water power technologies, carbon capture, conversion and storage.

• Combined Wellbore Construction High Temperature Tools and Reservoir Thermal Energy Storage (RTES)
  • DE-FOA-0003296
  • Deadlines: Letter of Intent: March 1, 2024 | Application: April 1, 2024

The DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Office announced a $31 million FOA for projects that support enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) wellbore tools as well as the use of low-temperature geothermal industrial processes. The FOA seeks projects in two topic areas:

Topic Area 1: Provides $23.1 million for projects to address downhole cement and casing evaluation tools for use in high-temperature and hostile geothermal wellbores.

Topic Area 2:  Provides $7.9 million for a demonstration project for low-temperature (<130◦ C) reservoir thermal energy storage (RTES) technology with applications to industrial processes. 

• Distributed Communication and Control Technologies Research, Development, and Demonstration
  • DE-FOA-0003198
  • Deadline: March 18, 2024

The DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory released this FOA with $4.8 million in funding to support research, development, and demonstration projects evaluating innovative distribution system communications and control technologies for a secure smart grid. Proposed projects must use a utility-led facility and real-time, archived, or high fidelity simulated operational grid data to create and evaluate technical solutions.

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Notice of Intent (NOI)

• Clean Energy Technology Deployment on Tribal Lands – 2024
  • DE-FOA-0003297
  • FOA issuance expected Spring of 2024

The DOE Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs intends to release a FOA with $25 million available for awards up to $5,000,000 (depending on topic area).  Cost-share from non-federal sources will generally be 20%.  Submissions are sought for projects in the following areas of interest:

Area of Interest 1: Install clean energy generating system(s) and/or energy efficiency measure(s) for Tribal Building(s);

Area of Interest 2: Deploy community-scale clean energy generating system(s) or community energy storage on Tribal Lands;

Area of Interest 3: Install integrated energy system(s) for autonomous operation to power a single or multiple Essential Tribal Building(s) during emergency situations or for tribal community resilience; or

Area of Interest 4: Power unelectrified Tribal Buildings

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Request for Information (RFI)

• Solar Plus Storage Deployment Serving Low-Income and Disadvantaged Communities
  • DE-FOA-0003304
  • Deadline: February 23, 2024 - submitted electronically as attachments to an email sent to: [email protected]

DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office is seeking feedback from a wide variety of stakeholders on issues related to deploying distributed solar and related technologies through industry, government, and utility-led programs designed to serve low-income ad disadvantaged communities (LIDAC). Feedback sought includes identification of the greatest challenges entities face while designing, administering, implementing, participating in and/or benefiting from LIDAC solar deployment. Information is also sought on types of coordination, tools and resources stakeholders will require to meet priorities related to equitable access to solar and its benefits.

• Offshore Wind National and Regional Research and Development Priorities
  • DE-FOA-0003302
  • Deadline: February 20, 2024 - submitted electronically as attachment to an email to: [email protected]

This request for information is issued by DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office on behalf of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. DOE is requesting information via ten workforce related questions in the following categories:

Category 1: Floating Offshore Wind Platform Research and Development

Category 2: Alternative Fixed-Bottom Offshore Wind Foundation Types and Installation Techniques

Category 3: Technology Advancement for Bird and Bat Research Offshore

Category 4: Understanding Specific Supply Chain Needs for Offshore Wind Deployment in the Great Lakes Region

Category 5: Development of a Manufacturing and Supply Chain Offshore Wind Consortium Based in the Great Lakes Region

• Industrial Deployment and Demonstration Opportunities for Carbon Capture Technologies

  • DE-FOA-0003263

  • Deadline: March 14, 2024 - submitted electronically to: [email protected] with the subject line: DE-FOA-0003263

DOE seeks feedback from a variety of stakeholders in carbon capture demonstration and deployment projects, including project locations. Of specific interest is feedback from industries involved in the production of aluminum, ammonia, cement, glass, iron and steel, lime, petrochemicals, paper, refining soda ash, and liquified natural gas.

• Receivers and Reactors for Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power Plants and Solar Industrial Process Heat

  • DE-FOA-0003275

  • Deadline: February 20, 2024 - submitted electronically to: [email protected]

DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office seeks information from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on two areas of interest: 1) low temperature steam generation and heating applications for all process heat applications, and 2) process heat applications for steel, cement, chemical and refining industries, and three separate categories, grouped by receiver exit temperatures:

Category A: High temperature receivers for CSP applications (≥650⁰C)

Category B: Low temperature (<300⁰C) CST receivers for IHP applications

Category C: High temperature (≥300⁰C) CST receivers and reactors for IPH applications

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Webinars

• Concentrating Solar Receiver and Reactors
  • February 15, 2024 | 11:00 AM CT | Information and Registration

Hosted by the DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office, this webinar will focus on solar receivers and reactors for concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) and solar decarbonization.

• Successful Grant Applications for Tribal Clean Energy Projects
  • February 15, 2024 | 12:00 PM CT | Register

The DOE Office of Indian Energy will share resources, opportunities, and information on how to plan for a successful grant application.

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Workshops/Meetings/Conferences

• National Community Solar Partnership Annual Summit
  • February 14, 2024 | 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM CT| Virtual
  • Information and Registration

The 2024 National Community Solar Partnership Annual Summit will focus on Community Solar – Deploying Benefits and Delivering Impacts. With the upcoming Solar for All programs and other solar-oriented Inflation Reduction Act programs, this summit will convene stakeholders to learn about resources and tools that will accelerate community solar deployment.  This is a virtual summit with no registration fee.

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Publications/Videos/Webpages

• New Survey Investigates the State of US Solar and Wind Sighting
  • Survey of Utility-Scale Wind and Solar Developers Report

The DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has released a report with the results of a 2023 Survey of Utility-Scale Wind and Solar Developers which gathered information on the state of siting across the United States. Survey results in the report discuss project timelines over the last five years, leading causes of project delays and cancellations, community opposition, experience with permitting authorities, community engagement, comparisons between wind and solar, and other related topics.

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Energy-specific funding opportunities, Commerce is here for you

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 here are funded by the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (IIJA), the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and other federal and state energy programs. Interested in partnering with Commerce on funding opportunities or have questions? Stay updated by clicking subscribe below and e-mail us at [email protected].