Deadline
-
TBD
November 15, 2023
5:00 pm
ET

Voucher Opportunity 5 (Recipients) - Commercialization Support (FECM)

Information

Description

Are you a carbon management or resource sustainability innovator and technology developer including, but not limited to, for-profit technology development firms, that needs commercialization support? This opportunity is designed to provide independent assessment of Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) technologies and practices for carbon management technologies and performance validation support for resource sustainability technologies See below for additional info about eligibility and timeline.

As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Technology Commercialization Fund, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC), and Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), in collaboration with ENERGYWERX, is offering its Commercialization Support Voucher Opportunity (VO-5) to eligible companies to increase adoption readiness (with a focus on market acceptance) of clean energy technologies.

Note: In order to access the voucher provider list (the discussed .xlsx and .pdf files), you will need to successfully complete the eligibility form, which is part of your submission. Once the initial eligibility questions are successfully answered, you are permitted to access the actual application; and the .xlsx and .pdf files are located at the base of the application form. The eligibility/submission form can be found HERE.

Objective

The DOE Voucher Program builds bridges between U.S. entrepreneurs, businesses, technology developers or other relevant partners and third-party voucher providers to advance commercialization of innovative energy technologies. Voucher Opportunity (VO-5) addresses key adoption risk areas faced by carbon management companies, including:

- Independent assessment of Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) technologies and practices for carbon management technologies

  • Perform and evaluate life cycle assessment (LCA) and/or techno-economic assessment (TEA) on carbon management technologies using existing MRV procedures and technologies, with sensitivity analysis to identify key areas of improvement for scale up.
  • Investigate, measure, and quantify the uncertainty associated with existing MRV tools/practices for carbon removal, capture, conversion, and storage, or similar greenhouse gas reductions approaches that are being used today, with specific focus on assessing and quantifying accuracy, precision, cost, and scalability of quantification.
  • Evaluation of methods and tools to assess the additionality of carbon management technologies and the uncertainty or reversibility of carbon storage mechanisms through both biotic and abiotic mechanisms.
  • Third-party validation of LCA/TEA/MRV for carbon management technology and assessment methodology developers; especially in topic areas aligned with FECM programs and the Energy Earth shots.
  • Support for independent entities building capacity to provide verification services to the growing carbon dioxide removal (CDR) industry.

- Resource sustainability technology performance validation support

  • Planning and execution support for field tests, including those for resource sustainability applications (e.g., methane detection and reduction technologies, advance remediation technologies, and mineral sustainability technologies).
  • Evaluation of observed emissions (including non-CO2 GHG and criteria pollution) relative to presumed emissions factors, especially by using improved or novel measurement technologies.
  • Evaluation of technology performance under certification-relevant operating conditions.
  • Accelerated lifetime testing to test for failure modes and better understand durability.

DOE has selected and pre-approved a cohort of voucher providers offering a variety of capabilities you might be interested into. For this voucher opportunity, capabilities include:

  • MRV Assessment
  • Performance Validation
  • LCA/TEA

When you apply, you will review the available capabilities and submit your preferences in the submittable form. If you find something that can be valuable to your company and that can enable your company accelerate demonstration, commercialization, and deployment of your product, please consider applying to receive that in kind support.

Voucher Projects: Expected voucher worth $100,000-$250,000 of work. Vouchers will be distributed as in-kind support, meaning that ENERGYWERX will directly reimburse the voucher provider for the work they have completed on behalf of the voucher recipients. Only work related to specific technology areas will be eligible to receive a voucher under this opportunity. List of eligible technology areas::

-   With FECM funding:

DOE anticipates issuing approximately 40 vouchers at this time.

Voucher Recipients: Limited to carbon management or resource sustainability innovators and technology developers including, but not limited to, for-profit technology development firm that are working to commercialize a prototype / product that fits a specific technology vertical of interest for DOE FECM.

This opportunity is limited to one submission per requesting organization. In the case of multiple submissions, all submissions but the one with the latest time stamp will be disqualified.

Event Updates

Voucher Recipients: How to Participate in VO-5

  1. Review the resources from the October 26, 2023 IW/OSS
  2. Review resources from the November 9, 2023 Office Hours
  3. Download the Voucher Recipient Needs Request: Click Here to Download
  4. Complete the Submission Form and upload completed Voucher Recipient Needs Request: Click Here to Submit (Submissions are due No Later Than November 16, 2023, 5:00 PM ET)
In order to access the voucher provider list (the discussed .xlsx and .pdf files), you will need to successfully complete the eligibility form, which is part of your submission. Once the initial eligibility questions are successfully answered, you are permitted to access the actual application; and the .xlsx and .pdf files are located at the base of the application form. The eligibility/submission form can be found HERE.

Pending availability of funds, additional submission windows may open in the future for this voucher opportunity.

This is not the only voucher opportunity currently available through ENERGYWERX. See below for additional information related to other voucher opportunities:

Important Dates

DOE Announcement

DOE is still finalizing selections; ENERGYWERX expects to make notifications in the coming weeks.

Objective Strategic Session (OSS) Webinar

Objective Strategic Session (OSS) webinar [October 26, 2023 from 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM ET]

Office Hours (OH) Q&A Webinar

Office Hours [November 9, 2023 from 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET]

Submission Deadline(s)

Voucher Recipient: November 16, 2023 at 5:00 PM ET

Process Details

Timeline(s)

Voucher Recipient Timeline

Phase 1 – Voucher Recipients Request Submission Open [October 18, 2023 - November 16, 2023]: Interested potential voucher recipients should submit one (1) Voucher Recipient Needs Request.

  • Objective Strategic Session (OSS) webinar [October 26, 2023 from 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM ET]: DOE will provide further details about Voucher Opportunities. Potential voucher recipients can better understand the scope, scale, and intent of the Voucher Program and ask questions of the DOE staff.
  • Office Hours [November 9, 2023 from 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET]: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will host Office Hours to answer any remaining questions from potential applicants before the submission deadline.

Phase 2 – DOE Selection [December 2023]: DOE will review submissions based on relevance to the program objectives and will notify selected entities for next steps.
NOTE:  DOE may choose to meet with submitters or ask additional clarifying questions prior to selection.

Phase 3 – Voucher approval and start of work [January 2024]: Subsequently, voucher project will commence.

Resources from Webinar(s)

Coming soon.

Video Recording(s)

2023-10-26 VO (Recipients) OSS
2023-11-09 VO (Recipients) Office Hours Session
DOE Voucher Announcement & Roundtable

Eligibility & Review Criteria

Frequently Asked Questions

May an FFRDC or a National Lab apply?

DOE will not directly fund National Labs*/FFRDCs via this Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) Opportunity; however, FFRDCs (e.g. DOE/National Nuclear Security Administration national laboratories) may participate as a Selectee’s subrecipient.  The FFRDC effort, in aggregate, shall not exceed 10% of total federal share of the project, and ENWX and DOE will not be involved in, nor assist in, these activities.  Selectees will receive full funding through a Business-to-Business (B2B) Agreement with ENWX.  Selectees are solely responsible for funding and executing necessary agreements with subrecipients.  

*Caveat:  NLs may be Voucher Providers and may apply, but if selected, DOE will manage the work and pay the NL directly through the existing funding mechanism.

‍What are Smart Manufacturing and high-performance computing?

For the purposes of this opportunity:

“Smart Manufacturing” means advanced technologies in information, automation, monitoring, computation, sensing, modeling, artificial intelligence, analytics, and networking that can -

  • simulate manufacturing production lines;
  • operate computer-controlled manufacturing equipment;
  • monitor and communicate production line status; and
  • manage and optimize energy productivity and cost throughout production;
  • model, simulate, and optimize the energy efficiency of a factory building;
  • monitor and optimize building energy performance;
  • model, simulate, and optimize the design of energy efficient and sustainable products, including the use of digital prototyping and additive manufacturing to enhance product design;
  • connect manufactured products in networks to monitor and optimize the performance of the networks, including automated network operations; and
  • digitally connect the supply chain network.16

“High-Performance Computing” means the use of supercomputers, sophisticated models, and/or large data sets to study and solve complex scientific and technological challenges.

What exactly is a “small- and medium-sized manufacturer”?

The term “small- and medium-sized manufacturer” (SMM) means manufacturing firms:

  • classified in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) as any of sectors 31 through 33;
  • with gross annual sales of less than $100,000,000;
  • with fewer than 500 employees at the plant site; and
  • with annual energy bills totaling more than $100,000 and less than $3,500,000
Who is eligible to receive funding?

Refer to Section III.G.2. Eligibility Requirements in the Solicitation Overview.

An application’s prime recipient must be one of the following eligibility entities, else the application will be considered ineligible and removed from further evaluation:

  • State entity;
  • State-funded university; or
  • State-funded community or technical college
Are applicants required to provide cost share?

Yes, cost sharing is required under this solicitation. Applicants are required to provide at least a 23.1% cost share, i.e. applicants need to fund a minimum of 23.1% of the total project cost. Cost share can come from any non-federal source, i.e. cash on hand, philanthropy, corporate investment, etc.

What is the difference between "cost sharing" and "cost match"?

Refer to the Cost Share handout for more detail and examples.

  • While the terms “cost sharing” and “cost matching” are sometimes used interchangeably, there is an important distinction between them. DOE uses “cost sharing” to indicate that the non- federal share is calculated as a percentage of the Total Project Cost. On the other hand, for “cost matching”, the non-federal match is calculated as a percentage of the federal funds only, rather than the Total Project Cost.
  • The statutory language that authorizes the State Manufacturing Leadership Program requires proponents to provide at least 30 percent cost match. For the purposes of this solicitation, the 30 percent cost matching requirement has been converted to an equivalent 23.1 percent cost sharing requirement
What are the acronyms SMM, HPC, and SLMP?
  • SMM = small- and medium-sized manufacturers
  • HPC = high-performance computing
  • SMLP = State Manufacturing Leadership Program
  • IAC = Industrial Assessment Center
  • ITAC = Industrial Training and Assessment Center
  • TA = Technical Assistance
Why did the solicitation come down mid-January?

The solicitation was temporarily taken down while DOE and ENERGYWERX confirmed that the language was consistent with recent Executive Orders.

What is an Opportunity?

Understanding Opportunities

An opportunity is a favorable circumstance or situation that allows for the potential to achieve a goal or benefit. In various contexts, opportunities can arise in business, education, and personal development. Recognizing and seizing these moments can lead to significant advancements in one's career or personal life.

Types of Opportunities

  • Career Opportunities: Job openings or promotions that can enhance your professional journey.
  • Educational Opportunities: Programs or courses that provide knowledge and skills.
  • Networking Opportunities: Events or platforms that allow you to connect with others in your field.
Download
Click HERE to review frequently asked questions.

Q: What are the eligibility requirements for voucher providers and recipients?

A: Please review the eligibility requirements for each Voucher Opportunity. In general, participation is open to any type of organization, unless specified in the Voucher Opportunity description.

Q: My company had an active DOE award after Jan 1, 2019 but was acquired by another company. Am I still eligible to apply to VO-1 or VO-4?

A: Only for-profit entities who received a DOE award/contract as prime recipient/contractor are eligible to apply to VO-1. Those entities as well as for-profit DOE prize winners are eligible for VO-4. Interested applicants can submit evidence of an acquisition, change of name, or change of the organization structure to prove the nexus between the applicant to the voucher and the entity who received DOE funding. DOE at its sole discretion will assess whether the nexus and the evidence provided meets the eligibility requirements for this voucher opportunity.

Q: My company had an active DOE award after Jan 1, 2019 to develop a new product and subsequently spun out a new company to commercialize that product. Am I still eligible to apply to VO-1 or VO-4?

A: Only for-profit entities who received a DOE award/contract as prime recipient/contractor are eligible to apply to VO-1. Those entities as well as for-profit DOE prize winners are eligible for VO-4. Interested applicants can submit evidence of an acquisition, change of name, or change of the organization structure to prove the nexus between the applicant to the voucher and the entity who received DOE funding. DOE at its sole discretion will assess whether the nexus and the evidence provided meets the eligibility requirements for this voucher opportunity.

Questions about ENERGYWERX

Q: What is ENERGYWERX?

A: ENERGYWERX is a neutral facilitator as a result of a Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) with the Department of Energy. ENERGYWERX will be coordinating the collection of applications, disbursement of funds, and voucher management for the Voucher Program.

Q: How does it work for performers?

A: Performers receive a formal Business-to-Business (B2B) Research and Development Agreement (RDA) and Statement of Effort (SOE) as a sub-award (15 U.S. Code, Section 3715) from ENERGYWERX.

Q: What is an ENERGYWERX Informational Webinar (Objective Strategic Session)?

A: Interested participants join a virtual, open forum session to engage with DOE Partners, Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), and other potential applicants regarding the DOE’s desired focus area(s) of interest.

Questions

Questions?
If you have any questions, please contact ENERGYWERX:  info@energywerx.org

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