ARPA-E Funding Opportunity Announcements

This announcement is purposely broad in scope, and will cover a wide range of topics to encourage the submission of the most innovative and unconventional ideas in energy technology. The objective of this solicitation is to support high-risk R&D leading to the development of potentially disruptive new technologies across the full spectrum of energy applications. Topics under this FOA will explore new areas of technology development that, if successful, could establish new program areas for ARPA-E, or complement the current portfolio of ARPA-E programs.

Targeted Topics:

A. Low-Energy Nuclear Reactions
Closed- FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 11/15/2022

B. INcreasing Transportation Efficiency and Resiliency through MODeling Assets and Logistics (INTERMODAL)
FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 4/11/2023

C. Creating Revolutionary Energy And Technology Endeavors (CREATE)
Closed - FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 3/21/2023

D. Predictive Real-time Emissions Technologies Reducing Aircraft Induced Lines in the Sky (PRE-TRAILS)
FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 4/25/2023

This announcement is purposely broad in scope, and will cover a wide range of topics to encourage the submission of the most innovative and unconventional ideas in energy technology. The objective of this solicitation is to support high-risk R&D leading to the development of potentially disruptive new technologies across the full spectrum of energy applications. Topics under this FOA will explore new areas of technology development that, if successful, could establish new program areas for ARPA-E, or complement the current portfolio of ARPA-E programs.

Targeted Topics:

A. Low-Energy Nuclear Reactions
Closed - FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 11/15/2022

B. RESERVED

C. Creating Revolutionary Energy And Technology Endeavors (CREATE)
Closed- FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 3/21/2023

D. Predictive Real-time Emissions Technologies Reducing Aircraft Induced Lines in the Sky (PRE-TRAILS)
FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 4/25/2023

Projects funded under the Cooling Operations Optimized for Leaps in Energy, Reliability and Carbon Hyperefficiency for Information Processing Systems (COOLERCHIPS) program will develop novel high performance, high reliability cooling systems for compute electronics. These cooling systems will enable a new class of power-dense computational systems, data centers, and modular EDGE systems that will be cooled using 5% or less of the IT load at any location in the United States at any time of the year.

The COOLERCHIPS program will support the leveraging of recent nascent advances in thermal management, coolant flow technology, materials, manufacturing, design, controls, and reliability engineering. Illustrative example areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• New materials, surface treatments, thermal interface solutions, manufacturing methods and conduction methods for improving heat transfer from chipsets;
• Advances in heat transfer to create and control 3D fluid structures with minimal thermal boundary layers;
• Innovations in cooling system engineering for reliability that address severity, occurrence and detectability of potential component failures and novel ideas that include system level risk mitigation, health monitoring and controls; and
• Novel modular data center or EDGE compute system designs that can operate high density compute systems at any time in any US location with highly efficient cooling systems.

The COOLERCHIPS FOA seeks to encourage the formation of multi-disciplinary teams to overcome the technology barriers for the development of high-performance cooling solutions that can simultaneously achieve the required system reliability and cost viability. Proposing teams should incorporate expertise in relevant compute servers, heat transfer, reliability, modeling, data center techno-economics, data center operation, and commercialization.

Projects funded under the Cooling Operations Optimized for Leaps in Energy, Reliability and Carbon Hyperefficiency for Information Processing Systems (COOLERCHIPS) program will develop novel high performance, high reliability cooling systems for compute electronics. These cooling systems will enable a new class of power-dense computational systems, data centers, and modular EDGE systems that will be cooled using 5% or less of the IT load at any location in the United States at any time of the year.

The COOLERCHIPS program will support the leveraging of recent nascent advances in thermal management, coolant flow technology, materials, manufacturing, design, controls, and reliability engineering. Illustrative example areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• New materials, surface treatments, thermal interface solutions, manufacturing methods and conduction methods for improving heat transfer from chipsets;
• Advances in heat transfer to create and control 3D fluid structures with minimal thermal boundary layers;
• Innovations in cooling system engineering for reliability that address severity, occurrence and detectability of potential component failures and novel ideas that include system level risk mitigation, health monitoring and controls; and
• Novel modular data center or EDGE compute system designs that can operate high density compute systems at any time in any US location with highly efficient cooling systems.

The COOLERCHIPS FOA seeks to encourage the formation of multi-disciplinary teams to overcome the technology barriers for the development of high-performance cooling solutions that can simultaneously achieve the required system reliability and cost viability. Proposing teams should incorporate expertise in relevant compute servers, heat transfer, reliability, modeling, data center techno-economics, data center operation, and commercialization.

Marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) will be an essential component of a future negative emissions industry, which, alongside emissions reduction, is necessary to restrict global climate warming to less than 2°C and avoid global, irreversible, and catastrophic changes caused by this temperature rise. Sensing Exports of Anthropogenic Carbon through Ocean Observation (SEA CO2) seeks to accelerate the development of the mCDR industry through the development of scalable Measurement, Reporting and Validation (MRV) technologies. MRV must be of sufficient quality to quantify carbon drawdown magnitudes, the degree of permanence, and bound the uncertainties associated with these parameters so that carbon markets can ascertain credit quality and financial institutions can make informed decisions regarding investment risk. To achieve these goals, a paradigm shift in chemical oceanographic data collection is required, moving from a single-point collection paradigm towards a goal of persistent sensing of parameters across large areas and/or volumes. In addition, regional-scale modeling of the combined major ocean carbon pathways relevant to mCDR applied to observation simulation experiments with quantifiable uncertainties as outputs are required. These technologies could also enhance our understanding of the secondary environmental effects associated with mCDR.

ARPA-E considers the following advancements ones that would most rapidly enable effective MRV and the robust establishment of financial value for the mCDR industry:

1. Sensing approaches to quantify oceanographic carbon properties, which boast:

• Large spatial scale, volumetric, or area-survey sensing capability with precision and accuracy (equivalent to bias and variance) comparable to today’s single-point state-of-the-art sensing approaches.
• Size, weight, and power requirements that enable utilization on existing ocean data collection platforms.
• Deployment periods exceeding one year without a reliance on physical human interaction.

2. Regionally focused models representing relevant ocean carbon fluxes and cycles at resolutions suitable to distinguish the additionality associated with mCDR events, with root-mean-square errors (RMSE) and anomaly correlation coefficients (ACC) at least comparable to general state-of-the-art ocean models.

Technological advances in power electronics have enabled the unprecedented growth of renewable energy sources in the electrical power grid. Power electronics innovations have brought improvements in controllability, performance, and energy availability at a specific electronic interface, but are also fundamentally changing the nature of the grid as a system. Because of the growing proportion of fast dynamic electronic interfaces relative to slow dynamic (i.e., conventional, asynchronous, machine-controlled) interfaces, grid performance, stability, and reliability are becoming increasingly jeopardized.

The goal of ULTRAFAST is to advance the performance limits of silicon (Si), wide bandgap (WBG), and ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) semiconductor devices and significantly improve their actuation methods to support a more capable, resilient, and reliable future grid. ARPA-E expects that projects will create new material, device, and/or power module technologies that enable realization of transformative power management and control. More specifically, ARPA-E is looking for semiconductor material, device and/or power module level advances to enable faster switching and/or triggering at higher current and voltage levels for improved control and protection of the grid.

Specific categories include:

(1) Device and/or module technologies targeting protection functions at high current and voltage levels by achieving very fast by-pass, shunt, or interrupt capability at as low level of integration as possible with nanosecond-level reaction time (and corresponding slew rates).

(2) High switching frequency devices and/or modules which enable efficient, high-power, high-speed power electronics converters.

(3) Complementary technologies such as wireless sensing of voltage and current, high-density packaging with the integrated wireless actuators and device/module-level protection, power cell-level capacitors and inductors, and thermal management strategies to support (1) and (2).

Technological advances in power electronics have enabled the unprecedented growth of renewable energy sources in the electrical power grid. Power electronics innovations have brought improvements in controllability, performance, and energy availability at a specific electronic interface, but are also fundamentally changing the nature of the grid as a system. Because of the growing proportion of fast dynamic electronic interfaces relative to slow dynamic (i.e., conventional, asynchronous, machine-controlled) interfaces, grid performance, stability, and reliability are becoming increasingly jeopardized.

The goal of ULTRAFAST is to advance the performance limits of silicon (Si), wide bandgap (WBG), and ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) semiconductor devices and significantly improve their actuation methods to support a more capable, resilient, and reliable future grid. ARPA-E expects that projects will create new material, device, and/or power module technologies that enable realization of transformative power management and control. More specifically, ARPA-E is looking for semiconductor material, device and/or power module level advances to enable faster switching and/or triggering at higher current and voltage levels for improved control and protection of the grid.

Specific categories include:

(1) Device and/or module technologies targeting protection functions at high current and voltage levels by achieving very fast by-pass, shunt, or interrupt capability at as low level of integration as possible with nanosecond-level reaction time (and corresponding slew rates).

(2) High switching frequency devices and/or modules which enable efficient, high-power, high-speed power electronics converters.

(3) Complementary technologies such as wireless sensing of voltage and current, high-density packaging with the integrated wireless actuators and device/module-level protection, power cell-level capacitors and inductors, and thermal management strategies to support (1) and (2).

The GOPHURRS program aims to reduce costs, increase speed, and improve the reliability and safety of undergrounding operations through the development of technologies focused on automation, damage prevention, and error elimination. GOPHURRS technologies will shift the paradigm of undergrounding from digging to drilling in order to leave the surface nearly untouched. The focus will be to develop transformative technologies capable of achieving autonomous/trenchless utility installation while also avoiding hidden underground obstacles with advanced look-ahead sensors. In addition, GOPHURRS aims to reduce the life cycle cost of an underground power system by developing reliable cable joint designs and installation systems.

If successfully developed, the technologies envisioned would help accelerate grid expansion and also improve the speed of underground construction of other types of infrastructure through automation, as well as the safety of the operators and surrounding communities. The development of GOPHURRS technologies is an urgent matter due to the need for increased undergrounding to improve reliability and resilience in the face of growing severe weather-related threats resulting from climate change and will help the United States position as a global leader in the delivery of clean, affordable, equitable, and climate-resilient electricity.

Specific technology categories include:

1. High-speed construction tools with maneuverability to install underground conduits with minimal disruption to the surface, where the installed conduits are suitable for pulling medium voltage (5 – 46 kV) power cables.
2. Sensors that characterize near-surface geology, underground obstacles, and existing underground infrastructure in order to assist underground construction operations at the required speed and to minimize risk of utility strikes and cross-borings.
3. Automated cable splice installation systems as well as novel splice designs to ensure error-free and safe installation of cable joints.

The GOPHURRS program aims to reduce costs, increase speed, and improve the reliability and safety of undergrounding operations through the development of technologies focused on automation, damage prevention, and error elimination. GOPHURRS technologies will shift the paradigm of undergrounding from digging to drilling in order to leave the surface nearly untouched. The focus will be to develop transformative technologies capable of achieving autonomous/trenchless utility installation while also avoiding hidden underground obstacles with advanced look-ahead sensors. In addition, GOPHURRS aims to reduce the life cycle cost of an underground power system by developing reliable cable joint designs and installation systems.

If successfully developed, the technologies envisioned would help accelerate grid expansion and also improve the speed of underground construction of other types of infrastructure through automation, as well as the safety of the operators and surrounding communities. The development of GOPHURRS technologies is an urgent matter due to the need for increased undergrounding to improve reliability and resilience in the face of growing severe weather-related threats resulting from climate change and will help the United States position as a global leader in the delivery of clean, affordable, equitable, and climate-resilient electricity.

Specific technology categories include:

1. High-speed construction tools with maneuverability to install underground conduits with minimal disruption to the surface, where the installed conduits are suitable for pulling medium voltage (5 – 46 kV) power cables.
2. Sensors that characterize near-surface geology, underground obstacles, and existing underground infrastructure in order to assist underground construction operations at the required speed and to minimize risk of utility strikes and cross-borings.
3. Automated cable splice installation systems as well as novel splice designs to ensure error-free and safe installation of cable joints.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA–E) is considering issuing a new Exploratory Topic under Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) DE‐ FOA‐0002784 and DE‐FOA‐0002785 to develop standardized evaluation(s) of Connected and Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) efficiency technologies in support of projects supported under the ARPA-E NEXT-Generation Energy Technologies for Connected and Automated on-Road-vehicles (NEXTCAR) Program.

The ARPA-E NEXTCAR Program has funded the development of new and emerging vehicle dynamic and powertrain (VD&PT) control technologies that can reduce the energy consumption of future vehicles through the use of connectivity and vehicle automation. Vehicle energy improvement technologies include, but are not limited to, advanced technologies and concepts relating to full vehicle dynamic control, powertrain control, improved vehicle and powertrain operation through the automation of vehicle dynamics control functions, and improved control and optimization facilitated by connectivity. Phase II of the Program launched in 2021 and is funding a subset of the technologies developed in Phase I to improve the energy efficiency of Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) evels 4 and 5 CAVs by 30%. These improvements will reduce the energy consumed by future individual vehicles undergoing automated operation, either in isolation or in cooperation with other vehicles. More information on the ARPA-E NEXTCAR program itself may be found here and details of the Phase II projects are available here.

To demonstrate and quantify these energy savings, innovation will be required to evaluate efficiency in the automated vehicle space and assign value to those savings for evaluation of the viability of these technologies for integration into the future CAV fleet. If issued, this Exploratory Topic will likely consist of two complementary tasks.

(1) CAV Testing Facility: Focused on developing the infrastructure needs and requirements to evaluate the energy efficiency of CAV technologies under development in normal driving conditions in a controlled environment.

(2) Real-World Driving Scenarios: Focused on developing driving routes utilizing augmented reality, which are representative of real-world driving scenarios, as well as maneuvers and conditions occurring on these routes to accurately assess and quantify the energy and emissions benefits of NEXTCAR Phase II technologies.

As a general matter, ARPA–E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Multidisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible. Furthermore, ARPA-E strongly encourages involving industry partners to advise and collaborate with these project teams, with the goal of achieving successful industry adoption and integration of the innovative technologies these projects teams develop.

A Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. ARPA-E intends to make the Teaming Partner List available on ARPA–E Exchange (https://ARPA–E-foa.energy.gov), ARPA–E’s online application portal, in May 2022. Once posted, the Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on the Teaming Partner List should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/ApplicantProfile.aspx. Required information includes: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Announcement, respondents consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating this Teaming Partner List, ARPA–E does not endorse or otherwise evaluate the qualifications of the entities that self-identify for placement on the Teaming Partner List. ARPA–E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted by any means other than via the link provided above will not be considered.

This Announcement does not constitute a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the final Exploratory Topic, expected to be issued in June 2022 under the FOAs noted at the beginning of this Teaming Partner List, for instructions on submitting an application, the desired technical metrics, and for the terms and conditions of funding.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA–E) intends to issue a new Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) that seeks to enable the accurate, spatially scaled and temporally persistent measurement and validation of marine Carbon Dioxide Removal (mCDR) techniques (which includes “direct ocean capture” or “DOC”), in which CO₂ is captured from the atmosphere and surface oceans before sequestration at depth. While direct air capture (or “DAC”) approaches can be validated easily through direct measurement of CO₂ collected, the same cannot be said for mCDR techniques, which may involve complex reactions over a very large surface or volume of the ocean over comparatively long periods of time, during which a fraction of the carbon drawn down may be re-emitted to the atmosphere. The envisioned program aims to vastly expand our ability to measure carbon flux parameters in the ocean, enabling comprehensive Measurement, Reporting and Validation (MRV) of mCDR and the creation of a data-driven, model-based marine carbon accounting framework. This program effort would consist of a primary technical area focused on new sensor development and a supporting technical area focused on the development of targeted regional-scale marine CDR models and accompanying carbon accounting processes. Scalable, cost-effective technologies that perform MRV for various mCDR approaches are a critical need in this highly active space where claims of efficacy and permanence cannot yet be rigorously substantiated. Such technologies could also ensure that the quantity and quality of removals are correctly valued in carbon markets and support any economic incentive to accelerate the adoption of mCDR to remove historic emissions. Validation of sequestered carbon will promote the commercialization of mCDR techniques that are most effective and energy efficient in carbon removal rather than those that are merely easiest to implement but may not actually be as effective or may be so energy intensive themselves that they result in poor overall net lifetime carbon removal.

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ARPA–E held a workshop on these topics on June 15-16, 2022. Information from this workshop can be found at the event webpage (https://arpa-e.energy.gov/events/marine-carbon-sensing-workshop). The component information remains consistent, but the scope and structure of the program have been updated from that presented in the workshop slides.

As a general matter, ARPA-E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form project teams. Interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible.

The Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. The Teaming Partner List will be available on ARPA-E eXCHANGE (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA-E’s online application portal, starting November 18, 2022. The Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on this list should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx. Required information includes: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Notice, you consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating this Teaming Partner List, ARPA-E does not endorse or otherwise evaluate the qualifications of the entities that self-identify themselves for placement on the Teaming Partner List. ARPA-E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted to other email addresses or by other means will not be considered.

This Notice does not constitute a FOA. No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the final FOA, expected to be issued in February 2023, for instructions on submitting an application and for the terms and conditions of funding.

Update as of 02/16/2023: The FOA associated with this Teaming Partner List can be found at https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Default.aspx#FoaIdb1b3992f-760d-4e21-a6c3-77e81de98cd3

The Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy (ARPA-E) intends to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled Grid Overhaul with Proactive, High-speed Undergrounding for Reliability, Resilience, and Security (GOPHURRS & GOPHURRS SBIR/STTR) to solicit applications for financial assistance to fund technologies to transform the construction of underground medium voltage power distribution grids in urban and suburban areas by rapidly drilling shallow subsurface along the terrain and concurrently installing conduits, while avoiding hidden underground obstacles (e.g., geologic anomalies, existing infrastructure) with advanced look-ahead sensors, and reducing human errors for cable splice installations.

The program's overarching goal is to significantly reduce the cost, increase the speed, reduce errors, and improve the safety of the undergrounding operations and the surrounding community, resulting in rapid expansion and conversion of the distribution grid to an underground system, providing greater reliability, resilience, and security of power infrastructure in the United States.

To achieve this goal, GOPHURRS intends to fund innovative underground civil construction technologies that are minimally disruptive to the surface (e.g., small rig footprint, fast mobilization/demobilization, low power requirement, low noise and hazardous wastes), automated to the greatest extent possible (with the ultimate goal of autonomous drilling, concurrent construction of conduits, ducts, vaults, and automated cable splicing), and equipped with enhanced situational intelligence (e.g., real-time detection of other buried utilities and obstacles, steerable drilling tools to avoid damages) will need to be developed.

ARPA-E held a workshop on this topic in July 2022; Information on this workshop can be found at https://arpa-e.energy.gov/events/undergrounding-workshop.

As described in more detail below, the purpose of this announcement is to facilitate the formation of new project teams to respond to the upcoming GOPHURRS FOA. The FOA will provide specific program goals, technical metrics, and selection criteria; and the FOA terms are controlling. For purposes of the Teaming Partner List, the following summarizes current planning for the FOA:

ARPA-E anticipates that the FOA will target research of three technical categories with an option to develop an integrated system of more than one category:

Category 1: Construction tools with high speeds (complete conduit installation within boring time of conventional tools) and maneuverability in order to create >5" I.D. conduits suitable for pulling medium voltage power cables at depths of up to 6 feet with minimal disruptions to the surface.

Category 2: Sensors that characterize near-surface geology, existing underground infrastructure and obstacles in order to provide real-time, look-ahead underground intelligence to assist underground construction operations with required speed and minimal risk of utility strikes and cross borings.

Category 3: Automated cable splicing machines that can fully or partially automate steps involved in cable splicing in order to eliminate human errors and to further improve the reliability of underground power lines. Advanced splices with maching operable designs and/or improved performance.

Expertise in the following Technical Areas may be useful in responding to the FOA: (i) drilling tools and operations (e.g. experience in drilling for infrastructure installation, oil and gas, mining, geothermal exploration), (ii) robotics and remote operations, (iii) underground civil construction and engineering, (iv) materials, coatings, liners for power conduit construction, (v) additive/subtractive manufacturing, (vi) integrated multi-sensor platforms, (vii) AI/ML, data analytics, and digital twin, (viii) near-surface characterization (ix) novel underground sensors based on emerging technologies (e.g., quantum sensors).

As a general matter, ARPA-E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible.

ARPA-E is compiling a Teaming Partner List for GOPHURRS & GOPHURRS SBIR/STTR as an optional tool that potential applicants may choose to utilize to facilitate the formation of new project teams and identify potential collaborations. Teaming partners include organizations and individuals who can offer expertise, facilities, or other complementary resources toward a potential ARPA-E project. The teaming list identifies partners' capabilities as well as their areas of interest, understanding that expertise and experience in one field can often be applied successfully to a new field. This list is completely voluntary to participate in and utilize. ARPA-E will not identify or facilitate connections through the teaming list and participation in the list has no bearding whatsoever on the evaluation of applications submitted to the GOPHURRS & GOPHURRS SBIR/STTR FOAs.

The Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. The Teaming Partner List will be available on ARPA-E eXCHANGE (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA-E’s online application portal, starting in November 2022. The Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on this list should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx. Required information includes: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Notice, respondents consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating and publishing this Teaming Partner List, ARPA-E is not endorsing, sponsoring, or otherwise evaluating the qualifications of the individuals and organizations that are self-identifying themselves for placement on this Teaming Partner List. ARPA-E reserves the right to remove any inappropriate responses to this Announcement (including lack of sufficient relevance to, or experience with, the technical topic of the Announcement). ARPA-E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted to other email addresses or by other means will not be considered.

This Notice does not constitute a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the final FOA, expected to be issued in March 2023, for instructions on submitting an application, the desired technical metrics, and for the terms and conditions of funding.

Update as of 3/30/23: The FOAs associated with this Teaming Partner List can be found at GOPHURRS FOA and GOPHURRS SBIR/STTR FOA.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA–E) is considering issuing a new Exploratory Topic under Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) DE‐ FOA‐0002784 and DE‐FOA‐0002785 to develop transformational technologies enabling real-time monitoring and predictive modeling of aviation condensation trail (contrails) that lead to the development of persistent cirrus clouds.[1] At cruise, jet engines from commercial aircraft may produce ice water contrails. Recent studies have indicated that contrail emissions may contribute to the creation of anthropogenic cirrus clouds that can be barriers to heat leaving the earth and contribute to global warming.[2] Proposals funded under this ET FOA will focus on ARPA-E’s mission areas:

1. Emissions Reduction: Projects will develop the diagnostics and predictive tools needed to explore further mitigation of contrail-related global warming. If successful, a total radiative forcing emission equivalent to all CO₂ emissions from aviation can potentially be mitigated².

2. Increase Efficiency: As we consider potential future programs that explore the use and production of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs), this program will be important in increasing our understanding of water emissions from aviation jet engines.

Most contrails dissipate in a period of under 10 minutes and are of no concern. In rare occasions, when nucleation sites and specific atmospheric conditions exist (in particular ice super-saturated regions (ISSR)), the introduction of engine exhaust can result in persistent contrails, and further result in persistent cirrus clouds known as aircraft-induced cirrus (AIC).[3] These upper atmospheric clouds can last for hours and grow to span several hundreds of kilometers and are of specific interest.

ARPA-E envisions that an Aviation Contrail Predictive System, or Systems, capable of detecting and informing in real-time pilots and flight planning ground control whether an airplane is likely to produce persistent AIC could lead to R&D of a) future avoidance strategies – allowing re-direction of airplanes by ground control to more favorable (non-contrail) flight trajectories – and/or b) mitigation technologies to enable pilots to engage on-board contrail mitigation technologies. An Aviation Contrail Predictive System is particularly challenging, as AIC can form several hours after an aircraft has passed through a region.

The aim of this new Exploratory Topic is to develop a predictive model that in “real-time” and with high confidence could inform a pilot or flight operator whether an aircraft is producing an aircraft induced cirrus cloud, even hours before it is fully developed. It is anticipated that three technology areas need to come together to develop an Aviation Contrail Predictive System:

1. Aircraft and environmental data and sensor development: relevant data factors need to be identified and measured with sufficient accuracy. This might be a combination of aircraft speed, altitude, aircraft/engine model, fuel type, aerodynamic, humidity, pressure, weather forecast, or other relevant atmospheric data. If current sensors are insufficient, new sensors might need to be explored.

2. Predictive modeling approaches: It is anticipated that advanced predictive analytical methods are required or need to be developed to identify relevant parameters and develop correlations which can target a reasonably high accuracy, e.g., F₁-score > 0.8, strongly reducing the amount of false positives and false negatives.

3. Observer data to validate and train the predictive model: relevant observer methods need to be deployed, developed, or invented to provide feedback on whether aircraft contrails lead to AIC. This can be a set of ground observer systems near relevant flight corridors, aircraft mounted observing sensors, or space-based observer data. For the purposes of this new Exploratory Topic, limited relevant test flights for data gathering and model validation might be required.

Aircraft, Environmental Data and Sensor Development

New sensors or environmental data sources may be needed to provide sufficient training and validation data for the envisioned predictive capabilities. Contrail forming conditions are identified by the Schmidt-Appleman criterion: where water vapor content reaches liquid saturation under specific temperature and saturation conditions in the presence of nucleation sites.[4]^,[5],[6] Especially important are persistent contrails formed when airplanes travel through atmospheric ice super saturated regions (ISSR), leading to persistent aircraft induced cirrus (AIC) clouds.³ As the persistent contrail formation regime is a combination of Schmidt-Appleman and ISSR criteria, sensors capable of identifying these parameters are of particular interest, e.g. sensor systems capable of measuring upper atmospheric humidity at or below 10 ppm.

Predictive Modeling

Advanced machine learning computational methods developed in the past decade allow the exploration of larger sets of input data and explore more complex multivariate correlations to solve complex problems than ever before. ARPA-E plans to explore if such methods can be used to develop a real-time predictive system for AIC development. To inform avoidance and mitigation strategies, it is important that developed predictive models give reasonably accurate results, minimizing false positive (type I) and false negative (type II) errors. This can be captured in the balanced F-score (F₁-score) which is the harmonic mean of precision and recall. A target for an F₁-score for AIC prediction system might be greater than 0.8 such that sufficient confidence exists to inform avoidance and mitigation solutions.

Observer Data

A predictive model needs to be trained and validated. For an Aircraft Contrail Predictive System this will likely require observers and additional sensors. It is anticipated that teams will need to obtain sufficient relevant flight and observer data from publicly available sources or dedicated flight observer tests to provide true AIC observations and validation rather than theoretical studies alone. Additionally, ARPA-E envisions a contrail reporting and observational data aggregation mechanism that mimics current tools for turbulence reporting and could further serve to continuously refine and improve AIC predictive modeling capabilities going forward.

ARPA-E seeks new and transformative solutions that can only be achieved by interdisciplinary teaming. Expertise in the following technical areas may be useful in responding to the potential Exploratory Topic FOA: Aerospace design, Aerospace Operations, Atmospheric Science, Sensing Technologies, Radar/Lidar systems, Flight Test capability, Aviation Propulsion, Aerosol Sciences, Combustion Sciences, Atmospheric Sciences, Observation Technologies, Machine Vision, Satellite Observation Systems, Machine Learning, Data Sciences, Predictive Modeling.

As a general matter, ARPA–E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Multidisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible. Furthermore, ARPA-E strongly encourages involving industry partners to advise and collaborate with these project teams, with the goal of achieving successful industry adoption and integration of the innovative technologies these projects teams develop.

A Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. ARPA-E intends to make the Teaming Partner List available on ARPA–E Exchange (https://ARPA–E-foa.energy.gov), ARPA–E’s online application portal, in December 2022. Once posted, the Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on the Teaming Partner List should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/ApplicantProfile.aspx. Required information includes: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Announcement, respondents consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating and publishing this Teaming Partner List, ARPA-E is not endorsing, sponsoring, or otherwise evaluating the qualifications of the individuals and organizations that are self-identifying themselves for placement on this Teaming Partner List. ARPA-E reserves the right to remove any inappropriate responses to this Announcement (including lack of sufficient relevance to, or experience with, the technical topic of the Announcement.) ARPA–E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted by any means other than via the link provided above will not be considered.

This Announcement does not constitute a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the final Exploratory Topic, expected to be issued in February 2023 under the FOAs noted at the beginning of this Teaming Partner List, for instructions on submitting an application, the desired technical metrics, and for the terms and conditions of funding.

Update as of 2/23: The FOAs associated with this Teaming Partner List can be found at https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Default.aspx#FoaId521a7aa4-b255-4c3b-a211-b128d2a4a0e4 and https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Default.aspx#FoaId440dd93d-dd8d-48e9-bbc6-7112453728c2.

[1] De Bock, P, “Leave No Trace!.… ….In the Sky”, ARPA-E Innovation Summit 2022, https://youtu.be/lZ6iQHolab0?t=1487

[2] Lee, D.S., Fahey, D.W., Skowron, A., Allen, M.R., Burkhardt, U., Chen, Q., Doherty, S.J., Freeman, S., Forster, P.M., Fuglestvedt, J. and Gettelman, A.The contribution of global aviation to anthropogenic climate forcing for 2000 to 2018. Atmospheric Environment, 244, p.117834 (2021).

[3] Kärcher, B. Formation and radiative forcing of contrail cirrus. Nat Commun 9, 1824 (2018).

[4] Appleman, H., 1953: The formation of exhaust condensation trails by jet aircraft. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 34, 14–20.

[5] Schumann, U., 1996. On conditions for contrail formation from aircraft exhausts. Meteorologische Zeitschrift, 5, pp.4-23.

[6] Teoh, R., Schumann, U., Majumdar, A. and Stettler, M.E., 2020. Mitigating the climate forcing of aircraft contrails by small-scale diversions and technology adoption. Environmental Science & Technology, 54(5), pp.2941-2950.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA–E) is considering issuing a new Exploratory Topic under Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) DE‐ FOA‐0002784 and DE‐FOA‐0002785 to evaluate the feasibility of extracting rare-earth and other high-value trace critical minerals from macroalgae cultivated in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone.

Rare Earth Elements (REEs) and Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) are critical to the manufacture of modern energy and national security technologies, such as electric vehicles, high-efficiency lighting, and wind turbines. While demand for these elements and metals continues to increase, economically and environmentally viable deposits are difficult to realize, and especially within the US. Research suggests that macroalgae may be an effective bioaccumulator of critical minerals.[1][2][3][4] However, the environmental and biological variables influencing the capacity of macroalgae as a bioaccumulator are poorly understood. In addition, while extraction methods exist, the ability to extract minerals efficiently and selectively from macroalgae in an environmentally sustainable manner (e.g., reduced carbon generation and/or water use) alongside the valorization of other macroalgal components is limited.

To quantify the efficacy of macroalgae as a critical mineral source, exploration and innovation are needed to evaluate the influencing factors and ultimate capabilities of macroalgal varieties to accumulate these minerals and the ability to efficiently extract these minerals in an economically viable form. If issued, this Exploratory Topic will likely consist of two complementary tasks.

(1) Macroalgal Composition: Focused on identifying mechanisms and maximizing the bioaccumulation of REE/PGM elements in brown or red marine macroalgal species with examination of the influence of environmental inputs, seasonal effect and macroalgal species type, and with expectation to provide 10kg of optimized macroalgal biomass containing the targeted hyperaccumulated REE/PGM for efforts under Task 2.

(2) Element Extraction: Focused on the development of new processes for the efficient extraction and processing of REE/PGM elements into usable forms for energy applications from macroalgal biomass alongside valorization of other macroalgal components (i.e., carbon content, nitrates, etc.), demonstrated with macroalgal biomass samples developed under Task 1.

As a general matter, ARPA–E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Multidisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible. Furthermore, ARPA-E strongly encourages involving industry partners to advise and collaborate with these project teams, with the goal of achieving successful industry adoption and integration of the innovative technologies these projects teams develop.

A Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. ARPA-E intends to make the Teaming Partner List available on ARPA–E Exchange (https://ARPA–E-foa.energy.gov), ARPA–E’s online application portal, in December 2022. Once posted, the Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on the Teaming Partner List should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/ApplicantProfile.aspx. Required information includes: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Announcement, respondents consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating and publishing this Teaming Partner List, ARPA-E is not endorsing, sponsoring, or otherwise evaluating the qualifications of the individuals and organizations that are self-identifying themselves for placement on this Teaming Partner List. ARPA-E reserves the right to remove any inappropriate responses to this Announcement (including lack of sufficient relevance to, or experience with, the technical topic of the Announcement). ARPA–E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted by any means other than via the link provided above will not be considered.

This Announcement does not constitute a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the final Exploratory Topic, expected to be issued in January 2023 under the FOAs noted at the beginning of this Teaming Partner List, for instructions on submitting an application, the desired technical metrics, and for the terms and conditions of funding.

[1] Nora Shenouda Gad, Biosorption of rare earth elements using biomass of Sargassum on El-Atshan Trachytic sill, Central Eastern Desert, Egypt, Egyptian Journal of Petroleum, Volume 25, Issue 4, 2016, Pages 445-451, ISSN 1110-0621, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpe.2015.10.013.

[2] Jéssica Jacinto, Bruno Henriques, A.C. Duarte, Carlos Vale, E. Pereira, Removal and recovery of Critical Rare Elements from contaminated waters by living Gracilaria gracilis, Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 344, 2018, Pages 531-538, ISSN 0304-3894, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2017.10.054.

[3] João Pinto, Bruno Henriques, José Soares, Marcelo Costa, Mariana Dias, Elaine Fabre, Cláudia B. Lopes, Carlos Vale, José Pinheiro-Torres, Eduarda Pereira, A green method based on living macroalgae for the removal of rare earth elements from contaminated waters, Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 263, 2020, 110376, ISSN 0301-4797, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110376.

[4] Thainara Viana, Bruno Henriques, Nicole Ferreira, Cláudia Lopes, Daniela Tavares, Elaine Fabre, Lina Carvalho, José Pinheiro-Torres, Eduarda Pereira, Sustainable recovery of neodymium and dysprosium from waters through seaweeds: Influence of operational parameters, Chemosphere, Volume 280, 2021, 130600, ISSN 0045-6535, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130600.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy (ARPA-E) intends to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled Unlocking Lasting Transformative Resiliency Advances by Faster Actuation of power Semiconductor Technologies (ULTRAFAST), targeting development and demonstration of semiconductor material, device and/or power module technologies to create more capable power electronics building blocks for the future grid. More specifically, ARPA‑E is looking for semiconductor material, device and/or power module level advances to enable faster switching and/or triggering at higher current and voltage levels for improved control and protection of the grid.

Separate categories targeting faster switching semiconductor devices or power modules for higher-bandwidth control, and/or higher current and voltage slew rates for triggering and protection, both at higher voltage and current ratings, are envisioned to allow for the broadest range of approaches, although technology developments that can simultaneously address both necessary functions are preferred.

ARPA-E held a workshop on this topic in October 2022; Information on this workshop can be found at https://arpa-e.energy.gov/events/ultra-fast-triggered-devices-workshop.

Individual semiconductor devices and/or modules operating at high voltages and current ratings are desired to reduce the number of stacked devices in power modules, stacked modules in power cells (half-bridge, full-bridge, flying capacitor, etc.), and stacked cells in multi-level converters for medium- and high-voltage applications. Reducing the required number of devices and modules will be necessary to improve overall system reliability, complexity, and (eventually) cost. Increasing the switching speed is desired to continue the trend of reducing passives’ volume and increasing overall converter power density. Furthermore, decreasing the switching times (increasing slew-rates) leads to a reduction in switching losses thus relaxing the critical thermal management requirements but worsening the electromagnetic interference (EMI) which directly impacts the converter reliability. One way to minimize these issues is to wirelessly trigger semiconductor devices and modules (some examples are Photoconductive Semiconductor Switch (PCSS) and Light-Triggered Thyristor (LTT) that utilize optical energy for switching, but there may be other wireless means to do so). Hence, ARPA-E desires solutions which mitigate EMI issues while simultaneously providing semiconductor devices and/or modules capable of operating at high switching frequencies, and featuring high slew-rates, current and voltage levels. Of interest is also wirelessly powered gate driver, associated voltage and current sensors, as well as wireless transfer of control signals and data, all of which can significantly mitigate EMI problems.

Similarly, ARPA-E is interested in new device concepts that promise performance at the required levels. Novel device concepts that span across categories are encouraged, as are ideas that allow incorporation of protection functions within a device or module.

Program category one seeks device and/or module technologies targeting protection functions at high current and voltage levels. As such, ARPA-E desires functionality that enables, very fast by-pass, shunt, or interrupt capability at as low level of integration as possible with nanosecond-level reaction time (and corresponding slew rates). Depending on the type of operation, there are different requirements on the efficiency and reliability. For example, protection device/module operating in-line (normally-on) is expected to function with higher efficiencies to minimize conduction loss and consequent thermal management requirements. For protection devices that are shunt-connected (normally-off), voltage withstand capability, very low leakage current, and extremely fast turn-on are essential attributes. For both types of protection device reliability of fault handling will be demonstrated through the number of operating (on-off) cycles. Because advances in category one target protection functions, their temporal performance is characterized by how quickly they can reach their final state, that is by the current and voltage slew rates, rather than by switching speed. Temporal and efficiency requirements of this program point to an all-solid-state solution, although other innovations are possible.

Category two addresses the need for high switching frequency devices and/or modules which enables high-power, high-speed power electronics converters for future grid. High efficiency is paramount, while reliability will be assessed through a device/module lifetime (hours of continuous operation). Category two devices or modules can additionally feature some or all protection functions from category one, offering a switch with unparalleled performance specifications.

Demonstration of device and/or module technologies developed under category one and two is expected. This can encompass verification of performance at the next level of system integration, such as a circuit, for example a buck, boost, half/full-bridge or other, relevant, converter structure. Teams should have a demonstration plan and justification in light of a potential technology application.

Category three targets supporting technologies for category one and category two, such as wireless sensing of device voltage and current, high-density packaging of multi-die power modules with the integration of wireless actuators and device/module-level protection, power cell-level capacitors and inductors, thermal management strategies, etc. While category three is distinct, it is expected that capabilities developed therein will be demonstrated in a system context corresponding to the next level of integration, such as devices/modules developed in categories one and two, or via suitable alternatives and overall demonstration strategy. Thus, performance targets for category three encompass and support those for categories one and two.

Due to a complex cross-disciplinary nature of the intended program, ARPA-E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors with expertise in power electronics, optoelectronics, photonics, and other related fields, to form new project teams. Interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible.

The Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. The Teaming Partner List will be available on ARPA-E eXCHANGE (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA-E’s online application portal, starting December 2022. The Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on this list should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Applicantprofile.aspx. Required information includes: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Notice, respondents consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating and publishing this Teaming Partner List, ARPA-E is not endorsing, sponsoring, or otherwise evaluating the qualifications of the individuals and organizations that are self-identifying themselves for placement on this Teaming Partner List. ARPA-E reserves the right to remove any inappropriate responses to this Announcement (including lack of sufficient relevance to, or experience with, the technical topic of the Announcement). ARPA-E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted to other email addresses or by other means will not be considered.

This Notice does not constitute a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the final FOA, expected to be issued in early 2023, for instructions on submitting an application, the desired technical metrics, and for the terms and conditions of funding.

Update as of 2/24/23: The FOAs associated with this Teaming Partner List can be found at https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Default.aspx#FoaId271e6ddc-b639-44aa-9c97-7eb5e7b635bc and https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Default.aspx#FoaIdee37c915-189b-41f7-bbca-4f3b1ac77ba3.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA–E) is considering issuing a new Exploratory Topic under Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) DE‐ FOA‐0002784 and DE‐FOA‐0002785 to develop modeling tools to assist in the optimization of the national intermodal freight transportation system. These tools will provide guidance in both deployment of future low-carbon infrastructure and assets, as well as operational logistics improvements to minimize transportation-related energy and emissions while maximizing resiliency.

The intermodal freight industry has a good sense for what technology options will be available (e.g., battery energy storage, hydrogen fuel cells, zero carbon fuels), and approximate costs – but the execution and rollout strategy, on both spatial and temporal dimensions, is still unclear. These are significant financial decisions, and upcoming choices, such as on which fuel to commit a fleet to, could accelerate or delay national decarbonization timelines by years. It is vital that the industry work together and coordinate to maximize efficiency and effectiveness of this deployment. There are currently no comprehensive models of the intermodal system’s energy demands and supplies, especially including overlap and shared infrastructure between modes. This will require synthesis and coordination of many different information streams.

Previous ARPA-E programs such as LOCOMOTIVES and TRANSNET have addressed route optimization for single modes (rail freight and light duty passenger vehicles, respectively). Other government, academic, and private modeling efforts have targeted portions of the freight system and specific modes, but none so far have addressed its deeply interconnected nature, including the challenges and opportunities the intermodal system presents. An ideal model should provide the optimum route for moving goods across maritime, rail and road transportation systems with the lowest CO2 emissions. Considering the interwoven yet fragmented nature of logistics and freight transportation, with limited data sharing, misaligned incentives, and many different stakeholders, there is a need for top-down modeling efforts that cross intermodal boundaries. More information on the ongoing ARPA-E LOCOMOTIVES program may be found here.

Given the many challenges associated with modeling the extreme complexity of the freight system, there exists no comprehensive plan to direct how freight decarbonization should be achieved. Innovation within and across sectors will be required to identify new optimal strategies. If issued, this Exploratory Topic will likely consist of two complementary tasks.

(1) Intermodal Infrastructure Model: Develop models of the national intermodal freight transportation network (i.e., moving freight by two or more modes of transportation -- e.g., trucks, trains, and cargo ships) that enable prioritization for energy infrastructure deployment, along with data required for the effective deployment of this optimized distribution system

(2) Intermodal Logistics Model: Develop models of the national intermodal freight transportation system that enable predictive and responsive optimization of modal choice, inter- or intra- modal transfer, or routing.

As a general matter, ARPA–E strongly encourages outstanding scientists and engineers from different organizations, scientific disciplines, and technology sectors to form new project teams. Multidisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration spanning organizational boundaries enables and accelerates the achievement of scientific and technological outcomes that were previously viewed as extremely difficult, if not impossible. Furthermore, ARPA-E strongly encourages involving industry partners to advise and collaborate with these project teams, with the goal of achieving successful industry adoption and integration of the innovative technologies these projects teams develop.

A Teaming Partner List is being compiled to facilitate the formation of new project teams. ARPA-E intends to make the Teaming Partner List available on ARPA–E Exchange (https://ARPA–E-foa.energy.gov), ARPA–E’s online application portal, in January 2023. Once posted, the Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect new Teaming Partners who have provided their information.

Any organization that would like to be included on the Teaming Partner List should complete all required fields in the following link: https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/ApplicantProfile.aspx. Required information includes: Organization Name, Contact Name, Contact Address, Contact Email, Contact Phone, Organization Type, Area of Technical Expertise, and Brief Description of Capabilities.

By submitting a response to this Announcement, respondents consent to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating and publishing this Teaming Partner List, ARPA-E is not endorsing, sponsoring, or otherwise evaluating the qualifications of the individuals and organizations that are self-identifying themselves for placement on this Teaming Partner List. ARPA-E reserves the right to remove any inappropriate responses to this Announcement (including lack of sufficient relevance to, or experience with, the technical topic of the Announcement). ARPA–E will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any respondents for the development of such information. Responses submitted by any means other than via the link provided above will not be considered.

This Announcement does not constitute a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). No FOA exists at this time. Applicants must refer to the final Exploratory Topic, expected to be issued in January 2023 under the FOAs noted at the beginning of this Teaming Partner List, for instructions on submitting an application, the desired technical metrics, and for the terms and conditions of funding.

Update as of 02/08/2023: The FOA/Exploratory Topic associated with this Teaming Partner List can be found at https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Default.aspx#FoaId521a7aa4-b255-4c3b-a211-b128d2a4a0e4. 

The purpose of this RFI is to solicit input for a potential future ARPA-E research program focused on the integration of nuclear reactor facilities into industrial processes to enable their provision of carbon-free heat and/or power. ARPA-E is seeking information regarding transformative and implementable technologies to facilitate this integration.

The recent focus on decarbonization and sustainability has created new opportunities for novel combinations of existing, or emerging, technologies in new sector applications. Industrial processes, which generate 24% of our nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, remain difficult to decarbonize due to their large heat requirements. The potential to integrate advanced nuclear reactors with industrial processes (such as those in oil and gas, petrochemicals, and steel and aluminum production) offers a potential pathway to reduce or eliminate carbon emissions from this sector.

This request for information aims to gather information from interested and relevant stakeholders on general, technical, technology-to-market, and regulatory issues related to the coupling of nuclear heat and power to industrial processes beyond pure power production.

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THIS NOTICE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA). NO FOA EXISTS AT THIS TIME.

Respondents shall not include any information in their response to this RFI that might be considered proprietary or confidential.

Responses to this RFI should be submitted in PDF format to the email address ARPA-E-RFI@hq.doe.gov by 5:00 PM Eastern Time on Thursday, March 30, 2023.

The purpose of this RFI is to solicit input for a potential future ARPA-E research program focused on achieving a circular and domestic battery supply chain for various types of electric vehicles including scooters, cars, buses, trucks, trains, ships, and aircrafts.

The potential program is not concerned with supplies of critical minerals or with existing battery recycling processes. Instead, it focuses on alternative strategies that can be implemented to achieve circularity including servicing, upgrading, refurbishing, and remanufacturing of batteries. The primary goals are (1) to identify materials (e.g., electrode materials, electrolytes, adhesives) amenable to in-cell regeneration to prolong the life of batteries, (2) to develop sustainable design and manufacturing of battery cells, modules, and packs that facilitate serviceability, disassembly, refurbishing, and recovery of materials and/or components at the end of life, and (3) to minimize waste, energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions during the battery lifecycle. Such transformation should be achieved without affecting the performance and safety of the battery packs.

ARPA-E is seeking information at this time regarding transformative and implementable technologies that can:

• Extend the life of battery materials, cells, modules, and/or pack through regeneration, servicing or maintenance, reuse, refurbishment, and remanufacturing. Examples include selection of electrode materials that can be regenerated through thermomechanical, chemical, and/or electrochemical treatments,
• Develop designs and manufacturing processes for cells, modules and packs that can be easily disassembled to enable servicing, reuse, refurbishing, or remanufacturing, and
• Minimize the overall amount of waste generated, energy consumed, and greenhouse gas emitted throughout the battery manufacturing, servicing, and recycling processes. Examples include designs that avoid permanent bonding or any fabrication that requires destructive disassembly (e.g., shredding).

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. THIS NOTICE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A FUNDING OPPORTUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT (FOA). NO FOA EXISTS AT THIS TIME.

Respondents shall not include any information in their response to this RFI that might be considered proprietary or confidential.

Responses to this RFI should be submitted in PDF format to the email address ARPA-E-RFI@hq.doe.gov by 5:00 PM Eastern Time on Monday, April 3, 2023.