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)
Closed - 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)
Closed - FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 4/25/2023

E. Critical Mineral Extraction from Ocean Macroalgal Biomass (Algal Mining)
Closed - FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 5/31/2023

F. Novel Superconducting Technologies for Conductors (Superconductors)
Closed- FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 7/25/2023

G. Production of Geologic Hydrogen Through Stimulated Mineralogical Processes
Closed - FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 10/24/2023

H. Subsurface Engineering for Hydrogen Reservoir Management
Closed - FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 10/24/2023

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)
Closed - FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 4/25/2023

E. RESERVED

F. Novel Superconducting Technologies for Conductors (Superconductors)
Closed - FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 7/25/2023

G. Production of Geologic Hydrogen Through Stimulated Mineralogical Processes
FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 10/24/2023

H. Subsurface Engineering for Hydrogen Reservoir Management
FA Deadline 9:30 AM ET 10/24/2023

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) provides a continuing opportunity for the rapid support of early-stage applied research to explore innovative new concepts with the potential for transformational and disruptive changes in energy technology. Spurring Projects to Advance Energy Research and Knowledge Swiftly (SPARKS) awards are intended to be flexible and may take the form of analyses or exploratory research that provides the agency with useful information for the subsequent development of focused technology programs. SPARKS awards may also support proof-of-concept research to develop a unique technology concept, either in an area not currently supported by the agency or as a potential enhancement to an ongoing focused technology program. Applications must propose concepts that are not covered by open ARPA-E focused FOAs and that do not represent incremental improvements over existing technology.

SPARKS awards are defined as single-phase efforts of durations of 18 months or less with a total project cost of $500,000 or less and will be issued through Grants. ARPA-E expects to make approximately $10 million per fiscal year available for new awards, subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

Concept Paper Encourage / Discourage decisions are published and available in eXCHANGE as of 6/30/23.

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.

Concept Paper Encourage / Discourage decisions are published and available in eXCHANGE as of 6/30/23.

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.

Concept Paper Encourage / Discourage decisions are published and available in eXCHANGE as of 11/1/23.

The Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy technologies with Untapped Potential 2023 (SCALEUP 2023) Funding Opportunity Announcement provides a vital mechanism for the support of innovative energy R&D that complements ARPA-E’s primary R&D focus on early-stage transformational energy technologies that still require proof-of-concept.

An enduring challenge to ARPA-E’s mission is that even technologies that achieve substantial technical advancement under ARPA-E support face significant remaining technical and commercial risks upon completion of an award's funding period, and thus are at risk of being stranded in their development path once ARPA-E funding ends. Experience across ARPA-E’s diverse energy portfolios, and input from a wide range of investors and industry stakeholders, indicates that pre-commercial “scaling” projects are critical to establishing that performance and cost parameters can be met in practice for these potentially transformative technologies. These pre-commercial scaling projects aim to translate the performance achieved at bench scale to commercially scalable versions of the technology, integrate the technology with broader systems, provide extended performance data, and validate the manufacturability and reliability of new energy technologies. Success in these scaling projects should enable industry, investors, and partners to justify the substantial commitments of financial resources, personnel, manufacturing facilities, and materials necessary to subsequently deploy the technologies at commercial scale.

The SCALEUP 2023 FOA seeks to scale the most promising technologies previously funded by ARPA-E. The stranding of promising ARPA-E-funded technologies in their development pathways leaves substantial intellectual property developed with American taxpayer dollars vulnerable to adoption by foreign competitors, who can and do capture it for continued development – and economic benefit – overseas. This harms national competitiveness, as U.S. industries often lose the lead on the development, scaling, and manufacturing of technologies necessary to compete in rapidly evolving global energy markets. Thus, projects selected for SCALEUP 2023 will meet ARPA-E’s statutory direction to achieve the above goals by “accelerating transformational technological advances in areas that industry by itself is not likely to undertake because of technical and financial uncertainty”. [1]

[1] 42 U.S.C. §16538(c)(2)(a-c)

Concept Paper Encourage / Discourage decisions are published and available in eXCHANGE as of 9/27/23.

The goal of the ROSIE program is to develop pathways to zero emissions ironmaking and ultra-low life cycle emissions for steelmaking. The program seeks to fund the development and demonstration of novel technologies that produce iron-based products from iron-containing ores and alternative feedstocks without process emissions in the ironmaking step. The Program’s technologies will demonstrate a path to cost-competitiveness with traditional incumbent carbothermic blast furnace ironmaking. The technologies funded through this program have transformative potential, because no technology route exists today that meets both this emissions constraint and this cost parity goal.

The program will have two categories:

If successful, novel ironmaking technologies meeting the metrics set forth by the program will enable a reduction of U.S. emissions by over 65 million tonnes (Mt) carbon dioxide emitted (CO2e) annually (~1% of U.S. emissions) and global emissions by over 2.9 gigatonnes (Gt) annually (5.5 % of global emissions).

Concept Paper Encourage / Discourage decisions are published and available in eXCHANGE as of 9/27/23.

The goal of the ROSIE program is to develop pathways to zero emissions ironmaking and ultra-low life cycle emissions for steelmaking. The program seeks to fund the development and demonstration of novel technologies that produce iron-based products from iron-containing ores and alternative feedstocks without process emissions in the ironmaking step. The Program’s technologies will demonstrate a path to cost-competitiveness with traditional incumbent carbothermic blast furnace ironmaking. The technologies funded through this program have transformative potential, because no technology route exists today that meets both this emissions constraint and this cost parity goal.

The program will have two categories:

If successful, novel ironmaking technologies meeting the metrics set forth by the program will enable a reduction of U.S. emissions by over 65 million tonnes (Mt) carbon dioxide emitted (CO2e) annually (~1% of U.S. emissions) and global emissions by over 2.9 gigatonnes (Gt) annually (5.5 % of global emissions).

Electrification of the transportation sector is an ambitious vision and an essential strategy toward achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. One thing is certain – a multitude of technologies and strategies will be required to achieve these ambitious goals. Batteries and fuel cells represent potential solutions; however, for heavy-duty vehicles, vessels and aircraft, the maximum achievable energy density (by mass and by volume) for both existing and anticipated next-generation electrochemical energy storage technologies is impractically too low.

In response, the Pioneering Railroad, Oceanic, and Plane ELectrification with 1K Energy Storage Systems (PROPEL-1K) program will support the research and development of alternative approaches to energy storage to ultimately achieve a > 4x improvement compared to existing state-of-the-art options. The technical scope encompasses electrochemical and/or chemical solutions that do not require hydrocarbon-based fuels (fossil or synthetic). The targets for these energy storage system solutions are 1000 Watt-hour per kilogram (Wh/kg) and 1000 Watt-hour per liter (Wh/l) (so-called “1K” technologies) at the end of life and at the net energy storage system level. Of particular interest are technologies that are not mere extensions of current mainstream electrochemical device thinking or short-term technology road maps. The primary program objective is to develop exceptionally high-energy storage solutions, capable of catalyzing broad electrification of the aviation, railroad, and maritime transportation sectors.

1. Aviation: PROPEL-1K can enable regional flight up to 1000 miles (700 nautical miles [nm] with reserve) on aircraft transporting up to 100 people.
2. Railroads: PROPEL-1K can electrify all North American railroads and enable cross-country travel in the U.S. with fewer stops and reduced infrastructure required for charging or refueling.
3. Maritime: PROPEL-1K is expected to enable the electrification of all vessels that operate exclusively in U.S. territorial waters (ferries, barges, tugs, and Jones Act freight).

Note: The PROPEL-1K program targets aviation, railroad and maritime, however, it may also provide benefits for long-distance trucking.

Electrification of the transportation sector is an ambitious vision and an essential strategy toward achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. One thing is certain – a multitude of technologies and strategies will be required to achieve these ambitious goals. Batteries and fuel cells represent potential solutions; however, for heavy-duty vehicles, vessels and aircraft, the maximum achievable energy density (by mass and by volume) for both existing and anticipated next-generation electrochemical energy storage technologies is impractically too low.

In response, the Pioneering Railroad, Oceanic, and Plane ELectrification with 1K Energy Storage Systems (PROPEL-1K) program will support the research and development of alternative approaches to energy storage to ultimately achieve a > 4x improvement compared to existing state-of-the-art options. The technical scope encompasses electrochemical and/or chemical solutions that do not require hydrocarbon-based fuels (fossil or synthetic). The targets for these energy storage system solutions are 1000 Watt-hour per kilogram (Wh/kg) and 1000 Watt-hour per liter (Wh/l) (so-called “1K” technologies) at the end of life and at the net energy storage system level. Of particular interest are technologies that are not mere extensions of current mainstream electrochemical device thinking or short-term technology road maps. The primary program objective is to develop exceptionally high-energy storage solutions, capable of catalyzing broad electrification of the aviation, railroad, and maritime transportation sectors.

1. Aviation: PROPEL-1K can enable regional flight up to 1000 miles (700 nautical miles [nm] with reserve) on aircraft transporting up to 100 people.
2. Railroads: PROPEL-1K can electrify all North American railroads and enable cross-country travel in the U.S. with fewer stops and reduced infrastructure required for charging or refueling.
3. Maritime: PROPEL-1K is expected to enable the electrification of all vessels that operate exclusively in U.S. territorial waters (ferries, barges, tugs, and Jones Act freight).

Note: The PROPEL-1K program targets aviation, railroad and maritime, however, it may also provide benefits for long-distance trucking.

The Inspiring Generations of New Innovators to Impact Technologies in Energy (IGNIITE) program is designed to support a new cohort of early-career innovators to develop the most disruptive and unconventional ideas into transformative new technologies across the full spectrum of energy applications. This announcement is purposefully broad in technical scope, but eligibility is limited to early-career researchers.

Submissions to this solicitation must propose transformational R&D that have the potential for high impact. If successful, a project could create a new class or new trajectory for an energy technology, with the potential to substantially contribute to ARPA-E’s statutory goals.Awards under this program may take the form of exploratory research that provides the agency with information useful for the subsequent development of focused technology programs. Alternatively, awards may support proof-of-concept research for a particular new technology in an area not currently supported by the agency.

This program aims to empower early-career scientists and engineers in becoming independent researchers and in unleashing their creativity to develop disruptive energy technologies. A second objective is to encourage these early-career innovators to focus their careers on tackling the substantial and urgent energy-related problems our society currently faces. In doing so, this FOA will help ensure that the U.S. maintains its technological leadership in the development and deployment of advanced energy technologies.

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) in 2023 to solicit applications for financial assistance to support the scaling of promising ARPA-E-funded technologies into early commercial products.

As described in more detail below, the purpose of this announcement is to facilitate collaborations among performing teams to respond to the upcoming FOA. The FOA will provide specific Program goals, technical metrics, and selection criteria and the FOA terms. For the purposes of the Teaming Partner List, the following summarizes current planning for the FOA:

The Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy technologies with Untapped Potential 2023 (SCALEUP 2023) solicitation provides a vital mechanism for the support of innovative energy R&D that complements ARPA-E’s primary R&D focus on early-stage transformational energy technologies that still require proof-of-concept.

ARPA-E’s mission is to develop transformational energy technologies in support of U.S. national security and economic competitiveness. ARPA-E funds the R&D of technologies to build and maintain U.S. technological leadership in highly competitive global energy markets, thus supporting American jobs and economic growth. ARPA-E’s authorizing statute directs the Agency to develop linkages between its sponsored applied research and the marketplace. These linkages are central to realizing the public’s return on technology investments.

An enduring challenge to ARPA-E’s mission is that even technologies that achieve substantial technical advancement under ARPA-E support are at risk of being stranded in their development path once ARPA-E funding ends (averaging $2.5M over three years). ARPA-E-funded technologies typically face significant remaining technical and commercial risks upon completion of an award’s funding period. Experience across ARPA-E’s diverse energy portfolios, and with a wide range of investors, indicates that pre-commercial “scaling” projects are critical to establishing that performance and cost parameters can be met in practice for these very early-stage technologies. These pre-commercial scaling projects aim to translate the performance achieved at bench scale to commercially scalable versions of the technology, integrate the technology with broader systems, provide extended performance data, and validate the manufacturability and reliability of new energy technologies. (These projects are often termed “pre-pilot” development in different industries.) Success in these scaling projects would enable industry, investors, and partners to justify substantial commitments of financial resources, personnel, production facilities, and materials to develop promising ARPA-E technologies into early commercial products.

The SCALEUP 2023 FOA builds upon ARPA-E-funded technologies by scaling those that have the potential for the greatest impact, consistent with ARPA-E's mission. Stranding promising ARPA-E-funded technologies in their development pathways leaves substantial intellectual property developed with American taxpayer dollars vulnerable to adoption by foreign competitors, who can and do capture it for continued development – and economic benefit – overseas. This harms national competitiveness, as U.S. industries often lose the lead on the development, scaling, and manufacturing of technologies necessary to compete in rapidly evolving global energy markets. These scaling energy technology projects will meet ARPA-E’s statutory direction to achieve the above goals by “accelerating transformational technological advances in areas that industry by itself is unlikely to undertake because of technical and financial uncertainty”.

ARPA-E strongly encourages different organizations with outstanding entrepreneurial scientists and engineers along with commercialization and financial entities across different business sectors to participate in this Program. 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 SCALEUP 2023 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 voluntarily to participate in and utilize. ARPA-E will not identify or facilitate connections through the teaming list and participation in the list has no bearing whatsoever on the evaluation of applications submitted to the SCALEUP 2023 FOA.

The 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 (http://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA-E’s online application portal, starting in May 2023. The Teaming Partner List will be updated periodically, until the close of the Full Application period, to reflect the addition of 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 Notice, you 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 via email or 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 2023, for instructions on submitting an application and for the terms and conditions of funding.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy (ARPA-E) intends to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) entitled Revolutionizing Ore to Steel to Impact Emissions (ROSIE), targeting new technology pathways to enable zero direct process emissions in ironmaking (i.e., zero-process-emission ironmaking) and ultra-low life cycle emissions for steelmaking at scale.

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 ROSIE 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 has identified two Technical Categories for ROSIE’s low emission iron and steel opportunities. Technical Category A ends with an iron product; Technical Category B ends with a steel product. Proposers in both categories must address emissions associated with ironmaking while producing either a relevant iron or steel product. An iron product may be a final product for direct use or it may be iron designed to be used in further steelmaking; the steel product must be a deliverable product in an existing or projected steel market.

ARPA-E held a workshop on this topic in September 2021; Information on this workshop can be found at https://arpa-e.energy.gov/events/zero-emission-iron-steelmaking-workshop.

The draft technical section FOA language is included as Attachment A to this document and the draft Cost and LCA Estimator Tool is included as a separate Attachment B. NOTE: THE ISSUED FOA, INCLUDING TECHNICAL SECTION AND LCA ESTIMATOR TOOL, WILL BE CONTROLLING, NOT THESE DRAFT DOCUMENTS, THOUGH NO MAJOR CHANGES ARE ANTICIPATED.

The following is a non-exhaustive list of the technologies that will be of interest for the ROSIE Program. All technologies must satisfy specified zero-emissions-ironmaking criteria.

• Aqueous electrowinning of ores: in acidic, basic, or neutral media; including the potential for the acids/bases to be produced on-site and recycled;
• Non-aqueous electrolysis of ores: using electrolytes of molten salts and eutectics; innovations in novel electrodes that will withstand operating conditions;
• H₂ plasma-based ironmaking: using microwave, arc, or other plasma generation methods;
• Biomass-based ironmaking: the use of low-cost emerging bio-feedstocks; innovative ways to process these feedstocks into bioreductants for specific utility in ironmaking;
• Biological and biomimetic ironmaking: siderophore derivatives or other catalyst mimics that selectively bind iron cations from ore and reduce them;
• Novel thermochemical ironmaking: methods to use nontraditional reductants, recycled carbon, or other new thermochemistry to process realistic feedstocks;
• Ironmaking from unconventional ores: mine tailings and other wastes; especially, taconite or other ores found substantially in the United States; co-production of iron and other metals or byproducts as enabled by using mixed-metal ores; and
• Other novel technologies: to produce iron from raw iron resources with zero greenhouse gas (GHG) process emissions.

The scope of the ROSIE program is framed to advance high-potential, high-impact technologies with the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ironmaking to zero. Submissions that do not represent a significant innovation in ironmaking technology are out of scope. These are examples of technology concepts that would not meet the success criteria of this program:

• More efficient blast furnace technologies or direct reduced iron (DRI) - electric arc furnace (EAF) processes
• Adding carbon capture with sequestration to blast furnaces
• Transitioning from DRI using natural gas to DRI using hydrogen (H2)
• Ore beneficiation for blast furnace or DRI processes
• Biomass to make biocoke followed by standard blast furnace ironmaking
• Enabling increased quality and availability of scrap metal feedstock
• Reducing or removing carbon emissions in existing pre-processing stages such as sintering and induration

The ROSIE program goals are to develop low emissions ironmaking technologies that have the potential to scale to meaningful production levels at cost parity with existing technologies. The performance metrics will include the amount of non-biogenic greenhouse gas emissions from ironmaking process; the cradle-to-gate lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions; the process and product scalability; the target cost per tonne of product; and the target lab scale prototype at end of the project.

Several additional considerations will also be used for proposal evaluation, including the energy per tonne of iron or steel product; the process byproducts or waste streams; the process flexibility; the product viability; the pathway to scale from lab (grams/hour) to pilot plant (tonnes/year); and the final product qualification requirements.

ARPA-E project teams are required to construct and execute a commercialization strategy that is unique to their technology. Technology-to-market risks that may be addressed include the availability of the reductant for a chosen process, which may be electricity, hydrogen, sustainable carbon, or other technology-specific reagents. Other underlying cost and risk drivers that may be addressed include availability of the appropriate domestic ore feedstock and uncertainty in electricity pricing. To assist in assessing the potential for technology development and application, a basic Ironmaking Cost and Life Cycle Assessment Estimator Tool has been provided along with this announcement (Attachment B). The goal of this tool is to enable fair comparison of technologies using input data (e.g., CO₂ footprint of grid electricity) from a standard library.

ARPA-E is not interested in projects that exclusively consider the reduction of relatively pure iron oxide to iron. Successful applications need to demonstrate the reduction of iron oxide feedstock under conditions that will be industrially relevant to the commercial deployment of the proposed technology.

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 (http://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA-E’s online application portal, starting May 2023. 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 June 2023, for instructions on submitting an application, the desired technical metrics, and for the terms and conditions of funding.

The draft technical section and LCA tool included as attachments to this Teaming Partner List will be discussed by ARPA-E Program Director Jenifer Shafer on June 15, 2023, at an ARPA-E Industry Day.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) is considering issuing a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to support the discovery of plasma-facing and structural first wall materials that are suitable for fusion power plants. As described in more detail below, the purpose of this announcement is to facilitate the formation of new project teams to respond to the potential FOA. The FOA will provide specific program goals, technical metrics, and selection criteria. The FOA terms are controlling.

For purposes of this Teaming Partner List, the program’s current overarching goal is to discover and test new candidate materials that can withstand high-dose irradiation up to 50 displacements per atom (dpa) while preserving ductility at room temperature. Current state-of-the-art materials such as tungsten and reduced-activation steels suffer from irradiation and helium embrittlement issues that can make fusion power systems prohibitively expensive to qualify and operate. New advancements in machine-learning-assisted material discovery, advanced manufacturing, material damage modeling, and irradiation testing provide the opportunity to discover new materials that can withstand the unique extreme environment required for sustained fusion reactions.

ARPA-E currently expects the FOA to focus on the research of materials with high thermal conductivity, low activation, low tritium retention, and low irradiation-induced swelling that maintain room temperature ductility after significant irradiation damage and helium generation. Two categories of materials will be assessed separately on the following characteristics:

1. Plasma-facing component materials will need to show better performance than tungsten, including plasma erosion performance.
2. Structural materials will need to show better performance than reduced-activation steels, including high temperature strength performance.

The FOA will also seek to establish capability teams to consolidate the materials discovery and performance data generated by the projects. The capability teams will support project performers on digitization, standardization, and storage of materials data as well as create the framework for systems and life-cycle analysis of fusion power system designs with varying materials of construction.

Expertise in the following areas may be useful in responding to the potential FOA:

• Rapid material synthesis and screening
• Material design modeling
• Irradiation damage modeling
• Neutron activation calculations
• Advanced manufacturing
  
• Ion irradiation and helium implantation
• Materials mechanical testing and analysis
• Plasma erosion testing
• Tritium retention testing
• Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML)
• Materials database development and maintenance

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.

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 (http://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA-E’s online application portal, starting in October 2023. 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 the following: 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 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 list is completely voluntarily to participate in and utilize. ARPA-E will not identify or facilitate connections through the teaming list and participation in the list has no bearing whatsoever on the evaluation of applications submitted to the potential FOA.

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

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) is considering issuing a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to support the development of renewables-to-liquids systems capable of converting intermittent energy inputs into easily transportable, carbon-containing liquids. As described in more detail below, the purpose of this announcement is to facilitate the formation of new project teams to respond to the potential FOA. The FOA will provide specific program goals, technical metrics, and selection criteria. The FOA terms are controlling.

For purposes of this Teaming Partner List, the program is interested in systems that achieve 80% multi-pass carbon conversion to liquids with at least 50% electricity-to-liquid efficiency at the lowest possible cost.

Currently, ARPA-E anticipates that these systems would require:

1. The development of new reactors capable of being operated dynamically to decrease the system capital expenditure (CAPEX) required for hydrogen storage;
2. Small-scale reactor systems compatible with renewable energy systems;
3. Reactor designs that include manufacturability within defined design criteria;
4. The development of new catalysts optimized for carbon dioxide hydrogenation pathways;
5. Reactor systems that enable process intensification that minimize CAPEX; and
6. Modelling and optimization to determine optimum sizing and anticipated CAPEX.

Expertise in the following areas may be useful in responding to the potential FOA:

• Chemical engineering
• Mechanical engineering
• Chemistry
• Carbon conversion
• Hydrogen production
• Reactor engineering
• Catalysis
• Manufacturing
• Modelling
• Technoeconomic analysis
• Lifecycle assessment

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.

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 (http://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA-E’s online application portal, starting in October 2023. 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 the following: 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 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 list is completely voluntarily to participate in and utilize. ARPA-E will not identify or facilitate connections through the teaming list and participation in the list has no bearing whatsoever on the evaluation of applications submitted to the potential FOA.

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

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E) is considering issuing a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to support the development of foundational technologies aimed towards establishing a domestic, circular supply chain for electric vehicle (EV) batteries. As described in more detail below, the purpose of this announcement is to facilitate the formation of new project teams to respond to the potential FOA. The FOA will provide specific program goals, technical metrics, and selection criteria. The FOA terms are controlling.

For purposes of this Teaming Partner List, one of the program’s primary objectives would be to maintain in service EV battery materials, cells, and pack components at the highest levels of performance and safety for as long as possible. Technological solutions capable of maximizing the useful service life of battery cells and recovering the manufacturing value of spent battery packs would reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, minimize energy and material consumption, lower demand for virgin materials, alleviate reliance on key battery material and component imports, and ultimately motivate the creation of a circular and sustainable domestic EV battery supply chain.

The existing supply chain for EV batteries is largely linear and relies on recycling to close the supply loop for critical minerals. The disposal of “spent” batteries is challenging due to fire hazards and/or potential release of toxic chemicals into the environment. A significant increase in the number of EVs is imminent and will be accompanied by large volumes of battery waste, albeit with a ten-to-twenty-year lag, depending on both the type of battery and application. Conventional battery recycling methods such as pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy are energy-intensive, produce significant quantities of GHGs, and lead to large volumes of waste deposited in landfills. With few exceptions, these approaches intentionally recover only the most valuable materials (e.g., nickel, cobalt, and copper). Looking to the future, these recycling strategies are expected to endure increasingly challenging economics as battery chemistries that rely on more abundant and/or less expensive materials capture significant market share. Therefore, prolonging the life of EV batteries and recovering manufacturing value to the greatest extent possible through regeneration, repair, and remanufacturing will reduce the domestic energy burden and carbon footprint of the EV battery supply chain. In addition, various strategies used to achieve circularity could be leveraged to facilitate recycling.

Current EV manufacturing practices are well-established in support of the linear economic model of “take, make, use, and dispose” with negligible appreciation for the end of life. This is arguably unsustainable in future scenarios consistent with projected EV market growth. It is critical that innovations are developed to “expand” the chemistry, design, and manufacturing space. The resulting new materials, components, and regeneration methods will efficiently and cost-effectively prolong today’s service life of battery cells and packs, without compromising performance or safety.

Such a vision also encompasses reversible manufacturing strategies, sensors, and algorithms for improved monitoring, as well as any other methods that responsibly manage the end of life for manufactured goods, particularly batteries, for transportation.

Strategies that may have merit, either individually or as part of a total solution, include the following:

• Battery materials and cell designs that are amenable to in situ regeneration methods;
• Regeneration techniques and protocols that can efficiently and cost-effectively restore battery cells to beginning of life performance and safety;
• Reversible manufacturing materials and methods to facilitate battery module/pack disassembly;
• “Reversibly” bondable adhesives including stimuli-responsive systems;
• Techniques and designs for reversible “joining” of battery cells and modules that do not compromise performance, structural/mechanical integrity, or safety;
• Battery pack designs that are amenable to autonomous robotic disassembly;
• Robotic systems capable of disassembling battery packs, in parts or in full, with the ability to learn autonomously and/or with humans in the loop;
• Sensor platforms and methodologies capable of rapid determination of state of health (SoH) for individual battery cells during use and/or at the end of battery pack life to determine whether the cells should be regenerated, reused, or recycled;
• Seamless and cost-effective integration of sensors in manufacturing of battery cells and packs that can support circularity objectives;
• Battery intelligence systems and data analytics to extend the service life of cells, modules, and packs; and
• Analytical tools capable of quantifying the impact of the program’s advancements on pack cost, material use, energy use, and GHG emissions per kilowatt-hour delivered throughout the life of an EV to justify the adoption of these technologies and inform new business models and opportunities.

ARPA-E hosted a “Circular Economic Materials, Design, and Manufacturing of Rechargeable Batteries Workshop” on June 12 and 13, 2023. Information from this workshop can be found at the ARPA-E events webpage (https://arpa-e.energy.gov/events/battery-circularity-workshop). In addition, ARPA-E issued a request for information (RFI) on “Achieving Circularity of the Domestic Battery Supply Chain” (DE-FOA-0003027, https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Default.aspx?foaId=cd9cd241-0872-4832-8e10-8fc5e57b1a1e). A video of the “Batteries & Storage” Fast Pitch Panel from the 2023 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit can be viewed on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye_yZNcAj30).

Expertise in the following areas may be useful in responding to the potential FOA:

• State-of-the-art battery chemistry and materials research, development, and engineering
• Battery cell and battery pack design and prototyping
• Battery component, battery cell, and battery pack manufacturing
• Chemical, mechanical, and electrical engineering
• Computational modeling and simulation
• Battery management systems hardware and software development and integration
• Cell-level and pack-level battery sensor development, integration, and data analytics
• Manufacturing
• Robotics
• Sustainable design
• Techno-economic analysis (TEA)
• Life cycle analysis (LCA)
• Failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA)

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 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 project teams develop.

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 (http://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov), ARPA-E’s online application portal, starting in October 2023. 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 the following: 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 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 list is completely voluntarily to participate in and utilize. ARPA-E will not identify or facilitate connections through the teaming list and participation in the list has no bearing whatsoever on the evaluation of applications submitted to the potential FOA.

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