On January 4, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) announced a $52 million funding opportunity announcement (FOA) that will accelerate research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) in domestic manufacturing to strengthen America’s economic competitiveness and move the U.S. towards a net-zero carbon economy by 2050. The FOA, led by EERE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO), will drive innovation to develop the next-generation materials and manufacturing technologies required to help tackle the climate crisis, secure our domestic supply chains, and position the U.S. as a leader in the global clean energy economy.

U.S. manufacturing is the backbone of our economy, providing millions of good-paying jobs for American workers across the country. It is also key to America’s clean energy future. Meeting our nation’s climate goals will require significant investments in RD&D of next-generation manufacturing technologies to build competitive, sustainable, and resilient manufacturing systems and domestic supply chains. The technologies supported by this funding will advance economy-wide decarbonization by reducing the carbon footprint across the industrial, buildings, transportation, power, and agricultural sectors.

The FOA includes the following topic areas:

Next Generation Materials and Manufacturing — This topic area, supported in part by the Office of Electricity, focuses on the cost-effective manufacturing processes and development of novel materials with improved properties such as high strength, enhanced conductivity, or high performance under extreme conditions. Specific subtopics include increased conductivity metal-based material systems, harsh environment materials, and AI/machine learning for aerostructures.

Secure and Sustainable Materials — This topic area focuses on materials RD&D to support the establishment of a circular economy with an emphasis on material and product design, recycling technology development, and reverse supply chain logistics. A specific area of interest is regional pilot-scale demonstrations of circular supply chains that include advancements in technologies such as innovative material recovery, end-of-life processing, and recycling.

Energy Technology Manufacturing — This topic area, co-funded by the Building Technologies Office, focuses on clean energy technology manufacturing innovation to improve performance and address technical barriers. Specific subtopics are building dehumidification scale-up and the development, scale-up, and demonstration of processing technologies to manufacture state-of-the-art cathode active materials (CAM) for domestic electric vehicle battery manufacturing. 

The awards will be issued as cooperative agreements with a period of performance of two to three years. Concept papers are due February 3, 2023, at 5 P.M. ET. 

For more information, visit https://www.energy.gov/eere/amo/advanced-materials-and-manufacturing-technologies-office.