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U.S. Department of Energy

Grants & Loan Guarantees

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) offers grants to foster energy innovations -- from research & development, up through technology testing, validation, piloting, scale-up, and commercialization

DOE provides several billion dollars per year in discretionary funding and mandatory funding to support nuclear security, clean energy, environmental cleanup, and science and innovation.

Funding for energy projects primarily comes from six DOE offices:

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), a part of EERE
 
Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE)
 
Office of Science (OS)
 
Office of Fossil Energy (FE), and
 
Advanced Research Projects (ARPA-E)

Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) are issued by these offices on a regular basis. The preponderance of these grants come from EERE. To view current grants, including eligibility requirements, funding levels, and due dates for concept papers and applications, click here:

 

Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) are issued by these offices on a regular basis. The preponderance of these grants come from EERE. To view current EERE and BETO grant opportunities, including eligibility requirements, funding levels, and due dates for concept papers and applications, click here:

To view other DOE funding opportunities, click here:

Here are descriptions of the other primary resources for viewing grant opportunities:

Grants.gov button to the left. On the Grants.gov home page, click on the "Search Grants" tab. Next, browse through the five scroll-down menus on the Grants.Gov lists the discretionary grants offered by 26 federal grant-making agencies, including DOE. To view current grant offerings, click on the left-hand side of the page, checking the boxes that relate to the type of grant you are seeking. For example, under the "Category" scroll-down menu, click "Energy;" or under the "Agency," scroll-down menu, click "All Department of Energy."

 

In the header in the grant list that appears, it is helpful to click twice on "Close Date" field at the top of the far right-hand column, so grant offerings are listed in the order in which applications or responses are due, from closest in to farthest out. Clicking on the "Opportunity Number" to the left of a grant title will take you to a synopsis of the grant. Each DOE grant synopsis will include a link where additional information can be obtained, which may be from FedConnect, EERE Exchange, ARPA-E or the Office of Science (see below).

For grants marked FedConnect, click on the button to the left and type in or copy the opportunity title in the space under “Search Criteria.” Or, as an alternative, click the down arrow next to “Title,” select “Reference Number,” type or copy in the Funding Opportunity reference number, then click “Search.” This will display a description of the grant with links to download the complete solicitation, required application documents, contact information, frequently asked questions (FAQs) and submission deadlines.

 

You also can search DOE grants from the home page by clicking the down arrow next to "Title," selecting "Agency," typing in "DOE," then click "Search." This will bring up a list of over 100 RFPs, RFIs, FOAs and other notices posted by DOE.

The DOE's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) issues periodic funding announcements that are focused on overcoming barriers around a specific energy area. ARPA-E also issues "Open" FOAs to attract proposals for innovative projects and technologies that offer a high potential for addressing the nation's energy-related issues. Its chart is organized in the same manner as the EERE chart.

The Office of Science has an annual solicitation that opens at the beginning of each federal fiscal year (October 1) and closes at the end of each fiscal year (September 30). It also may issue periodic funding opportunities at other times during the year, which will be noticed on Grants.gov.

Recent FOAs that have been issued by the Offices of Fossil Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and Electricity  are listed on the National Energy Technology Laboratory's (NETL's) Solicitations and Funding Opportunities page:

The DOE's annual  Small Business and Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program is administered by the Office of Science. In mid-July each year, the office issues a list of 25-35 topics that will be the focus of grant awards for the upcoming fiscal year. Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) typically are issued in August, with Letters of Intent (LOIs) due in early September and applications due in mid-October. Webinars describing the topics and FOAs are held shortly after the FOAs are released.

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