Opportunity Title:
Foundational Agrivoltaic Research for Megawatt Scale (FARMS)
Description:
This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is being issued by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) to invest in innovative research and development (R&D) that accelerates the large-scale development and deployment of solar technology to support an equitable transition to a decarbonized electricity system by 2035 and decarbonized energy sector by 2050. By investing in research on the co-location of solar photovoltaics (PV) and agriculture (“agrivoltaics”), this FOA will advance the decarbonization of the energy system while providing new economic opportunities to farmers, rural communities, and the solar industry. The office supports solar energy research, development, demonstration, and technical assistance in five areas—PV, concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP), systems integration, manufacturing and competitiveness, and soft costs—to improve the affordability, reliability, and domestic benefit of solar technologies on the electric grid. In May 2021, SETO released its Multi-Year Program Plan1 , which describes the office’s activities and specific goals for 2025. In September 2021, DOE released the Solar Futures Study, 2 which examined solar energy’s role in achieving the decarbonization of the grid by 2035 and 2050. Both of these documents guide the office’s research and development efforts. The Multi-Year Program Plan lays out goals for 2025, including achieving a $0.03/kWh levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for utility-scale solar photovoltaics, a $0.05/kWh LCOE for concentrating solar power, and minimizing land and wildlife impacts. Reaching the cost goal for utility-scale solar electricity by 2025 depends on achieving cost reductions in multiple areas, as illustrated in Figure 1. Roughly one-third of the modeled cost decline for utility-scale PV comes from reducing balance of system hardware and soft costs from $0.67/W to $0.54/W. The soft costs of solar energy include all costs that are not associated with physical hardware, including labor, siting, permitting, inspection, and interconnection costs.
Eligibility:
Individuals: U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents are eligible to apply for funding as a prime recipient or subrecipient.
Domestic Entities: For-profit entities, educational institutions, and nonprofits that are incorporated (or otherwise formed) under the laws of a particular state or territory of the United States and have a physical location for business operations in the United States are eligible to apply for funding as a prime recipient or subrecipient. Nonprofit organizations described in section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995 are not eligible to apply for funding. State, local, and tribal government entities are eligible to apply for funding as a prime recipient or subrecipient. DOE/NNSA FFRDCs are eligible to apply for funding as a prime recipient. Non-DOE/NNSA FFRDCs are eligible to apply for funding as a subrecipient, but are not eligible to apply as a prime recipient. Federal agencies and instrumentalities (other than DOE) are eligible to apply for funding as a subrecipient, but are not eligible to apply as a prime recipient.
Foreign Entities: Foreign entities, whether for-profit or otherwise, are eligible to apply for funding under this FOA. Other than as provided in the “Individuals” or “Domestic Entities” sections above, all prime recipients receiving funding under this FOA must be incorporated (or otherwise formed) under the laws of a state or territory of the United States and have a physical location for business operations in the United States. If a foreign entity applies for funding as a prime recipient, it must designate in the Full Application a subsidiary or affiliate incorporated (or otherwise formed) under the laws of a state or territory of the United States to be the prime recipient. The Full Application must state the nature of the corporate relationship between the foreign entity and domestic subsidiary or affiliate.
Total Amount Available:
$8,000,000
Application Deadline:
Submission Deadline for Letter of Intent: 6/1/2022 5:00pm ET
Submission Deadline for Concept Papers: 6/22/2022 5:00pm ET
Submission Deadline for Full Applications: 8/30/2022 5:00pm ET
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