NETL Funding Opportunities

The purpose of this NOFO is to seek applications for projects to design, implement, test and validate three compelling opportunities (here-in-after “topic areas”) for strategic refurbishment/retrofit of existing coal power plants, providing a path for rapid and cost-effective restoration of stability to the nation’s bulk power system while supporting the nation’s industrial and energy security priorities by enabling coal powered systems to provide reliable, secure, and affordable electricity delivered in the near term at scale. Successful projects will lead to the implementation of transformational technologies that will significantly improve the efficiency, effectiveness, costs, emissions reductions, and environmental performance of coal and natural gas use.

This Notice of Intent (NOI) DE-FOA-0003607, is to Issue Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) No. DE-FOA-0003606, titled, "Improving Efficiency, Reliability, and Flexibility of Coal-Based Power Plants"

The objectives of the planned projects are to facilitate the development of advanced wastewater management systems, dual firing retrofits, and natural gas cofiring systems for coal-fired facilities with a compelling opportunity for strategic refurbishment. Achieving this goal would help enable a rapid and cost-effective path to ensuring affordable, reliable, secure power at scale to address the surging demand from national defense installations, semiconductor fabrication plants, Artificial Intelligence (AI) data centers, critical mineral processing, and industrial re-shoring, all of which require access to power.

Disclaimer

This NOI is issued so that interested parties are aware that DOE may issue a NOFO as described herein, may issue a NOFO that is significantly different than what is described herein, or may not issue a NOFO at all. Any information contained within this NOI is subject to change.

No concept papers, letters of intent, or full applications are being requested nor accepted in response to this NOI. The Department is not seeking comments on the information in this notice and will not respond to questions concerning this Notice. Upon release of a NOFO, an avenue for potential applicants to submit questions will be provided.

Notice of Intent to Issue Notice of Funding Opportunity No. DE-FOA-0003390 titled “Mine of the Future – Proving Ground Initiative”

The goal of this work is to de-risk the adoption of new mining technologies for commercialization and widespread industry adoption.

This is a Notice of Intent (NOI) to Issue Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) No. DE-FOA-0003583, titled: Mines and Metals Capacity Expansion – Piloting By-Product Critical Minerals and Materials Recovery at Domestic Industrial Facilities.

The goal of the planned NOFO is to facilitate the development of large pilot-scale facilities to recover domestic critical minerals and materials (CMM), including rare earth elements (REE), graphite, and other value-added products from operating industrial facilities. Example industries with byproduct production potential include: phosphate, fertilizer, oil and gas, smelting, mining, waste management. Goal-related resources will be eligible in this program.

Disclaimer
This NOI is issued so that interested parties are aware that DOE may issue a NOFO as described herein, may issue a NOFO that is significantly different than what is described herein, or may not issue a NOFO at all. Any information contained within this NOI is subject to change.
No concept papers, letters of intent, or full applications are being requested nor accepted in response to this NOI. The Department is not seeking comments on the information in this notice and will not respond to questions concerning this Notice. Upon release of a NOFO, an avenue for potential applicants to submit questions will be provided.

DE-FOA-0002956 supports DOE’s current vision to develop secure, diverse, resilient, domestic Critical Mineral and Materials (CMM) supply chains by expanding the Programs at the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) and the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO) to fund additional processing research and development (R&D) for the recovery and refining of CMM, as required for critical supply chain use.

The overall objectives of the FOA are to (1) continue to advance CMM technology development, not only in the area of new advanced recovery concepts, but also to (2) expand and improve process systems development, optimization, and efficiency, to (3) improve CMM process system economic feasibility and align production costs with existing market sectors, and to (4) produce CMM from multiple, diverse feedstocks including recycled materials.

The United States Department of Energy (DOE’s) Fossil Energy and Carbon Management Program intends to issue Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) no. DE-FOA-0002956 titled “Advancing Technology Development for Securing a Domestic Supply of Critical Minerals and Materials (CMM)”. This Notice of Intent to Issue (NOI) is for informational purposes only; the Department of Energy is not seeking comments on the information in this notice and applications are not being accepted at this time. DOE will not accept questions at this time regarding issuance of the FOA. Details on how to submit questions and comments will be provided in the FOA, if issued. Any information contained in this notice is subject to change.

This Notice of Intent supports DOE’s current vision to secure diverse, resilient, domestic CMM supply chains by expanding the Critical Minerals and Materials Program to fund additional processing research and development (R&D) for the recovery and refining of CMM, as required for critical supply chain use.

The intended FOA has four (4) Areas of Interest planned. The four Areas of Interest are as follows:

Area of Interest 1: Coproduction of CMM and Carbon Manufacturing Precursor Materials from Unconventional Coal and Other Carbon-based Feedstocks

Area of Interest 2: Recovery of Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREE) from Secondary and Unconventional Resources

Area of Interest 3: Critical Mineral Recovery from Produced Water

Area of Interest 4: Process Diversification: Production of Rare Earth Elements from Secondary/Unconventional Resources and Recycled Materials

The Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) in collaboration with the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is issuing this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA).  Awards made under this FOA will be funded, in whole or in part, with funds appropriated by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, more commonly known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).  The activities funded under this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) support BIL Section 40302.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) seeks applications to address carbon conversion challenges across multiple areas: engineering-scale electrochemical conversion and refinery/petrochemical facility retrofits. Research and development in electrochemical conversion will address the challenge of extending system durability to a point where further scale-up is warranted under future efforts. Feasibility studies of refinery and petrochemical facility retrofits will examine pathways for retrofitting of facilities for carbon utilization and production of value-added products. It is anticipated that responses and results of these studies could inform follow-on funding opportunities to advance proposed retrofit or renovations for carbon conversion.

The vision of the Carbon Ore, Rare Earth, and Critical Minerals (CORE-CM) Initiative is to catalyze regional economic growth and job creation by realizing the full potential value of natural resources, such as coal, throughout the United States. It has been designed to address the upstream and midstream critical minerals and materials (CMM) supply chain and downstream manufacturing of valuable, nonfuel, carbon-based products, to accelerate the realization of full potential for unconventional and secondary sources of CMM and carbon ore across the United States. Feedstocks that could be considered for domestic production to enhance national and economic security of CMM include fossil fuel energy and similar waste streams, such as coal waste and by-products, oil and gas produced waters, active mineral mines tailings and byproducts, and brines produced as part of carbon sequestration efforts. They can also be used as sources of carbon for production of valuable, nonfuel, carbon-based products (CBPs).