Background and Purpose
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) is issuing this $4.8 million funding opportunity announcement (FOA) “Water Power Innovation Network” to support business creation, entrepreneurship, and regional innovation for water power systems and solutions.
WPTO enables research, development, and testing of emerging technologies to advance marine energy as well as next-generation hydropower and pumped storage systems for a flexible, reliable grid. WPTO defines marine energy and hydropower as follows:
Marine Energy, also known as marine and hydrokinetic energy or marine renewable energy, is a renewable power source that is harnessed from the natural movement of water, including waves, tides, and river and ocean currents. Marine energy can also be harnessed from temperature differences in water through a process known as ocean thermal energy conversion.
Hydropower, or hydroelectric power, is one of the oldest and largest sources of renewable energy, which uses the flow of moving water to generate electricity. Hydropower currently accounts for 28.7% of total U.S. renewable electricity generation and about 6.2% of total U.S. electricity generation.
Through this FOA, WPTO seeks to fund new and/or expanded incubator or accelerator programs that enable entrepreneurship and accelerate water power innovation, business creation, and growth in communities and regions throughout the United States. Through this FOA, new and/or expanded incubators and accelerators in water power will be able to collaborate with one another and build a stronger water power innovation network in support of accelerating water power technologies to market.
Both the marine energy and hydropower sectors pose tremendous opportunities for innovation. Providing unique commercialization services and support to entrepreneurs and small businesses in water power can accelerate innovation and enhance economic development and resiliency of communities and regions. Additionally, new and/or expanded incubators and accelerators in water power will be able to collaborate with one another and build a water power innovation network towards accelerating water power technologies to market.
Technology Space and Strategic Goals
This FOA seeks applications for new and/or expanded water power incubation or accelerator programs to address the commercialization needs of entrepreneurs and small businesses in marine energy and/or hydropower. The strategic goals of this FOA are to:
- Foster business creation, innovation, and competition in the water power field.
- Increase the diversity of people, perspectives, and ideas in water power.
- Ease commercialization pathways for water power entrepreneurs and small businesses to accelerate the commercialization of water power systems and solutions.
Detailed technical descriptions of the specific Topic Areas are provided in the sections that follow.
Topic Areas
This FOA includes one topic area.
- Topic Area 1: Water Power Incubation and Acceleration
- This topic area will fund programs that accelerate the commercialization and adoption of water power systems and solutions through incubation and acceleration programming and services that support entrepreneurs and small businesses in marine energy and/or hydropower.
- Programming and services may include, but are not limited to, business development support and training, private sector fundraising readiness, public funding education and workshops (e.g., Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer [SBIR/STTR] workshops), end-user engagement and partnerships to advance water power solutions, and connections between entrepreneurs, technology developers, academic institutions, and state, local, and Tribal entities toward building a water power innovation ecosystem. Programming and services should address identified needs in water power commercialization pathways.
Estimated Funding
EERE expects to make a total of approximately $4.8 million of federal funding available for new awards under this FOA, subject to the availability of appropriated funds. EERE anticipates making approximately 8 initial awards under this FOA. EERE may issue one, multiple, or no awards. Individual awards are anticipated to be approximately $100,000 for Budget Period 1 and approximately $1,000,000 for Budget Period 2.
EERE may issue awards in one, multiple, or none of the following topic areas:
Table 2: Estimated Funding
| Topic Area Number | Topic Area Title | Anticipated Number of Awards | Anticipated Award Size for Any One Individual Award (Fed Share) | Approximate Total Federal Funding Available for All Awards | Anticipated Period of Performance (months) |
| Topic Area 1 | Water Power Incubation and Acceleration | Budget Period 1:Up to 8
Budget Period 2: Up to 4 |
Budget Period 1: $100,000
Budget Period 2: $1,000,000 |
$4,800,000 | Budget Period 1:9-9 months
Budget period 2: 2-3 years |
EERE may establish more than one budget period for each award and fund only the initial budget period(s). Funding for all budget periods, including the initial budget period, is not guaranteed. Before the expiration of the initial budget period(s), EERE may perform a down-select among different recipients and provide additional funding only to a subset of recipients.
Interested applicants should upload the following documents in sequence in one PDF file (File name: [Last name]_DOE-FOA-0003323_2024) no later than 4:00 p.m. on the internal submission deadline:
1. Cover Letter (1 page, pdf):
- Descriptive title of proposed activity
- PI name, departmental affiliations(s) and contact information
- Co-PI's names and departmental affiliation(s)
- Names of other key personnel
- Participating institution(s)
- Number and title of this funding opportunity
2. Project Description (no more than two pages, pdf) identifying the project scope that addresses the key aspects and elements of the sponsor's solicitation, principal investigators, collaborators, and partner organizations. References may be included on an additional page.
3. Estimated Budget (1 page, including cost share details, if applicable)
4. 3-page CV's of Investigators
Formatting Guidelines:
Font/size: Calibri, No smaller than 12 pt.
Document margins: 1.0” (top, bottom, left and right)
Standard paper size (8 ½” x 11)
Questions concerning the limited submissions process may be submitted to limitedsubs@psu.edu.