DOE announces $29 in voucher support to over 170 organizations
Office of Technology Transitions
October 29, 2024Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Technology Transitions (OTT), in collaboration with the Offices of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), and Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), today announced that over 170 companies, tribes, and local governments will receive support to advance commercialization of clean energy technologies in the form of in-kind DOE-funded vouchers. Almost 60 organizations, including six National Labs, will provide this support valued at more than $20 million.
The Voucher Program is funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as part of the Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) and leverages DOE’s partnership intermediary agreement with ENERGYWERX.
“The Voucher Program is a critical step in bridging the gap between developing new technologies and commercializing them,” said DOE Chief Commercialization Officer and Director of the Office of Technology Transitions Dr. Vanessa Z. Chan. “Through connecting organizations to the support they need, these partnerships will deliver clean energy solutions that will benefit communities across the country.”
The program is designed to grant small businesses, local governments, and other non-traditional partners access to the vetted resources and expertise they need to bring their clean energy technologies and projects to the next level. In this recent round, the program offered voucher support across 174 capabilities, ranging from testing facility access to trusted third-party subject matter expertise. The available support works to increase the adoption readiness of the participating organizations and ultimately brings impactful, clean energy technologies to fruition nationwide.
Selected organizations will receive vouchers worth up to $250,000 each across seven types of support, including analytical assistance (technoeconomic analyses, market readiness assessments, etc.), performance validation (testing, certification, etc.), siting/permitting support for jurisdictions, and planning of industrial decarbonization projects. Since inception in 2023, more than 250 organizations have been selected to receive voucher support from BIL TCF voucher opportunities across numerous technology areas in the purview of OCED, FECM, and EERE. Approximately half of the recipients self-reported not having received previous DOE funding or support.
Below are a few representative voucher projects. Once all matches are confirmed by both parties, DOE will share the final list of voucher projects.
- Carbon Solutions, LLC (MN) will provide community engagement support to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory spin-out, Mote (CA), unlocking their ability to further commercialize a technology that converts biomass waste to clean hydrogen and permanently storable CO2.
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (TN) will provide material characterization support to Last Energy Inc (DC), a full-service developer of micro modular nuclear power plants.
- Eighth Generation Consulting (IL), a Native American owned small business, will provide siting and permitting support to the Upper Mattaponi Indian Tribe (VA) to facilitate their clean energy project planning.
- Boost Innovation Group, LLC (TX) will provide customer value proposition development support to DOE Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant recipient and Chain Reaction Innovations program graduate, Volexion, Inc. (IL), as they commercialize a new vehicle battery technology.
- Johnston Engineering (WA) will provide performance testing support to Sustaera (NC), a direct air capture (DAC) technology company that is part of a DOE DAC Hub feasibility project team.
- Feldhake Consulting LLC (MO), a veteran owned small business, will provide feasibility assessment support to manufacturer, Farther Farms (NY), to assess the decarbonization impact of their new food processing technology based on supercritical fluids.
Join the ecosystem at https://www.energywerx.org/ as additional submission windows may open in the future (pending availability of funds).
About the Department of Energy Office of Technology Transitions
The Department of Energy Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) is one of the largest supporters of technology commercialization in the federal government. Founded in 2015, OTT bolsters the technology industry's market skills and enables clean energy technologies to progress through research, development, demonstration, and to deployment into the private sector to meet our nation’s climate goals. Visit us at energy.gov/technologytransitions to learn more, and subscribe to receive our latest opportunities and accomplishments via email. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
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