Onsite Energy Technical Assistance Partnerships | DE FOA 0002945

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002945

The Department of Energy (DOE), through the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and on behalf of the Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO), released Funding Opportunity Announcement DE-FOA-0002945 titled "Onsite Energy Technical Assistance Partnerships." The overall aim is to strengthen DOE's industrial decarbonization strategy by expanding hands-on technical assistance for industrial facilities and other large energy users that want to adopt cleaner onsite energy solutions. DOE plans to invest up to $23 million total through cooperative agreements, with an expectation of 11 awards.

At the center of this opportunity is the creation and operation of a new Onsite Energy Technical Assistance Partnerships (TAP) Program. For nearly 20 years, DOE has funded a regional support network called the CHP Technical Assistance Partnerships (CHP TAPs), which helped advance combined heat and power (CHP), waste heat to power, and district energy across the U.S. This new FOA essentially modernizes and broadens that concept. Instead of focusing mainly on CHP-related systems, the Onsite Energy TAP program is meant to support a wider mix of clean onsite energy technologies, explicitly including renewable energy and energy storage, in addition to legacy CHP-adjacent approaches. The practical intent is to help industrial sites move from curiosity to real projects by lowering informational, technical, and coordination barriers that often stall deployment.

The funded organizations will be expected to deliver direct technical services to end users and other stakeholders. Those services can start with early-stage support like basic site screenings and opportunity identification, and extend to deeper technical work such as more advanced analyses that help a facility evaluate options and move toward installation. Beyond one-on-one project support, the TAPs are also expected to help speed adoption by working with the broader ecosystem around industrial energy projects. That includes engaging policymakers, utilities, and other key market actors to open up smoother pathways for integrating onsite energy technologies. The FOA also emphasizes broader market-building activities such as developing publicly available tools and resources, sharing best practices across regions and sectors, and building partnerships that can accelerate decarbonization across the industrial landscape.

The FOA is structured around two topic areas. Topic Area 1, "Regional Onsite Energy TAPs," will fund up to 10 entities that each cover a multi-state region. These regional TAPs are intended to function as the front door for the program in their territories, acting as the primary technical, market, and policy point of contact for industrial end users as well as state and local stakeholders who interact with the program. Topic Area 2 funds a single national organization to serve as the "Onsite Energy Technical Analysis and Support Center (TASC)." The TASC role is to provide central coordination for technical analysis and program operations across the whole network, and to serve as the connective tissue between the regional TAPs, the IEDO program manager, and national laboratory experts supporting the initiative. In other words, the regional groups drive local engagement and project assistance, while the TASC helps ensure consistency, coordination, and technical depth across the national program.

From an applicant standpoint, eligibility is described as unrestricted (open to any type of entity), subject to any clarifications included in the FOA itself. The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which typically implies more substantial federal involvement during the project period than a standard grant, such as collaboration on priorities, deliverables, and program execution. The agency listing identifies DOE's Golden Field Office as the issuing office, and the assistance listing includes CFDA number 81.117. The original timeline in the notice shows a creation date of February 7, 2023, and an original closing date of April 21, 2023.

Applications are submitted through DOE's EERE eXCHANGE platform (https://eere-exchange.energy.gov). The FOA also lays out what to do if technical issues occur during submission. Applicants are directed to contact the eXCHANGE helpdesk at exchangehelp@hq.doe.gov for assistance, and DOE notes that system administrators (eXCHANGE@ee.doe.gov) can help resolve problems. If a technical issue causes a late submission, DOE indicates it will only consider accepting it if the problem was beyond the applicant's control, the applicant contacted the helpdesk for assistance, and the complete application is submitted through eXCHANGE within 24 hours of the posted deadline.

• The Department of Energy, Golden Field Office in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Onsite Energy Technical Assistance Partnerships" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.117.
• This funding opportunity was created on Feb 07, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 21, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $23,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 11 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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