Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002020
The FY 2019 Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) Multi-topic Request for Information (RFI), issued by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and managed out of the Golden Field Office, is an information-gathering effort meant to shape BETO's near- and medium-term research agenda. Rather than offering grant funding, this announcement invites input from a wide range of stakeholders so DOE can better understand where federal research and development dollars could have the most impact in bioenergy. The RFI supports BETO's annual planning process by collecting perspectives on research gaps, technology barriers, data needs, and promising directions that are relevant and ready for government involvement, and that align with Administration priorities at the time.
A key point is that this is not a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) and it is not soliciting proposals for awards. Even though the opportunity listing includes typical grant-system fields like a funding instrument type (cooperative agreement), an activity category (energy), and a CFDA number (81.087), the RFI itself is strictly a request for comments and information. The listing also reflects that there are no expected awards and no applications will be accepted. In other words, the goal is to inform future funding strategies and potential future FOAs, not to select projects for immediate funding under this notice.
BETO is specifically asking for information across three topic areas, each tied to bioenergy development and deployment challenges. The first topic, Outdoor Algae Research, focuses on the practical realities of growing algae in outdoor conditions and translating laboratory progress into reliable field performance. Outdoor systems introduce variables such as weather, seasonal productivity swings, biological contamination, water availability, and operational complexity, so BETO is looking for insights on research opportunities that could improve productivity, robustness, cost, and scalability. Responses could help DOE understand which outdoor cultivation approaches, harvesting methods, conversion pathways, monitoring tools, or system designs appear most promising and where the major bottlenecks remain.
The second topic area, Biomass Characteristics and Feedstock Performance, centers on how the physical and chemical properties of biomass affect handling, preprocessing, conversion efficiency, and overall economics. BETO is seeking information that connects feedstock variability to performance in real conversion systems, including how characteristics like moisture, ash, lignin content, particle size, contaminants, and storage-related degradation influence yield, reliability, and cost. This topic is aimed at improving the predictability and bankability of bioenergy supply chains by identifying research needs in feedstock characterization, standards, sampling and analytics, preprocessing technologies, and strategies for managing variability across regions, seasons, and suppliers.
The third topic area, Renewable Energy from Urban and Suburban Wastes, reflects growing interest in turning waste streams into energy products while addressing disposal and environmental issues. BETO is looking for perspectives on research opportunities that could unlock more value from municipal, commercial, and residential waste sources, such as yard trimmings, food waste, paper fractions, certain plastics, construction and demolition residues, wastewater residuals, and other organic-rich streams. This topic typically intersects with challenges like contamination, heterogeneous feedstock composition, collection and sorting logistics, regulatory constraints, public acceptance, and technology integration with existing waste management infrastructure. The RFI is intended to clarify where targeted R&D could improve conversion performance, reduce costs, increase product quality, and enable wider adoption of waste-to-energy or waste-to-fuels pathways.
Administratively, the RFI is identified as DE-FOA-0002020 and was posted on December 18, 2018, with responses due by January 4, 2019, via the EERE Exchange platform (https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/). Eligibility is effectively open, described as unrestricted, which is consistent with RFIs that encourage broad participation from industry, universities, national laboratories, state and local governments, nonprofits, and other interested parties. The central deliverable DOE wants is actionable input: well-grounded descriptions of problems worth solving, evidence for why those problems matter, how success could be measured, and what kinds of federally supported work would complement or accelerate private and academic efforts.
In practical terms, this RFI functions as a signal about where BETO may be considering future investments and as a mechanism for stakeholders to shape that direction. Organizations working in algae, biomass feedstocks, and urban waste conversion can use it to highlight real-world barriers, propose research themes, identify needed testbeds or shared datasets, and point to opportunities for partnerships or demonstration activities that could later appear in formal funding announcements.Apply for DE FOA 0002020
- The Department of Energy, Golden Field Office in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY 2019 Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) Multi-topic Request for Information (RFI)" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.087.
- This funding opportunity was created on Dec 18, 2018.
- Applicants must submit their applications by Jan 04, 2019. (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 $2.00 in funding.
- 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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| Fiscal Year 2019 Commercial Trucks and Off-road Applications FOA: Natural Gas, Hydrogen, Biopower, and Electrification Technologies Apply for DE FOA 0002044 Funding Number: DE FOA 0002044 Agency: Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory Category: Energy Funding Amount: $5,000,000 |
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