SEEDING CRITICAL ADVANCES FOR LEADING ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES WITH UNTAPPED POTENTIAL 2023 (SCALEUP 2023) | DE FOA 0003100

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0003100

The SEEDING CRITICAL ADVANCES FOR LEADING ENERGY Technologies WITH UNTAPPED POTENTIAL 2023 (SCALEUP 2023) opportunity is an ARPA-E funding announcement from the U.S. Department of Energy designed to push select, already-promising energy technologies past a common sticking point: the gap between successful laboratory progress and real-world, pre-commercial readiness. ARPA-E is best known for supporting high-risk, high-reward applied R&D that can create entirely new cost and performance trajectories rather than simply improving existing technologies along slow, predictable learning curves. SCALEUP 2023 fits into that mission by focusing specifically on the next stage after early technical success, when a technology still carries enough technical and market uncertainty that private investors and industry may hesitate to fund the expensive work needed to validate it at larger scale.

At its core, SCALEUP 2023 targets "pre-commercial scaling" projects for technologies that were previously funded by ARPA-E and have demonstrated strong potential but still need major de-risking before they can attract serious commercial deployment capital. The FOA highlights that many technologies can show impressive bench-scale results under a standard ARPA-E award and still end up stranded when that award ends, simply because the remaining steps require more integration, longer validation timelines, more manufacturing realism, and more operational proof than early-stage R&D typically provides. SCALEUP projects are meant to bridge that gap by translating bench-scale performance into scalable system designs, integrating the technology into broader systems where it must actually operate, generating extended performance and reliability data, and demonstrating manufacturability in a way that supports credible cost and scale-up claims. The intended outcome is not just a better prototype, but enough evidence that industry partners, manufacturers, and investors can justify committing the larger resources needed for full commercial scaling and deployment.

This program is also framed as a competitiveness and security measure. ARPA-E explicitly points out that when U.S.-funded innovations stall after early success, the intellectual property and technical know-how developed with taxpayer dollars can become vulnerable to being adopted and advanced overseas, allowing foreign competitors to capture manufacturing and market advantages. By funding the scale-up phase for the strongest ARPA-E-originated technologies, DOE is trying to keep promising inventions on a U.S.-led pathway toward domestic manufacturing, domestic deployment, and leadership in fast-moving global energy markets. In doing so, SCALEUP 2023 ties back to ARPA-E's statutory goals, which include reducing energy imports, cutting energy-related emissions including greenhouse gases, improving energy efficiency across the economy, improving solutions for radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel management, and strengthening the resilience, reliability, and security of energy infrastructure.

From an administrative standpoint, applications must be submitted through the ARPA-E eXCHANGE system; submissions sent by other methods are not reviewed. Applicants are directed to the ARPA-E FOA site to access the full announcement and to use the eXCHANGE user guide for step-by-step instructions. Technical issues with the portal are handled through ExchangeHelp@hq.doe.gov (with the FOA name and number in the subject line), while FOA content questions are routed through ARPA-E's FAQ and then ARPA-E-CO@hq.doe.gov if the FAQ does not resolve them. The FOA is governed by federal assistance rules under 2 CFR Part 200 as supplemented by 2 CFR Part 910, reflecting standard DOE grant and cooperative agreement compliance requirements.

Key details provided in the posting include the funding opportunity number DE-FOA-0003100, a 2023 posting date of June 8, 2023, and a submission deadline of July 21, 2023 at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time, with applicants encouraged to submit at least 48 hours early. The opportunity is listed as discretionary and allows multiple funding instrument types, including cooperative agreements and grants. Eligibility is described as unrestricted (open to any entity type), subject to any clarifications within the full FOA. The maximum award amount is listed as $20,000,000, with an expectation of roughly 8 awards. The assistance listing references CFDA 81.135 and categorizes the work broadly under science and technology and other R&D activities.

Taken together, SCALEUP 2023 is less about inventing brand-new concepts from scratch and more about taking the best ARPA-E-funded breakthroughs that have already cleared meaningful technical hurdles and proving they can hold up under the realities of scale: manufacturability, integration, long-duration performance, reliability, and credible cost trajectories. The program is intentionally positioned as a catalyst to move technologies from impressive demonstrations into investable, bankable development paths that can realistically lead to commercial deployment and U.S. economic and energy-security benefits.

• The Department of Energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy in the opportunity zone benefits, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "SEEDING CRITICAL ADVANCES FOR LEADING ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES WITH UNTAPPED POTENTIAL 2023 (SCALEUP 2023)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.135.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 08, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 21, 2023 Submissions to this FOA are due no later than 930 a.m. Eastern Time on 07/21/2023. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit at least 48 hours in advance of the due date.. (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 $20,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 8 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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