Distributed Energy Systems Demonstrations Funding Opportunity Announcement

ATTENTION: Please see the "Full Funding Opportunity Announcement" document in the Announcement Documents section of the FOA on https://oced-exchange.energy.gov/ for full details. To apply to this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), applicants must register with and submit application materials through the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) Funding Opportunity Exchange (https://oced-exchange.energy.gov/).

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) is issuing this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to support a portfolio of projects that demonstrate and validate reliable operations and financial value from a range of grid topologies with diverse energy resources and distributed energy systems (DES) ownership models.

In this FOA, OCED is seeking projects that can demonstrate that aggregated and coordinated distributed energy resources (DERs) can provide reliable, predictable grid services for a wide range of system configurations. The program goal is to build confidence that the design, control, and compensation approaches developed can be readily applied to other portions of the distribution grid and extended to other mixes of DERs, potentially extending the value of this approach to a more diverse set of communities, individuals, and entities as the distribution system continues to change.

This FOA makes available approximately $50 million in federal funds for transformative, at-scale projects within distribution systems that demonstrate approaches to integrate grid-edge renewable and distributed energy systems with broader energy networks. These projects will seek to demonstrate reliable operations and system-wide value in the context of distribution grids with high levels of variable renewable generation and flexible load assets.

This investment will allow the U.S. to develop more reliable, resilient, and cost-effective distribution grids and distributed energy systems while supporting climate action and providing benefits to communities and workers. It will also support the Biden Administration’s decarbonization goals of a 50-52% reduction in GHG emissions from 2005 levels by 2030, a carbon-pollution-free power sector by 2035, and a net-zero GHG emissions economy by 2050.

This FOA has one Topic Area, which solicits proposals to demonstrate Distributed Energy Systems. The award size will be at least $10 million and no more than $25 million in federal funds. Each award is required to provide a minimum of 50% non-federal cost share. DOE will fund up to four (4) projects in this Topic Area. Projects are anticipated to have a maximum period of performance of 8 years.

Eligible applicants are limited to utilities, including Municipal, Cooperative, and Investor-Owned Utilities, as well as for-profit entities currently engaged in grid service provision via an established portfolio of aggregated distributed energy resources (DERs).