The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the “Stimulus Bill,” allocated billions of dollars in funding for renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy storage, and other projects under the energy and climate change umbrella. Of the vast sums of money available for such projects, $16.8 billion goes to the U.S. Department of Energy’s (“DOE”) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (“EERE”). Another $4.5 billion in direct spending on smart grid demonstration projects will be overseen by DOE’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability. 

On March 5th, DOE’s EERE Industrial Technologies Program (“ITP”) released a Notice of Intent to issue funding for technologies that increase the energy efficiency of server-based information and communication technology (“ICT”) systems housed in data centers and telecommunications central offices. The solicitation seeks proposals for projects that would increase the efficiency of IT equipment, software, power systems, and cooling systems. The solicitation also extends to the demonstration and field-testing of pre-commercial technologies in these areas, as well as in distributed generation or alternative power technologies used to power ICT systems. ITP intends to release the solicitation sometime this month. 

DOE also recently announced its intention to issue a Funding Opportunity Announcement (“FOA”) for smart grid demonstrations. In addition, DOE issued two FOAs for enhanced geothermal systems (“EGS”). The EGS FOAs offer up to $84 million over six years, including $20 million for the 2009 fiscal year. Check out our recent Energy Law Alert for more information on DOE funding for smart grid demonstrations and enhanced geothermal systems.   

Because of the relatively short window for responding to FOAs, DOE recommends that prospective applicants complete several one-time pre-application steps. Information on submitting applications is available at www.grants.gov.