Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy Requests Industry Comment on Future Funding Solicitations Totaling More than $100 Million
(Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati) The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) recently released three Requests for Information (RFIs) related to more than $100 million in anticipated future funding opportunities. The RFIs encourage input from private industry regarding ARPA-E’s planned program objectives and expenditures for fiscal year 2012. ARPA-E’s mission is to identify and fund research that transforms science into breakthrough energy technologies, and to fund ideas that are too risky for the private sector but that, if successfully developed, will create the foundation for entirely new industries.
On February 8, 2012, ARPA-E released its first two RFIs pertaining to (1) how the agency should generally allocate its efforts and funds (in light of its existing projects in the portfolio) and (2) what types of projects the agency should consider in the next iteration of its “Electrofuels” platform. On February 17, 2012, ARPA-E issued a third RFI specifically requesting feedback on technologies to support “smart batteries” or advanced management and controls for energy storage systems.
…Next, ARPA-E’s Electrofuels program RFI seeks input on the technologies essential for energy assimilation, carbon fixation, and direct fuel/fuel precursor synthesis by chemo/electro-autotrophic microorganisms, or “chemolithoautotrophs.” Unlike the general solicitation described above, the purpose of this RFI is to solicit input specifically related to ARPA-E’s development of future chemo/electro-autotrophic fuel-production programs.
…Links to all three RFIs can be found at https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/#93782cc4-7954-4277-bbdb-d392e0be2f46.
