Slots: 1
Deadlines
Internal Deadline: Contact RII.
Concept Paper Deadline: May 11, 2023
External Deadline: June 23, 2023, 5pm ET
Award Information
Award Type: Cooperative Agreement
Estimated Number of Awards: 2 – 4
Anticipated Award Amount: $30M
Who May Serve as PI: For this FOA, each application must propose a research partnership. A research partnership is a collaboration of three (3) or more entities to conduct research and development with the objective of developing solutions to a problem or a challenge common to the entities by pooling their resources for achieving a common goal.
Link to Award: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/Default.aspx#FoaId2bb6d6b4-d70f-49f8-b92e-436f607177ef
Cost Share: The cost share must be at least 20% of the total project costs for research and
development projects. The cost share must come from non-federal sources unless
otherwise allowed by law.
Process for Limited Submissions
PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII) Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/. Use the template provided here: RII Limited Submission Applicant Template
Materials to submit include:
- (1) Two-Page Proposal Summary (0.5” margins; single-spaced; font type: Arial, Helvetica, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 2-page limit will be excluded from review. You must use the template linked above.
- (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)
Note: The portal requires information about the PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.
Purpose
This FOA seeks applications to address strengthening the domestic manufacturing base and enable the U.S. to achieve its clean energy goals and national strategic objectives. This is to be achieved through the development of innovative manufacturing technologies. Technologies of interest include, but are not limited to, casting, forging, powder metallurgy (PM), additive manufacturing (AM), hybrid processing, expeditionary manufacturing, automation, and smart manufacturing. Projects utilizing existing manufacturing processes without substantive innovation are not within the scope of this FOA.
Successful projects will develop manufacturing technologies to fabricate a fullscale metallic component with a weight over 10 tons (20,000 lbs.) that is relevant to carbon-free power generation or clean energy manufacturing. Manufacturing sectors of interest include those critical to U.S. economy, such as clean energy generation, transportation (freight and passenger), industrial machinery, heavy equipment, and domestic infrastructure.
The single Topic Area in this FOA is focused on accelerating the development of innovative manufacturing technologies to increase the competitiveness of the domestic near net shape (NNS) manufacturing base and strengthen the associated supply chains.
Topic Area Background: There are multiple processing routes for fabricating near net shape (NNS) metallic components, including casting, forging, powder metallurgy (PM), and additive manufacturing (AM). The physical scale of the components being fabricated often pose unique technical, logistical, and economic challenges. The manufacturing of metallic NNS components with weights over 10 tons (20,000 lbs.) is the focus of this topic.
The domestic manufacturing base is currently unable to competitively produce large (10+ ton) metallic NNS components. The inability to domestically produce these components has resulted in increased cost, long lead times, reliance on foreign supply chains, and an inhibited ability to manufacture large/complex systems. This problem impacts multiple manufacturing sectors, including clean energy generation,
transportation (freight and passenger), industrial machinery, heavy equipment, and domestic infrastructure.
The DOE report on clean energy supply chains and associated deep dive assessment reports highlighted the inability to competitively manufacture large NNS components domestically as one of the common risks/vulnerabilities to secure supply chains for a clean energy transition. The potential for developing and
commercializing novel manufacturing processes and technologies capable of producing large metallic NNS components was further discussed during a DOEsponsored workshop in November, 2022.
Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.