NREL Offers up to $6.5 Million for INTEGRATE Projects at the ESIF
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has announced up to $6.5 million in funding for high-impact research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) in the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF). This RD&D will support the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Grid Integration Initiative to ensure the seamless integration of clean energy technologies into the electrical grid.
This request for proposals (RFP) is aligned with the draft EERE Grid Integration Multi-Year Plan and works in conjunction with the Integrated Network Testbed for Energy Grid Research and Technology Experimentation (INTEGRATE) project at the ESIF. The objective of INTEGRATE is to enable clean energy technologies to increase the hosting capacity of the grid by providing grid services in a holistic manner using an open source, interoperable platform. This will increase the viability, penetration, and deployment of renewable energy technologies and increase the reliability and efficiency of electricity generation, delivery, and use.
Through this RFP, NREL intends to support development and validation of technologies under three topics:
- Topic 1 – Connected Devices
- Topic 2 – Communication and Control Systems
- Topic 3 – Integrated Systems
NREL anticipates that approximately $6.5 million will be awarded to contracts under this RFP, with contracts ranging from $100,000 to $1.5 million for Topics 1 and 2, and $1 million to $6.5 million for Topic 3. NREL anticipates that not more than $1.5 million will be available for contracts awarded under Topics 1 and 2 combined. Contracts may not be issued under all Topics. NREL is requiring a minimum cost share of 50% of the total allowable project costs.
Pre-Proposal Conferences
NREL will host two optional pre-proposal conferences on June 11, 2014, and June 18, 2014, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. MDT. Each conference will include a tour of the ESIF and a question and answer session. All questions and answers will be recorded and posted as an amendment to the RFP. Those interested in attending one of these two conferences must register in advance by e-mailing RCS-4-42326@nrel.gov no later than 15 days in advance of the pre-proposal conference date. The word “Registration” should be included in the subject line of the e-mail. Note that any foreign national participants will be asked to complete a foreign national visitor card and must be approved in advance.
Additional information regarding visiting the NREL campus is available here.
Proposals are due by 4 p.m. MDT on July 22, 2014. Read the full RFP for more information, including a summary of ESIF capabilities available to partners under INTEGRATE and instructions for submitting your proposal.