DOE announces $33 million in fuel cell research and development funding

These funds will also include infrastructure supply chain development and validation.

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced that it would be adding $33 million in funding for the support of fuel cell research and development. It would also be funding cost analysis activities as well as infrastructure supply chain development and validation.

This most recent announcement adds to existing support efforts the DOE has already announced.

The new fuel cell research and development funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is in addition to existing efforts the DOE has already funded through its Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office. The goals of these support efforts are to improve performance, decrease cost, and solidify a domestic hydrogen and fuel cell technologies and applications supply chain.

The activities the FOA generates will support the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s (EERE’s) H2@Scale initiative. It will also leverage DOA National Labs capabilities by working closely with the H2NEW consortium and the Million Mile Fuel Cell Truck (M2FCT) consortium.

The funding for fuel cell research and development is also meant to cover infrastructure.

The R&D topics included in the FOA include:

• Heavy-duty truck fuel cells in conjunction with the M2FCT consortium
• Domestic high temperature (high-T) electrolyzer manufacturing, including related components
• Hydrogen production using high-T water splitting using electrolysis. This will occur in conjunction with the H2NEW consortium, and biological processes using waste.

Other topics the FOA includes are infrastructure R&D for the purpose of validating models for hydrogen refuelling. It will also take in the development of supply chain components to make it possible to achieve high throughput fueling for H2 stations serving heavy-duty vehicles and machinery. The funding opportunity announcement is also looking for projects that conduct hydrogen production and storage cost analyses, as well as those for different forms of fuel cell tech.

The application process for the fuel cell research and development FOA will take place in two phases. The first will take the form of a concept paper due January 15, 2021. The second will involve a complete application due March 8, 2021. Interested projects are encouraged to read the full FOA at Grants.gov and at the EERE Program Information Center website.