The New York State Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is seeking proposals for technical training, experiential learning, job placement, and supportive services that enable New York State to meet the requirements of a clean energy economy and advance the climate equity and just transition goals of New York’s Climate Act. The purpose of this solicitation is to build or expand New York State training infrastructure and capacity to strengthen the pipeline of skilled talent for the Energy Efficiency and Clean Technology labor market. Projects funded through this solicitation are intended to develop and/or deliver technical training, relevant education, and hands-on experience to ensure that both new and existing workers, apprentices, journeypersons, and students, as applicable, have the skills, experience, and qualifications required to meet industry demand.

The New York State Clean Mobility Program will help communities launch/expand innovative zero-emission transportation options that can help reduce reliance on personal vehicles. The Clean Mobility Program will fund projects that will help overcome persistent transportation challenges, especially in underserved communities, and improve access to affordable zero-emission transportation options. Under this PON, Planning and Demonstration Tracks will offer technical assistance and implementation funding to local governments, transit operators, community-based organizations/non-profits, and local employers or groups of employers with a total of at least 1,000 employees in New York State (collectively referred to as “Eligible Entities”).

The NYSERDA Clean Hydrogen Innovation program focuses on accelerating innovative solutions in clean hydrogen to decarbonize hard-to-electrify sectors and to support the transition to a resilient, zero-emission electric grid. Through this program, NYSERDA has up to $11.5 million in co-funding for clean hydrogen research, development, and demonstration projects. Funding in this solicitation focuses on Clean Hydrogen Innovation in the following technical challenge areas:

1. Challenge 1. Hydrogen applications to decarbonize industrial process heat
2. Challenge 2. Mitigation of nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from hydrogen combustion
3. Challenge 3. Hydrogen storage technologies for bulk storage and limited footprint areas
4. Challenge 4. Hydrogen-based generation systems for microgrids and grid support services
5. Challenge 5. Hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles.

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), invites financial companies actively working (or developing plans) to deploy capital into decarbonization projects in New York State (NYS) to submit proposals for a direct investment in the form of subordinate debt and/or a loan loss reserve support from the NYSERDA SEFI decarbonization fund. Under the SEFI decarbonization fund, NYSERDA expects to deploy up to $20MM of concessionary capital starting on 9/11/2023, until fully allocated by making investments to eligible Applicants, funded at the lesser of $5MM or 3% of an Eligible Applicant’s proposed project portfolio amount.

NYSERDA’s Building Operations and Maintenance Workforce Training Program aims to reduce energy use and associated carbon emissions while saving building operators and owners money by developing and strengthening the skills of operations and maintenance (O&M) staff and managers across the state. The program is designed to equip building O&M workers with the skills to operate increasingly energy-efficient, grid- flexible, and electrified building systems that reduce buildings’ contribution to climate change. The goal is to support building owners, facility managers, property management companies, business associations/trade groups, and organized labor associations in creating the talent development strategy, corporate culture, on-site training framework, and tools needed to advance building O&M workers beyond classroom training.

NYSERDA is issuing Round 2 of funding for two Challenge Areas:

1. Innovations in Green Cooling: Research, development, and demonstration of tools, technologies and strategies that increase adoption, performance, and benefits of nature-based approaches to passive cooling, resilience, and reliability in extreme heat.
2. Carbon Negative Buildings: Demonstration, introduction and scale up of carbon negative products in New York State that support building energy efficiency.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is being issued by the U.S. Department of Energy’s State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP) on behalf of the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). This FOA seeks applications to expand the impact of DOE’s existing residential weatherization programs by utilizing leveraged resources and enhanced community partnerships to perform deep energy retrofits of low-income residential buildings and empower local community representation within the energy workforce. DOE seeks proposals that drive innovative approaches to program coordination and service delivery, while fostering the collaboration of dynamic and diverse teams. Applicants can apply for one of the following three topic areas:

1. Multifamily Housing
2. Single Family and Manufactured Housing
3. Workforce Development

This FOA seeks to validate grid-edge technology innovations in real-world situations and provide new tools for utilities, grid planners and operators, automakers and smart charge management service providers, and the communities they serve.

This FOA accelerates progress toward the goal of a clean energy economy for all Americans by optimizing systems with grid-connected buildings and electric vehicles powered by clean, distributed energy generation and demonstrating these advanced technologies are reliable, efficient, secure, and ready for wide-scale adoption.

This FOA has two major topical areas:

• Connected Communities, focused on grid edge technical measures in buildings, industry, and transportation to prepare the electric grid for these new loads, and improve the customer benefits and grid resilience; and
• Smart Charge Management, focused on various unique urban, suburban, and rural use cases to build confidence in it as an effective approach for electric vehicles to provide flexibility and value to the electric grid.

With a focus on two-year Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs), the Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program supports the education of technicians for the high-technology fields that drive our nation’s economy. The program involves partnerships between academic institutions (grades 7-12, IHEs), industry, and economic development agencies to promote improvement in the education of science and engineering technicians. It is strongly recommended that projects be faculty-led and required that courses and programs are credit-bearing, although materials developed may also be used for incumbent worker education. Materials may also be adapted and implemented as credit-bearing courses. The ATE program supports curriculum development; professional development of college faculty and secondary school teachers; career pathway development for both students and incumbent workers; and other activities including applied research projects that advance the knowledge base related to technician education.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) is issuing this $4.8 million funding opportunity announcement (FOA) “Water Power Innovation Network” to support business creation, entrepreneurship, and regional innovation for water power systems and solutions. WPTO enables research, development, and testing of emerging technologies to advance marine energy as well as next-generation hydropower and pumped storage systems for a flexible, reliable grid. Through this FOA, WPTO seeks to fund new and/or expanded incubator or accelerator programs that enable entrepreneurship and accelerate water power innovation, business creation, and growth in communities and regions throughout the United States. Through this FOA, new and/or expanded incubators and accelerators in water power will be able to collaborate with one another and build a stronger water power innovation network in support of accelerating water power technologies to market.

The RCP Program aims to advance and support reconnection of communities divided by transportation infrastructure – with a priority on helping disadvantaged communities improve access to daily needs (jobs, schools, healthcare, grocery stores, and recreation). Funds for the fiscal years (FY) 2024, 2025, and 2026 RCP grant program are to be awarded on a competitive basis to support planning and capital construction activities that aim to restore community connectivity through the removal, retrofit, mitigation or replacement of highways, roadways, or other infrastructure facilities that create barriers to mobility, access or economic development.

The NEWTON program will support the research and development of technologies that enable the transmutation of used nuclear fuel to reduce the impact of storage in permanent disposal facilities. This program seeks to fund the development of novel technologies that increase the overall performance of particle generation systems by reducing beam trip magnitude and duration. Additional technologies will maximize transmutation rates and streamline the removal of the transmuted material through the development of dedicated transmutation targets. Transmutation is a process in which an isotope is converted to another isotope or element through a nuclear reaction. It is one possible strategy for the transformation of nuclear-fission-derived isotopes that are problematic for long-term waste disposal. NEWTON seeks to enable the economic viability of transmutation at a scale that will significantly reduce the mass, volume, activity, and effective half-life of the existing stockpile of commercial used nuclear fuel to be disposed of in a geological repository.