DE-FOA-0003233: Notice of Intent to Issue Funding Opportunity Announcement Number DE-FOA-0003209 | DE FOA 0003233

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0003233

DE-FOA-0003233 is a Notice of Intent from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), issued through the Golden Field Office, signaling that DOE plans to release a future Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) (referenced as DE-FOA-0003209) titled "Regional Resource Hubs for Purpose-Grown Energy Crops." This notice is not the FOA itself; it is advance communication meant to alert potential applicants that a competitive funding opportunity is expected soon and that details may change once the full FOA is published.

The planned FOA would be issued on behalf of DOE's Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) and would support BETO's research and development priorities under its Renewable Carbon Resources (RCR) subprogram. The RCR focus is on building the science, engineering, and operational know-how to turn renewable carbon resources into reliable, high-quality, environmentally sustainable, conversion-ready feedstocks for biofuels and bioproducts. In practical terms, DOE is looking to strengthen the upstream parts of the bioenergy supply chain: producing or cultivating biomass, harvesting or collecting it, storing it, preprocessing it into a usable form, and transporting it efficiently. Another key emphasis is understanding which feedstock quality characteristics and operating variables matter most for downstream conversion performance, so that producers and processors can meet the needs of biorefineries and other end users consistently.

A central motivation behind the opportunity is the need to develop a robust domestic supply chain for purpose-grown energy crops as part of broader U.S. decarbonization goals. DOE frames this as critical for lowering emissions in transportation and industry, with spillover benefits for adjacent sectors such as agriculture and power. The planned work is positioned to support federal strategies including the U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization, DOE's Clean Fuels and Products Shot (with its target of an 85 percent greenhouse gas emission reduction compared to fossil-based sources by 2035), and the Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Grand Challenge, including long-term 2050 SAF production targets. The underlying idea is that scaling low-carbon fuels and biobased products depends on having enough dependable, low carbon intensity biomass, and that growers and supply chain actors are more likely to adopt new crops and practices when long-term performance and sustainability are demonstrated with credible data.

The notice anticipates at least one major Area of Interest (AOI 1) focused on purpose-grown energy crops. The core goal of this AOI is to demonstrate long-term yield and sustainability of these crops across different regions and agronomic conditions, generating high-value datasets that analysts, policymakers, and industry can use to evaluate performance, environmental impacts, and supply chain potential. A major technical thrust is verification and validation: showing, through multi-season and multi-region evidence, how improved agronomic and management practices can reduce the carbon intensity of biomass resources. That validation is described as essential to meeting Clean Fuels and Products Shot emissions-reduction ambitions and to building confidence that these crops can be mobilized at scale without undermining sustainability goals.

DOE lists a broad set of feedstocks it considers relevant, emphasizing that the list is not exhaustive. Examples include algae (microalgae, macroalgae, and cyanobacteria); herbaceous energy crops such as switchgrass, miscanthus, energy cane, sweet sorghum, and high-biomass sorghum; short-rotation woody crops such as hybrid poplars and shrub willows; and intermediate crops such as carinata, pennycress, and camelina. The breadth of feedstocks signals that DOE is interested in regionally appropriate options, likely reflecting differences in climate, soils, water availability, existing agricultural systems, and end-use market demand.

A distinctive structural feature of the planned FOA is its connection to the Regional Biomass Resource Hub Initiative. Projects selected under the FOA would become members of this initiative and would coordinate with an established DOE initiative coordinator: Idaho National Laboratory (INL). This coordination is intended to align experimental plans, standardize or harmonize data reporting, and collectively achieve the FOA's objectives across regions and crop types. Selected projects would be mapped to a Regional Biomass Resource Hub (RBRH) based on the feedstock(s) and region(s) proposed in the application, reinforcing the idea that DOE wants a networked, comparable set of efforts rather than isolated studies.

The notice also includes an important eligibility restriction tied to conflict-of-interest considerations. Because INL is the initiative coordinator and was involved in FOA strategy discussions, INL is explicitly not eligible to apply as a Prime Recipient and cannot be included as a subrecipient on any application. Any application that proposes INL in either role would be considered ineligible and would not move forward for review. For applicants building teams, this is a critical compliance point: coordination with INL as the designated coordinator is expected, but funding cannot flow to INL through this competition.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding, with an "Other" funding instrument type, and it is associated with CFDA number 81.087 (a common assistance listing for DOE EERE-related programs). Eligible applicants are listed as "Unrestricted," suggesting that, subject to the final FOA rules, a wide range of entities may be able to apply. The notice shows an award ceiling of 1 (as posted in the source data), expected awards listed as 0 (consistent with this being a notice rather than an active award program), and an original closing date of January 24, 2024, which functions more like a notice timeline marker than a true application deadline since the FOA had not yet been released at the time of the notice.

Finally, the notice makes clear that all details are subject to change and that EERE will not answer questions about the notice itself. Once the actual FOA is released, DOE will provide a formal channel for submitting questions. DOE stated it planned to issue the FOA in or around January 2024, and that applications would be accepted only through the EERE eXCHANGE platform (https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/). Interested parties are encouraged to register in EERE eXCHANGE to receive official notifications and to ensure they are ready to respond quickly when the full FOA is published.

• The Golden Field Office in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DE-FOA-0003233: Notice of Intent to Issue Funding Opportunity Announcement Number DE-FOA-0003209" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.087.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-12-18.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-01-24. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

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