Notice of Intent - DE-FOA-0002933 to issue Funding Opportunity Announcement DE-FOA-0002934 titled Underserved & Indigenous Community Microgrids | DE FOA 0002933

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002933

This notice is an informational announcement from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), signaling DOE's intent to release a separate, full Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) identified as DE-FOA-0002934 and titled "Underserved and Indigenous Community Microgrids." The notice itself (DE-FOA-0002933) is not the application package and is not requesting public comments; it is mainly meant to provide early visibility so potential applicants can begin planning, building partnerships, and preparing technical concepts ahead of the formal FOA release.

The planned FOA's central purpose is to support the development and implementation of microgrid solutions that are replicable, meaning the approaches funded should be designed so they can be repeated or adapted across multiple communities rather than being one-off demonstrations. The focus is specifically on underserved and Indigenous communities located in remote and islanded regions of the United States, where grid access, reliability, fuel logistics, and extreme weather vulnerability often make energy costs higher and outages more frequent or more harmful. In this context, "microgrid solutions" generally implies community-scale energy systems that can operate in coordination with the larger grid when available and can also "island" and run independently during outages, improving resilience for critical facilities and essential services.

DOE frames this planned FOA as responsive to Fiscal Year 2022 Congressional direction calling for coordinated research and development of microgrid-related technologies with a focus on underserved and Indigenous communities. That emphasis signals that DOE is looking not only for deployment but also for coordinated technical work and practical learnings that advance microgrid design, integration, controls, operational strategies, and community-fit implementation models in the types of environments where standard approaches may not work well.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding and anticipates using cooperative agreements and potentially other instruments. Cooperative agreements typically involve substantial federal involvement during the period of performance, which often means closer collaboration with DOE on milestones, reporting, and technical direction than a standard grant. The funding activity category is energy, and the associated CFDA number listed is 81.122, indicating the assistance listing under which the funding would fall.

Eligibility is described as "unrestricted," meaning it is broadly open to many types of entities (such as tribes, local governments, universities, nonprofits, for-profits, utilities, and other organizations), with the caveat that the final FOA text may include clarifications or additional conditions. Because this is only a notice of intent, the most important eligibility details, teaming expectations, cost-share requirements (if any), and the specific technical topic areas would be expected to appear in the full FOA (DE-FOA-0002934) when issued.

Timing-wise, the notice was created on December 19, 2022. It states that DE-FOA-0002934 was anticipated to be issued early in the first quarter of calendar year 2023, and the notice record shows an original closing date of February 28, 2023. Since this document is a notice of intent rather than the FOA itself, those dates should be interpreted as planning markers tied to the anticipated FOA release and schedule. The notice also lists an "award ceiling" value of 2 and shows "expected awards" as 0, which is consistent with the fact that the notice is not itself making awards; the definitive funding levels, number of awards, and maximum award amounts would normally be finalized and published in the FOA.

In practical terms, the opportunity is aimed at advancing microgrids that can materially improve energy resilience and reliability for communities that are often at the end of long fuel supply chains, vulnerable to storms and extreme weather, and sometimes disconnected from large balancing areas and maintenance resources. A strong project concept under a program like this typically needs to show not only an engineering solution but also an implementation approach that can be repeated: standardized design elements, clear operational and maintenance plans, thoughtful community engagement, and measurable benefits such as improved outage performance, reduced reliance on expensive imported fuels, enhanced power quality for critical loads, and scalability to other underserved or Indigenous communities facing similar constraints.

• The Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Notice of Intent - DE-FOA-0002933 to issue Funding Opportunity Announcement DE-FOA-0002934 titled Underserved & Indigenous Community Microgrids" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.122.
• This funding opportunity was created on Dec 19, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 28, 2023 DE-FOA-0002934 is anticipated to be issued early in the first quarter of the calendar year 2023.. (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 $2.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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