On March 3rd, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced $35 million in funding to promote innovation in fuel cell and hydrogen technologies. The funding announcement will facilitate early adoption of a wide variety of hydrogen fuel cell applications – including light duty fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) – by supporting research and development. Many automakers are showing interest in putting FCEVs on the road, potentially as soon as 2017. As these vehicles become increasingly commercially available, the Energy Department will be focusing on increasing technical advancements of critical hydrogen infrastructure including production, delivery, and storage.  In addition, the Department is seeking to continue demonstrating the value of early market deployments such as plug-in fuel cell vehicles. The Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), available here, will include two general areas of interest each with several subtopics:

• Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technologies Research and Development (R&D)

  • Hydrogen Production R&D

  • Fuel Cell Technologies R&D

  • Hydrogen Delivery R&D

  • Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Manufacturing R&D

• Demonstration and Deployments to Enable Early Adoption of Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technologies.

  • Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Validation: Mobile Refueling

  • Market Transformation: Demonstration and Deployment of Plug-In Fuel Cell Hybrid Electric Light- Duty Vehicle

  • Crosscutting: America’s Climate Communities of Excellence

The deadline for submitting concept papers is a little less than a month away on April 2nd, and the eventual full application deadline is on June 4th. Good luck to all the applicants!