EERE eXCHANGE: FAQs

Question 1: Could you please provide information on accessing the webinar for this FOA?
Answer 1:

Below is information on how to register for the FOA Webinar:

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/171479280

Fuel Cell Technologies Incubator FOA Webinar

Title:

Fuel Cell Technologies Incubator FOA Webinar

Date:

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Time:

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 8, 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server

Mac®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.6 or newer

Mobile attendees
Required: iPhone®, iPad®, Android™ phone or Android tablet

Question 2: I have a question about match funding allowability. We currently have a project from our state energy commission researching the process we would like to propose under this FOA. The project will be completed before the anticipated award date. Can that be counted as cost matching?
Answer 2:

Please refer to “Appendix B – Cost Share Information” of the FOA.

Question 3: Is any of the following areas of interest to EERE's solicitation above? 1- non-portfolio new hydrogen separation concepts 2- innovative hydrogen detection/sensing
Answer 3:

Please refer to Section I of the Funding Opportunity Announcement for guidance on areas of particular interest and applications specifically not of interest. Also, please consider the following statement from the FOA: "This FOA is open to any and all impactful ideas which significantly advance the mission of the FCTO (and which FCTO is not currently supporting in a substantial way)." Based on all of the information provided in the FOA, it is ultimately the decision of the potential applicant of whether or not to submit a concept paper to the FOA.

Question 4: During the webinar, the host advised that applicants get a “control number” at least 24 hours prior to first submission (concept paper). According to the FOA document, the control number is assigned at time of application. Do you then advise that we start the application process at least 24 hours prior to actually completing the concept paper submission phase? If so, how soon can we acquire the control number?
Answer 4:

The application process begins with the concept paper submission. Therefore, you must obtain a control number 24 hours prior to the submission deadline for the concept paper. Once you click the “Apply” button for the FOA, you will begin the application process and a control number can be obtained. For questions regarding the mechanics of controls numbers and the EERE Exchange system, please email EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov.

Question 5: Does the 20% cost share for R&D projects and 50% for demonstration projects refer to the percentage that is the applicants’ responsibility (i.e. the Department of Energy will contribute up to 80% and 50%, respectively)?
Answer 5:

Yes, that is correct.

Question 6: I was on the road in a meeting during today's Webinar for DE-FOA-0000966 and could not attend. Is it possible to send the presentation that was reviewed in the Webinar?
Answer 6:

A Webinar transcript will be posted under the FOA Documents Section in EERE Exchange as soon as they become available.

Question 7: Is direct solar water splitting at single cell level of this FOA's interest? The FOA states that it’s open to any and all impactful ideas, but in terms of direct solar water splitting, it only emphasizes semi-central or central scale production. I appreciate if you could clarify that.
Answer 7:

The proposed concept would not have to be demonstrated at semi-central or central scale production as part of the proposed project; however, the proposal would need to show a pathway for the technology to scale to the semi-central/central scale. For example, the proposal could address how the proposed technology would be incorporated into a feasible reactor design capable of high volume, central or semi-central production to meet the FCTO cost goal of < $4/kg hydrogen (produced, delivered and dispensed, but untaxed).

Question 8: I wish to submit to the FCTOIncubator FOA (DE-FOA-0000966) a proposal involving underground coal gasification. I class my idea as a “Completely innovative hydrogen production and delivery technologies to reach the DOE cost goal of $2-$4/kg of hydrogen (produced and dispensed but untaxed) (TRL 2-5).” On page 6 of the FOA announcement, listed as “APPLICATIONS SPECIFICALLY NOT OF INTEREST” is stated “High temperature solid oxide fuel cell technologies, including coal-fueled systems, and other activities that fall under the scope of Fossil Energy’s Solid-State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA). “ Does this exclusion only apply to solid oxide fuel cells, using coal as a primary energy source? Is any concept involving coal appropriate for this FOA?
Answer 8:

Hydrogen from coal has been addressed through the DOE Fossil Energy Office. While this approach is not excluded from consideration for this FOA it does not address the FCTO priority for hydrogen from renewable resources.

Question 9: How much emphasis or importance is there on ‘disruptive’ early stage technology innovation in this FOA (for example, compared to ARPA-E projects)? This differentiation is important and always difficult for researchers and technology developers to distinguish, especially given the near identical concept paper formats used by DOE.
Answer 9:

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to provide funding for game changing technologies and strategies to reach FCTO targets and goals through approaches and pathways either not- or under-represented in the FCTO MYRD&D plan, and RD&D portfolio. It is not to support efforts leading to incremental improvements to current products or processes or for additional R&D on established areas in the FCTO roadmaps and R&D portfolios.

Question 10: How important is the presence of an industry partner on a proposing team for successful application to this FOA?
Answer 10:

An industry partner is not a requirement of this FOA. Please refer to Section V.A of the FOA for the technical review criteria against which the application will be evaluated.

Question 11: What size (or power/storage capacity) is desired for fuel cell-based electrochemical energy conversion devices for stationary energy storage?
Answer 11:

There is no limitation/requirement on the size (or power/storage capacity) for fuel cell-based electrochemical energy conversion devices for stationary energy storage.

Question 12: As I understand from the webinar, the cost share requirement is 20% for R&D projects and 50% for demonstration projects. What about combination projects? Example: A university and national laboratory partner with a corporate entity and the corporate entity matches 1/1, so that the corporate entity is at 100% cost share, and the project as a whole comes in around 20%. Is this allowable? If not, please give guidance on combination projects.
Answer 12:

Per Section III, B. of the FOA, "COST SHARING - The cost share must be at least 20% of the total allowable costs (i.e., the sum of the Government share, including FFRDC costs if applicable, and the recipient share of allowable costs equals the total allowable cost of the project) for research and development projects and 50% of the total allowable costs for demonstration projects and must come from non-Federal sources unless otherwise allowed by law. (See 10 CFR 600.30 for the applicable cost sharing requirements.)

To assist Applicants in calculating proper cost share amounts, EERE has included a cost share information sheet and sample cost share calculation as Appendices B and C to this Funding Opportunity Announcement."

Question 13: As a foreign entity, we would like to submit a Concept Paper. If we wish to act as prime recipient, do we submit a waiver request with the Concept Paper?
Answer 13: The waiver is submitted with the Full Application. If selected for an award, the waiver will be evaluated at that time.

Question 14: Are universities required to pay cost share?
Answer 14:

Yes - Per Section III, B. of the FOA, "COST SHARING - The cost share must be at least 20% of the total allowable costs (i.e., the sum of the Government share, including FFRDC costs if applicable, and the recipient share of allowable costs equals the total allowable cost of the project) for research and development projects and 50% of the total allowable costs for demonstration projects and must come from non-Federal sources unless otherwise allowed by law. (See 10 CFR 600.30 for the applicable cost sharing requirements.)

To assist Applicants in calculating proper cost share amounts, EERE has included a cost share information sheet and sample cost share calculation as Appendices B and C to this Funding Opportunity Announcement."

Question 15: I missed the webinar held on June, 11, 2014 – please provide a copy of the slides and transcript.
Answer 15:

Copies of both the webinar and transcript can be found here:

https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/Default.aspx#FoaIdcdb45f82-068a-45d0-b520-c634d6d4206a

Question 16: If a team includes a national lab as a subrecipient, is there cost share requirement on the portion of the funds that go to the national lab? Should the prime recipient cost share be calculated based on total project cost no matter who the subrecipients are?
Answer 16: Per Section III, B. of the FOA, "COST SHARING - The cost share must be at least 20% of the total allowable costs (i.e., the sum of the Government share, including FFRDC costs if applicable, and the recipient share of allowable costs equals the total allowable cost of the project) for research and development projects and 50% of the total allowable costs for demonstration projects and must come from non-Federal sources unless otherwise allowed by law. (See 10 CFR 600.30 for the applicable cost sharing requirements.) To assist Applicants in calculating proper cost share amounts, EERE has included a cost share information sheet and sample cost share calculation as Appendices B and C to this Funding Opportunity Announcement."

Question 17: Could you please clarify if a new technology/pathway that addresses some of the most pressing technical challenges related to the fuel cell durability and performance qualifies for this "incubator funding"? At the recent annual review meeting in Washington I got a distinct impression that it does. However, Section I.C. of the FOA document (p. 6) explicitly states that "technologies already well represented in the FCTO portfolio (e.g., PEM fuel cells, including low-PGM catalysts,...) will not be considered. Assuming the latter is the case, is a tentative date for the next Fuel Cell FOA (MYPP) already known?
Answer 17:

Please refer to Section I of the Funding Opportunity Announcement for guidance on areas of particular interest and applications specifically not of interest. Also, please consider the following statement from the FOA: "This FOA is open to any and all impactful ideas which significantly advance the mission of the FCTO (and which FCTO is not currently supporting in a substantial way)." Based on all of the information provided in the FOA, it is ultimately the decision of the potential applicant of whether or not to submit a concept paper to the FOA. DOE will provide some guidance on its level of interest in a proposed project via the “encourage” or “discourage” notification an applicant will receive following the review of concept papers.

The tentative plan is to release the next Fuel Cell FOA in early FY2015.

Question 18: On page 5 of the FOA, it says that "Cathode PGM-free catalyst approaches should exclude the development of carbon-nitrogen complex based catalysts." Does this limitation include other catalysts built on top of the N-dope carbon? Specifically, we have developed base transition metal (TM) catalyst atoms incorporated in N-doped carbon which is predicted to have better fuel cell performance than Pt. The active sites of our catalysts are TM atoms, but the host structures are nitroge-carbon system.
Answer 18: Please refer to Section I of the Funding Opportunity Announcement for guidance on areas of particular interest and applications specifically not of interest. Also, please consider the following statement from the FOA: "This FOA is open to any and all impactful ideas which significantly advance the mission of the FCTO (and which FCTO is not currently supporting in a substantial way)." Based on all of the information provided in the FOA, it is ultimately the decision of the potential applicant of whether or not to submit a concept paper to the FOA. DOE will provide some guidance on its level of interest in a proposed project via the “encourage” or “discourage” notification an applicant will receive following the review of concept papers.

Question 19: In section II.A.1, does the cited award range apply to the total project, or the federal dollars only?
Answer 19: The range cited in Section II A. 1 refers to Total Project Costs.

Question 20: Is it permissible to use funds raised through sale of equity?
Answer 20: See Section IV. I. 1 of the FOA, “COST SHARE TYPES AND ALLOWABILITY - Every cost share contribution must be allowable under the applicable Federal cost principles, as described in Section IV.I.1 of the FOA. In addition, cost share must be verifiable upon submission of the Full Application.”

Question 21: If the Principal Investigator, a foreign national, is employed by a U.S. university. Is he/she eligible to lead a proposal (as PI) submitted by the U.S. university?
Answer 21:

Yes – Per the FOA, “For-profit entities, educational institutions, and nonprofits[1] that are incorporated (or otherwise formed) under the laws of a particular State or territory of the United States are eligible to apply for funding as a Prime Recipient or Subrecipient.”

Please refer to Section III of the FOA, “ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION”, for further information.

Question 22: When can we expect to hear about the encourage/discourage recommendation for our concept paper?
Answer 22:

The encourage/discourage notifications will be sent this week (8/4).

Question 23: From the FOA, we understand that EERE anticipates making awards by Dec 2014/Jan 2015. When is the anticipated start date for this project for budgeting purposes?
Answer 23:

If selected for an award, the project start date will be finalized during negotiation. However, 3/1/15 is a realistic start date for budgeting purposes.

Question 24: Please provide clarification on the required frequency of milestones for this specific program. On p. 24 the FOA states "Unless otherwise specified in the FOA, the minimum requirement is that each project must have at least one milestone per quarter for the duration of the project". However, p. 23 of the FOA states "The Workplan is to be structured with a hierarchy of performance period (approximately annual), task and subtasks...". Does this count as otherwise specifying a frequency of milestones?
Answer 24:

No, this does not count as otherwise specifying a frequency of milestones. At least one milestone per quarter is required for the duration of the project.

Question 25: Could you please tell me to whom the CO authorization letter should be addressed for the subject FOA?
Answer 25:

Please address the CO Authorization to Melissa Jacobi, 15013 Denver West Parkway, Golden, CO 80401-3393

Question 26: We do not engage in Lobbying, do we still need to submit SF-LLL - Disclosure of Lobbying Activities?
Answer 26:

Yes – please submit the SF-LLL and state “N/A” in the form.

Frequently Asked Questions