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["INSTRUCTIONS"]
[1,"All questions pertaining to this funding opportunity announcement should be emailed to iacs@ee.doe.gov. "]
[2,"All questions pertaining to EERE Exchange should be emailed to EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov. Include FOA name and number in subject line."]
[3,"All questions and answers pertaining to this FOA will be posted on EERE Exchange within this spreadsheet."]
[4,"DOE will attempt to respond to a question within 3 business days, unless a similar question and answer has already been posted in this spreadsheet. "]
[5,"All questions should be submitted not later than 3 business days prior to the application due date. Questions submitted after this date will not be answered."]
[6,"Questions are assigned a number in accordance with when they are reviewed by DOE.  "]
[7,"Questions are assigned a topic area by DOE when reviewed."]
[]
["TIPS"]
[1,"Applicants may sort questions and answers in the question tabs of this spreadhseet by selecting the drop-down box arrow on the column headers and selecting any of the listed attributes."]
[2,"Applicants may search for questions and/or keywords by holding CTRL+F on the keyboard and typing in a phrase or keyword."]

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["ADMINISTRATIVE QUESTION AND ANSWER LOG"]
["DE-FOA-0002453  FY21 Flow Battery Manufacturing "]
["Question #","Date Submitted","Topic","QUESTION ","ANSWER"]
[1,"2021-03-18","Labs/FFRDCs","On page 25 of this call it states requirements for an FFRDC to be eligible to apply for funding under this FOA.  Then on page 26 it states an FFRDC may be proposed as a subrecipient on another entity’s application.  Does this mean an FFRDC can lead or be a subrecipient or is an FFRDC limited to being just a subrecipient for this call?  Also, on page 39 of the call it states the Subrecipient requirements for the Budget Justification (if applicable).  Is an FFRDC whose budget is over $250K or 25% of the total work required to submit the Budget Justification form or is an FFRDC only required to provide an FWP?","Per Section III. G., \"EERE will not make eligibility determinations for potential applicants prior to the date on which applications to this FOA must be submitted. The decision whether to submit an application in response to this FOA lies solely with the applicant.\"  However, to assist you in making a determination, we offer the following information.  Section III. A.i., Domestic Entities, provides a list of eligible applicants.  Per Section IV. D. Xi. Budget for DOE/NNSA FFRDC,  FFRDs should provide a DOE WP."]
[2,"2021-03-19","Concept Paper","The FOA states:  \"An entity may only submit one Concept Paper and one Full Application to this FOA. If an entity submits more than one Concept Paper and Full Application, EERE will request a determination from the applicant’s authorizing representative as to which application should be reviewed. Any other submissions received listing the same entity as the applicant will not be eligible for further consideration. This limitation does not prohibit an applicant from collaborating on other applications (e.g., as a potential subrecipient or partner) so long as the entity is only listed as the applicant on one Concept Paper and one Full Application submitted under this FOA.\"For universities, is the “entity” (or “applicant”) considered to be the institution, or the individual PI? That is, would a university be limited to one submission for the institution, or is the limit one submission per PI?  ","Please see Section III. Eligibility Information, i. Domestic Entities on page 19 of the FOA for a list of entity types.   In your case,  the university is limited to one application as the prime recipient."]
[3,"2021-03-24","Technical Topics","Could you confirm whether the FOA referenced above is for 10-100 kWh systems or larger systems?","Per Section A. C. Applications Specifically Not of Interest contains a list of applications that will not be reviewed or considered under this FOA.  The list includes, \"Applications that propose flow battery systems outside of the range of 10 to 100kWh.  "]
[4,"2021-03-26","Application Reviews","Will \"reversible solid oxide cell as the flow batteries for grid-scale energy storage\" be responsive? "," “This FOA is to support flow battery systems. It is not designed to support any other adjacent technologies such as solid oxide fuel cells. Therefore, you should rationalize why your “reversible solid oxide cell (RSOC)” is a flow battery and the flow system is suitable for grid-scale energy storage. There would be various ways to define the flow battery – for example, fully regenerative system, accomplished electrical charge/discharge cycles, etc. In your proposal, you also need to explain your approaches and allow reviewers to clearly see your perspective. As explained in Section I.B. of the FOA, if you have innovative ways to develop a RSOC as a flow battery system, you must complete testing and validation. Thus, your proposed flow system would have to be evaluated on the cost and performance of all components/systems required to 1) receive an electrical input, 2) store the charge, 3) discharge electricity, etc.”"]
[5,"2021-03-30","Application Content/Format","Since FFRDCs are prohibited from lobbying on any legislative of appropriation matters, do they still need to submit an SFLLL?","Per Section IV. E. Content and Form of the Full Application, the SF-LLL is a required form."]
[" "," ","Other"," "," "]
[" "," ","Other"," "," "]
[" "," ","Other"," "," "]
[6,"2021-03-30","Application Reviews","I have the following questions regarding FOA 0002453: What level of technology risk, if any, is acceptable?  Do we need to work with proven components only?  Is adding a foreign partner acceptable?","“As long as your proposal includes key technical risks and issues as well as proposed possible mitigation strategies (see Section V.A. Technical Review Criteria), your team doesn’t need to limit themselves to proven components only.”                                                                                                            See Section IV. E. xiv. Waiver Requests:  Foreign Entities and Foreign Work (if applicable), for information on applying for a waiver for foreign participation."]
[7,"2021-03-30","Application Reviews","Could you please elaborate on this limit?  Is this a hard limit, or are larger systems also considered?  Are there other constraints in the FOA that I should be aware of?","We explain the flow battery system size limits in Section I.B. As explained, we have set 100kWh as a ceiling for system size, based on the limitations of technology-agnostic testing capabilities. We also consider the low end by choosing something that's at least an order of magnitude larger than typical lab demonstrations and not too much smaller than the ceiling.  This size range is intended to bridge the gap between flow battery technologies and components demonstrated in the lab and field pilot systems for de-risking larger grid-supporting projects.   Larger systems will not be considered.  We put our answer in the Q&A spreadsheet in Exchange (Q&A #3): “Per Section I.C. Applications Specifically Not of Interest contains a list of applications that will not be reviewed or considered under this FOA.  The list includes, \"Applications that propose flow battery systems outside of the range of 10 to 100kWh.”   Per Section I.C. Applications Specifically Not of Interest contains a list of applications that will not be reviewed or considered under this FOA. "]
[8,"2021-04-05","Other","Will there be a Teaming List created for this Flow Battery FOA?","No, this FOA does not call for the creation of a Teaming List."]
[9,"2021-04-06","Other","Is it possible for the validation testing to be performed at the site of the awardee? ","Yes, as long as the testing is performed by a third-party tester, as described in in Section I.B. of the FOA. "]
[10,"2021-04-06","Other"," Would OE pay for the final prototype work if it was done another DOE/NNSA NL beyond the three (PNNL, ORNL and SNL) mentioned in the proposal?","OE funds are available for testing only at the facilities described in Section I.B. of the FOA.  These are Sandia National Laboratory (SNL, Energy Storage Test Pad, Battery Test Facility, Battery Abuse Test Laboratory), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL, ESS Reliability Test Laboratory, Grid Storage Launch Pad), and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL, GridC Laboratory).  "]
[11,"2021-04-08","Technical Topics","Can you please provide clarification on this statement:  “Each Concept Paper must be limited to a single concept or technology. Unrelated concepts and technologies should not be consolidated into a single Concept Paper.”  Specifically, would a project that includes manufacturing of multiple redox-flow-battery (RFB) system components be considered more than “a single concept or technology”?  In one sense, all RFB components are “related” to a single technology, which is RFBs.","Such projects you mentioned can be considered as a single concept/technology and will be responsive to the Concept Paper. Here, a single concept or technology means a holistic, systemic approach. We understand the nature of holistic approaches in the flow battery areas. As you explained, for example, all RFB components are related to a single RFB technology as long as you have a high-level goal(s) such as cost-effective and scale-up of flow battery manufacturing. The goal is for proposals that can ultimately integrate all proposed innovations, which can include innovations to multiple components and manufacturing processes, into a single prototype system that will be tested at the end of the project. That is why we mentioned that responsive applications include any innovative approach for manufacturing scale-up of “multiple flow battery components” to incorporate into a full flow battery system (See Section I.B.)."]
[12,"2021-04-12","Technical Topics","If our proposal is focused on individual component, like electrolytes, membranes or electrodes, do we need to deliver the whole flow battery system to validation labs (PNNL, SNL or ORNL)? Or do we just need to deliver sufficient individual component to validation labs for validation in their kw-class flow battery systems? If so, what kind of kw-class flow battery systems do these labs have?","Performers that are using the national laboratory facilities for system testing need to deliver a complete stack/system to the national laboratory test facilities for evaluation. The main role of the national lab test facilities (PNNL, SNL, and ORNL) will be testing and validation of your full system. This will not include any preliminary testing/validation steps or testing of individual components.  10-20 kW tests are routinely available at the test facilities and can be readily accommodated. Testing of 20 – 100 kW systems will be available but will require more extensive coordination. The Grid Storage Launchpad (GSL) facility at PNNL can provide 100kW capability. Only one test platform is available at Sandia for systems in the 100-1,000kW range. As mentioned in Section I.B. of the FOA, at the beginning of the awarded project, AMO will organize a meeting of all the performers and testing experts to discuss testing protocols and establish common testing data types and formats to facilitate the development of an agreed-upon testing and validation plan."]
[13,"2021-04-12","Other","Can you please state whether it may be possible for an awardee to start work on these projects immediately after being notified that one has been selected for an award?  We realize that any expenses incurred prior to completion of a contract with DOE would be at our risk, but we would like to know if we can plan on starting work in October 2021, if we are willing to accept that risk.  In short, will pre-contract (but, post-award) expenses be allowed by AMO?","Per SectionI IV.J. ii. Pre-Award Costs, require prior written approval from the Contracting Officer and cannot be incurred prior to the Selection Offical signing the Selection Statement and Analysis.  Even with prior approval, expenditures made prior to execution of the award agreement are made at the selectee's risk.  EERE is not obligated to reimburse costs: (1) in the absence of appropriations; (2) if an award is not made; or (3) if an award is made for a lesser amount than the selectee anticipated."]
[14,"2021-04-12","Concept Paper","The FOA (p 28) states, “Each Concept Paper must be limited to a single concept or technology. Unrelated concepts and technologies should not be consolidated into a single Concept Paper.” Our application will focus on the flow battery electrolyte. We would like to propose both process development for manufacture from raw materials AND process development for recycling at end of life. Would this be encouraged or considered more than one technology?","We don’t provide any comments on specific project ideas. Regarding your question about the single concept/technology, please refer to question/answer 11 above."]
[15,"   04/12/2021","Foreign Entities/Work","1. When the FOA mentions \"scale up\" does it mean the manufacturing processes and volumes or the battery size?   2. Are domestically incorporated companies with a physical presence in the United States but a slight majority ownership among foreign individuals and entities eligible to apply for the waiver described in Appendix C?","1. “Scale up” applies to any innovative design, process, and manufacturing activity for components or systems. Examples of manufacturing scale-up are described in Section I.B. of the FOA. Please refer to the FOA question/answer #7 regarding the size limit. 2.  Please see Section III.A.ii., “Foreign entities may request a waiver of the requirement to designate a subsidiary or affiliate that qualifies as a domestic entity to be the prime recipient in the Full Application (i.e., a foreign entity may request that it remains the prime recipient on an award). To do so, the applicant must submit an explicit written waiver request in the Full Application”."]
[16,"2021-04-14","Technical Topics","Does a complete flow battery system (10-100kWh) need to be produced or just the electrodes for this system?","Please see Sections I.A.ii and I.B. of the FOA for additional information, but a complete flow battery system needs to be developed."]
[17,"2021-04-16","Technical Topics","1.        When submitting information containing proprietary or potentially patentable information from one or more subrecipients on a project team during the course of executing the cooperative agreement, how can the proprietary or potentially patentable information from each subrecipient be protected during submission to DOE without revealing any such information to other subrecipients on the project team?   2.  Can you please provide clarification “Project teams must build a prototype system, which in the final stage of the project, will be used to test and validate the flow battery system manufacturing capabilities by a third party. The prototype should be designed to address the aspects of manufacturing from component level to subsystem assembly level to the full integrated system level, introducing multiple innovations throughout the system.” Can offerors responding as an industry consortium propose two prototypes produced with common standards to ensure the exchange of stacks between consortium members? This would increase the manufacturing capabilities of each flow battery company by promoting redundancy and common standards among flow battery companies, and strengthen the ability of each flow battery company to reduce the pricing of expensive components.","1.  DOE does not have privity of contract with subrecipients; therefore, the Prime Recipient would need to manage proprietary information within the team.  This process should be included in the intellecutal property management plan.   2.  Yes. It is possible to submit two prototypes under one project. In your proposal, you must justify why you would like to develop more than one. You need to clearly explain your testing and validation plan as well. As mentioned in Section I.B. of the FOA, at the beginning of the awarded project, AMO will organize a meeting of all the performers and testing experts to discuss testing protocols and establish common testing data types and formats to facilitate the development of an agreed-upon testing and validation plan.  "]
[18,"2021-04-16","Other"," Are Co-Principals (Co-PIs) allowed in this solicitation?","Yes, see Section IV.D. of the FOA document for the full application requirements and format."]
[19,"2021-04-21","Intellectual Property","We want to make sure that our developments (possibly within a DOE funded project) are protected for us and avoid that a project partner (eventually a customer) can give away that IP to competitors.  To guarantee this it would be necessary not to report to a project partner at all or only in a conceptional way like: treatment A, B, C and trial 1, 2, 3 etc. excluding physical details.  Do you think that would be acceptable or which possibilities do you see that allow the partners to make progress in short term by cooperation, but don’t lose IP and business in long term.","The prime recipient is responsible to ensure compliance with all of the DOE award requirements, e.g., budget, cost share, deliverables, DOE approvals, and flow-down requirements.  As long as the sub-award between the prime recipient and any sub-recipient is consistent with the DOE award requirements, the project team is free to negotiate a sub-award that addresses the different project team members concerns and needs, including with respect to information sharing between the project team members.  DOE will not serve as mediator between the team members and will not provide counsel on what best serves each team member.  It needs to be worked out between the team members.  Whatever is worked out between the team members with information sharing, the prime recipient is responsible for ensuring compliance with all the deliverable requirements and the data rights provision of the award. "]
[20,"2021-04-26","Technical Topics","We are developing A 10-100kwh Flywheel energy storage system based around a number of Common Off The Shelf (COTS) components. Will this qualify for the Flow battery project?","Flywheel energy storage system is not the focus of this FOA. Please see Section I.A.ii. Technology Space and Strateic Goals for information on the projects of interest."]
[21,"2021-05-07","Application Content/Format","Is DE-DOA-2453 (Flow Battery FOA) subject to Executive Order 12372? ","Per Section IV. I. Intergovernmental Review, this FOA is not subject to Executive Order 12372 – Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs."]
[22,"2021-05-20","Due Dates","During the applicant webinar on April 1st, it was noted that encourage/discourage notifications on the concept paper submittals would be received by May 19th.  Do you have an updated date of when concept paper notifications may be available","Notices are expected to be sent by the end of the week."]
[23,"2021-05-20","Other","Would you be willing to accept a full application from Solvay, even though we missed the April 29 concept paper deadline?   ","Per the FOA document Section IV. A. Application process, \"Only applicants who have submitted an eligible Concept Paper will be eligible to submit a Full Application\"."]

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["Pick List"]
[]
["Registration Requirements"]
["Webinar"]
["Concept Paper"]
["Eligibility"]
["Labs/FFRDCs"]
["Foreign Entities/Work"]
["Cost Sharing"]
["Due Dates"]
["Application Content/Format"]
["Intellectual Property"]
["Data Management"]
["Other"]
["U.S. Manufacturing Plan"]
["Application Reviews"]
["Technical Topics"]