In partnership with EERE and OCED, OTT launched the Solutions for Lasting, Viable Energy Infrastructure Technologies (SOLVE IT) Prize to empower communities to solve their energy-related challenges. The SOLVE IT Prize aims to enable innovative solutions for local energy-related challenges, promoting the commercialization of promising energy technologies that will lead to an equitable and just energy transition.   

SOLVE IT offers a total cash prize pool of $5 million, with competitors able to win up to $730,000 each across three phases: 

• Phase 1 – Embark: Competitors with a history of productive work with communities are invited to identify a community, a challenge facing that community that can be addressed by an innovative clean energy solution, and a clear plan for engaging with the community.   
• Phase 2 – Engage: Embark winners will engage with their community stakeholders to develop the community’s vision for their future clean energy or decarbonization project. 
• Phase 3 – Establish: Engage winners will create Clean Energy Project Action Plans for carrying out at least one specific, technically novel clean energy or decarbonization project.  

The SOLVE IT Prize is currently accepting submissions. Learn more and apply.  

Please send questions to SOLVEIT@nrel.gov. 

In partnership with OCED, FECM, and EERE, OTT announced a new Voucher Program in July 2023, which will provide over $32 million in commercialization support to organizations that have a role in bringing innovative energy technologies to market nation-wide. Through this program, businesses and other relevant entities are provided an opportunity to work with third-party organizations to address specific commercialization barriers they face as they develop their technology and grow their business. The Voucher Program leverages DOE’s recent partnership intermediary agreement with ENERGYWERX.  

• Voucher Opportunity 1 - Pre-Demonstration Commercialization Support (OCED/EERE): addresses key adoption risk areas faced by companies already funded by DOE that are moving on from the research and development stage. This support includes bankability studies, manufacturing or supply chain assessments, community benefits assessments, and other technoeconomic analyses.   
• Voucher Opportunity 2 - Performance Validation, Modeling, and Certification Support (OCED/EERE): enables third-party evaluation of technology performance under certification-relevant operating conditions, accelerated lifetime testing to test for potential failure types, and access to advanced modeling and digitization resources. This support is invited for companies that have a product prototype for a technology that is in alignment with the interest of DOE OCED or EERE. 
• Voucher Opportunity 3 - Clean Energy Demonstration Project Siting/Permitting Support (OCED/EERE): helps authorities having jurisdiction like city or tribal governments understand new clean energy technology benefits and challenges, evaluate siting and permitting best practices developed by similar jurisdictions, develop streamlined permitting processes, and support community engagement on related issues.   
• Voucher Opportunity 4 - Commercialization Support (EERE): provides market research, business plan, fundraising road-mapping (from both public and private sources), and other commercialization strategy assistance for companies who have received funding from DOE EERE research and development programs and have a functional technology prototype. 
• Voucher Opportunity 5 - Commercialization Support (FECM): provides independent assessment of Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) technologies/practices and performance validation support for carbon management and resource sustainability innovators and technology developers, including for-profit firms, that are working to commercialize a prototype that fits a specific technology vertical of interest for DOE FECM. 

Read the announcement here.  

Be sure to join the ENERGYWERX ecosystem and receive updates by signing up at energywerx.org. Please reach out with questions by emailing ENERGYWERX at info@energywerx.org.   

In partnership with OCED and EERE, OTT has launched the Manufacture of Advanced Key Energy Infrastructure Technologies (MAKE IT) Prize to catalyze domestic manufacturing of critical clean energy technology components, moving manufacturing facilities from planning to shovel-ready and enabling strategies for vibrant manufacturing activity in communities.     

This prize has two tracks:    

• Facilities Track: U.S.-based entities committed to manufacturing will submit plans for establishing clean energy manufacturing facilities for eligible technology components or processes. Each winner will receive up to $5 million for developing facilities to the point of being shovel-ready for construction.     
• Strategies Track: Teams working to promote manufacturing activity, economic development, growth, and quality of life in their region or community will prepare a credible roadmap to establishing clean energy manufacturing activity. Each winner will receive up to $400,000 for creating a roadmap to bring clean energy manufacturing to their region and providing demonstrated commitment from at least one manufacturing developer. 

In November 2023, OTT announced the first round of Strategies track winners. Read the announcement. 

The MAKE IT Prize is currently accepting submissions. Please visit https://americanmadechallenges.org/challenges/make-it/ for more information.   

Please send questions to MAKEITprize@nrel.gov. 

In partnership with OCED, OTT announced the Collaborative Alignment for Critical Technology Industries Lab Call to bring together stakeholders across industries to address challenges that result when people work on similar issues in isolation, inhibiting scale-up and replication. These lab-led working groups will collaboratively develop and begin to implement recommendations and best practices for resolving identified challenges.  

In September 2023, OTT announced two selected projects, which will accelerate commercialization in the clean hydrogen and long duration energy storage industries. Read the selection announcement. 

In partnership with FECM and OCED, OTT awarded four DOE National Laboratory-led teams to develop carbon dioxide removal (CDR) measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) best practices and capabilities that are necessary to enable CDR commercialization at scale. The four projects are working collaboratively with industrial partners to build an overarching framework for CDR MRV as well as advance MRV for mineralization, cement and concrete, and biomass CDR pathways. 

Selections were announced in May 2023. Read the selection announcement .    

In partnership with the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER), OTT is co-leading a project with the Energy I-Corps team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to support the development and implementation of commercialization programming designed for awardees of the CESER Cybersecurity for Distribution Energy Resource (DER) Research, Development, and Demonstration (RD&D) Research Call.  

Inspired by the Energy I-Corps program, this project will help participants bolster their knowledge and understanding of commercialization concepts and tools and learn about market needs related to their research.  

In partnership with OCED, OTT is co-leading a project with Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) to enhance the usability of greenhouse gases, regulated emissions, and energy use in technologies (GREET) for industry. Creating a more accessible and comprehensive interface will assist in the commercialization of new technologies by making it easier to analyze potential emissions mitigation opportunities and the potential impacts of new technologies. 

In partnership with MESC, OTT is co-leading a project with Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) to support the development of data-driven and model-informed integrated industrial strategies for manufacturing and energy supply chain technology commercialization. The project will improve outcomes of BIL provision activities and contribute to MESC’s catalytic industry strategy to advance promising energy technology manufacturing and supply chain commercial applications. This effort will combine and advance prior efforts into a holistic framework, capable of capturing cross-technology feedback and higher-level industry diagnostics.      

In partnership with the DOE’s Office of Policy, OCED, and the Loan Programs Office (LPO), OTT is supporting the development of the "Pathways to Commercial Liftoff" reports. Each pathway will provide a common understanding of what it will really take to achieve private sector liftoff, with a fact-based approach that addresses knowledge gaps around critical commercialization barriers. These will be living documents that will be updated continuously as we learn more as technologies move through the commercialization continuum.  

Read the Liftoff Reports.