Closed · DE-FOA-0002809 · CFDA 81.049 · Discretionary
Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program
Federal grant opportunity posted by Office of Science, cataloged on Grants.gov.
- $5M-$25M
- Award range
- Closed
- Status
- December 15, 2022
- Close date
- 4
- Expected awards
The verdict
Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program is a closed discretionary listing from Office of Science that offered $5,000,000 -- $25,000,000 across 4 expected awards. Future funding cycles may be published under the same CFDA number.
- $5M-$25M
- award range
- Closed
- application status
- 4
- expected awards
- 81.049
- CFDA program
Opportunity snapshot. This Grants.gov announcement - Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program - is cataloged under number DE-FOA-0002809 and tied to CFDA assistance listing 81.049, posted by Office of Science. Grants.gov currently shows the opportunity as closed, first posted on September 22, 2022 and last updated on December 7, 2022. The funding category is Discretionary, delivered as a other.
Award economics. The award range on file is $5,000,000 -- $25,000,000. The agency has projected $50.0 million in total estimated funding for this announcement. It expects to issue 4 awards. If the agency funds the expected 4 awards from the $50.0 million estimated pool, the average award works out to roughly $12.5 million. Cost sharing or matching funds are required, meaning applicants must contribute a portion of the project budget from non-federal sources, factor this into your financial plan before drafting the proposal. Federal award ranges are often upper bounds; actual allocations reflect program appropriations, the strength of the applicant pool, and the evaluation committee's scoring.
Deadline and action path. This opportunity closed on December 15, 2022. Future funding cycles may be published under the same CFDA number, so monitoring the parent program page is the most reliable way to catch re-announcements. Every Grants.gov submission requires an active SAM.gov registration and a Unique Entity ID. Review the Eligibility section below carefully, federal eligibility categories (nonprofit, state or local government, tribal, individual, educational institution, small business) have distinct registration and reporting requirements. Pre-application outreach to the listed agency contact is permitted and often welcomed, it helps clarify scope and scoring priorities. Before acting on the deadline or award figures above, verify them directly on the official Grants.gov listing, amendments can change dates and amounts after this page was last refreshed.
Award Range
$5,000,000 -- $25,000,000
Close Date
December 15, 2022
Posted
September 22, 2022
Est. Total Funding
$50,000,000
Expected Awards
4
Instrument
Other
Cost Sharing
Required
Description
Fusion energy is a potentially safe, abundant, zero-carbon-emitting source of reliable primary energy. Major recent worldwide advances in the science[1],[2],[3] and technology[4] of fusion energy, the emergence of a strong and growing private fusion sector in the United States and abroad,[5] and the objective of achieving “net-zero” global carbon emissions by 2050[6] have made the acceleration of fusion energy research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) a national priority. Augmenting the present scientific mission of the Office of Science (SC) Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) program with supporting “the development of a competitive fusion power industry in the U.S.” was both authorized in the Energy Act of 2020 and consistent with the recommendations of recent community-informed expert studies and reports, such as the 2020 Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC) Long-Range Plan Powering the Future[7] and the 2021 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) report Bringing Fusion to the U.S. Grid.[8] The latter helped motivate the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and DOE to co-host a summit on Developing a Bold Decadal Vision for Commercial Fusion Energy.[9] A common theme among these recent activities was the recognition that public-private partnerships (PPPs) present an opportunity to accelerate fusion energy RD&D. A DOE-sponsored Workshop on Fusion Energy Development via Public-Private Partnerships was held recently (June 1–3, 2022); workshop presentations are posted publicly on the FES website.[10] This FOA invites applications for a new milestone-based fusion development program (as authorized in the Energy Act of 2020), which is a key component of the bold decadal vision to accelerate fusion energy RD&D in partnership with the private sector. Applications may be submitted for applied R&D to resolve scientific and technological issues toward the successful design of a fusion pilot plant (FPP).[11] [1] https://www.llnl.gov/news/national-ignition-facility-experiment-puts-researchers-threshold-fusion-ignition. [2] H. Abu-Shawareb et al., “Lawson Criterion for Ignition Exceeded in an Inertial Fusion Experiment,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 075001 (2022); https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00391-1. [3] https://www.euro-fusion.org/news/2022/european-researchers-achieve-fusion-energy-record. [4] https://news.mit.edu/2021/MIT-CFS-major-advance-toward-fusion-energy-0908; https://cfs.energy/news-and-media/cfs-commercial-fusion-power-with-hts-magnet. [5] The Global Fusion Industry in 2022, Fusion Companies Survey by the Fusion Industry Association. [6] https://www.iea.org/reports/net-zero-by-2050. [7] https://science.osti.gov/-/media/fes/fesac/pdf/2020/202012/FESAC_Report_2020_Powering_the_Future.pdf [8] https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25991/bringing-fusion-to-the-us-grid [9] https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2022/03/15/fact-sheet-developing-a-bold-vision-for-commercial-fusion-energy and https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2022/04/19/readout-of-the-white-house-summit-on-developing-a-bold-decadal-vision-for-commercial-fusion-energy [10] https://science.osti.gov/fes/Community-Resources/Workshop-Reports [11] An FPP should demonstrate a significant amount of net fusion electricity (e.g., >50 MWe) for >3 continuous hours (i.e., phase 1b of the NASEM report in footnote 8) with a timely path to one full power year (i.e., phase 2 of the NASEM report), at a total capital cost that can attract private funding.
Eligibility
Grants.gov lists this opportunity under eligibility category codes 22, 23. These codes correspond to applicant types (state/local government, tribal organization, nonprofit, educational institution, individual, small business, etc.) defined in Grants.gov's own eligibility reference. See the current Grants.gov eligibility categories or check the official listing below for this opportunity's exact eligibility statement.
Official Listing on Grants.gov
View full details, application forms, and submission instructions.
Parent Grant Program
Basic Energy Sciences
U.S. Department of Energy
Agency Contact
Dr. John Mandrekas 301-903-4095 John.Mandrekas@science.doe.gov
Key Dates
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