Grid Overhaul with Proactive, High-speed Undergrounding for Reliability, Resilience, and Security (GOPHURRS)

Description

DE-FOA-0003047, Grid Overhaul with Proactive, High-speed Undergrounding for Reliability, Resilience, and Security (GOPHURRS) To obtain a copy of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) please go to the ARPA-E website at https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov. To apply to this FOA, Applicants must register with and submit application materials through ARPA-E eXCHANGE (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Registration.aspx). For detailed guidance on using ARPA-E eXCHANGE, please refer to the ARPA-E eXCHANGE User Guide (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Manuals.aspx). ARPA-E will not review or consider concept papers submitted through other means. For problems with ARPA-E eXCHANGE, email ExchangeHelp@hq.doe.gov (with FOA name and number in the subject line). Questions about this FOA? Check the Frequently Asked Questions available at http://arpa-e.energy.gov/faq. For questions that have not already been answered, email ARPA-E-CO@hq.doe.gov. Agency Overview: The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), an organization within the Department of Energy (DOE), is chartered by Congress in the America COMPETES Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-69), as amended by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-358), as further amended by the Energy Act of 2020 (P.L. 116-260): “(A) to enhance the economic and energy security of the United States through the development of energy technologies that— (i) reduce imports of energy from foreign sources; (ii) reduce energy-related emissions, including greenhouse gases; (iii) improve the energy efficiency of all economic sectors; (iv) provide transformative solutions to improve the management, clean-up, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel; and (v) improve the resilience, reliability, and security of infrastructure to produce, deliver, and store energy; and (B) to ensure that the United States maintains a technological lead in developing and deploying advanced energy technologies.” ARPA-E issues this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) under its authorizing statute codified at 42 U.S.C. § 16538. The FOA and any cooperative agreements or grants made under this FOA are subject to 2 C.F.R. Part 200 as supplemented by 2 C.F.R. Part 910. ARPA-E funds research on, and the development of, transformative science and technology solutions to address the energy and environmental missions of the Department. The agency focuses on technologies that can be meaningfully advanced with a modest investment over a defined period of time in order to catalyze the translation from scientific discovery to early-stage technology. For the latest news and information about ARPA-E, its programs and the research projects currently supported, see: http://arpa-e.energy.gov/. ARPA-E funds transformational research. Existing energy technologies generally progress on established “learning curves” where refinements to a technology and the economies of scale that accrue as manufacturing and distribution develop drive improvements to the cost/performance metric in a gradual fashion. This continual improvement of a technology is important to its increased commercial deployment and is appropriately the focus of the private sector or the applied technology offices within DOE. By contrast, ARPA-E supports transformative research that has the potential to create fundamentally new learning curves. ARPA-E technology projects typically start with cost/performance estimates well above the level of an incumbent technology. Given the high risk inherent in these projects, many will fail to progress, but some may succeed in generating a new learning curve with a projected cost/performance metric that is significantly better than that of the incumbent technology. ARPA-E funds technology with the potential to be disruptive in the marketplace. The mere creation of a new learning curve does not ensure market penetration. Rather, the ultimate value of a technology is determined by the marketplace, and impactful technologies ultimately become disruptive – that is, they are widely adopted and displace existing technologies from the marketplace or create entirely new markets. ARPA-E understands that definitive proof of market disruption takes time, particularly for energy technologies. Therefore, ARPA-E funds the development of technologies that, if technically successful, have clear disruptive potential, e.g., by demonstrating capability for manufacturing at competitive cost and deployment at scale. ARPA-E funds applied research and development. The Office of Management and Budget defines “applied research” as an “original investigation undertaken in order to acquire new knowledge…directed primarily towards a specific practical aim or objective” and defines “experimental development” as “creative and systematic work, drawing on knowledge gained from research and practical experience, which is directed at producing new products or processes or improving existing products or processes.” Applicants interested in receiving financial assistance for basic research (defined by the Office of Management and Budget as “experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts”) should contact the DOE’s Office of Science (http://science.energy.gov/). Office of Science national scientific user facilities (http://science.energy.gov/user-facilities/) are open to all researchers, including ARPA-E Applicants and awardees. These facilities provide advanced tools of modern science including accelerators, colliders, supercomputers, light sources and neutron sources, as well as facilities for studying the nanoworld, the environment, and the atmosphere. Projects focused on early-stage R&D for the improvement of technology along defined roadmaps may be more appropriate for support through the DOE applied energy offices including: the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (http://www.eere.energy.gov/), the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (https://www.energy.gov/fecm/office-fossil-energy-and-carbon-management), the Office of Nuclear Energy (http://www.energy.gov/ne/office-nuclear-energy), and the Office of Electricity (https://www.energy.gov/oe/office-electricity). Program Overview: GOPHURRS (Grid Overhaul with Proactive, High-Speed Undergrounding for Reliability, Resilience, and Security) intends to fund a portfolio of new technologies based on bold and unconventional ideas that will transform the construction of underground medium voltage (MV, 5 – 46 kV) power distribution grids (e.g., primary feeders and laterals) in urban and suburban areas and reduce the cost of undergrounding electric power grids by at least 50% in order to improve the overall reliability, resilience, and security of power infrastructure in the United States. SAIDI (System Average Interruption Duration Index) and SAIFI (System Average Interruption Frequency Index) are two commonly used reliability metrics. In the United States today, SAIDI and SAIFI range approximately 5-8 hours and 1.5 times per customer, respectively, which is responsible for an economic cost to U.S. electricity consumers of $79 billion/year. Undergrounding powerlines is a proven way of improving the system reliability for both transmission and distribution grids as indicated in stark differences in SAIDI and SAIFI of overhead systems and underground systems (Figure 1). Despite the reliability benefits, the cost of burying distribution powerlines is significant, up to five to ten times that of overhead distribution lines, making it the major barrier to making such grid investment decisions. Furthermore, today's undergrounding processes pose safety concerns, such as damage to other buried utilities during construction, occupational safety and health hazards associated with tasks performed in a manhole, and lengthy surface disruptions and traffic detours affecting the safety of surrounding communities, making undergrounding a difficult project to undertake. The GOPHURRS program aims to reduce the time and cost required to underground by a factor of at least two when compared to traditional trenching-based methods. More specifically, GOPHURRS technologies will shift the paradigm of undergrounding from digging to drilling in order to leave the surface nearly untouched. In order to achieve this goal, GOPHURRS focuses on developing transformative technologies capable of achieving autonomous/trenchless utility installation, such as automated and rapid subsurface drilling along the terrain and concurrent conduit installation, while also avoiding hidden underground obstacles (e.g., existing infrastructure, geologic anomalies) with advanced look-ahead sensors (Figure 2). In addition, GOPHURRS aims to reduce the life cycle cost of an underground power system by developing reliable cable joint designs and installation systems, as cable joints are typically the first to fail during operation. The GOPHURRS program could reduce costs, increase speed, and improve the reliability and safety of undergrounding operations and the surrounding communities by developing such technologies focused on automation, damage prevention, and error elimination. To view the FOA in its entirety, please visit https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov.

Eligibility

Grants.gov lists this opportunity under eligibility category code 99. 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.

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