May 2024 Update

Wilson Sonsini is pleased to share the latest issue of Clean Energy and Climate Solutions
Resources Roundup. In this issue, we cover:

• updates to Wilson Sonsini's Clean Energy and Climate Solutions Federal Funding Database. This month, the database features funding opportunity announcements (FOAs), requests for information (RFIs), and notices of intent (NOIs);
• our recent client alerts including an analysis on the recent announcement by the Department of Energy (DOE) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on the second round of the Section 48C(e) Qualifying Advanced Energy Project (48C Program) for applications. Up to $6 billion in allocations is available as a part of this round, which is used for tax credit allocations to incentivize clean energy manufacturing, industrial decarbonization, and critical mineral processing, refining, and recycling.
• updates to the Wilson Sonsini's IRA of 2022 Implementation Tracker as of May 14, 2024.

For any specific questions, please contact any of the following members of Wilson Sonsini’s Energy and Climate Solutions group:

• Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL): Carbon Dioxide Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Program—The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) issued an FOA through the Future Growth Grants (FGG)  under the Carbon Dioxide Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation program (CIFIA) established under Section 40304 of the BIL.  This FOA will fund projects that support and accelerate the development of CO2 transport by a variety of modes, such as through pipelines, rail, trucks, and ships or barges. The CO2 must be derived only from anthropogenic sources (which could include CO2 derived by direct capture from ambient air) and must ultimately be delivered to CO2 conversion sites or geologic storage facilities. Applicants must propose to develop a common carrier CO2 transport system that, either by itself or integrated within a larger transport network, is capable of transporting anthropogenic CO2 from two or more carbon capture sources to one or more CO2 conversion sites or geologic storage facilities. Carbon capture sources may include a combination of CO2 removal (e.g., direct air capture (DAC) and biomass carbon removal and storage and point sources (e.g., industrial and power generation). Carbon dioxide may be transported to a combination of one or more geologic storage location(s) and/or one or more CO2 conversion location(s).

  All applications must describe two projects:

  1. Base Project consisting of a large-capacity, common carrier infrastructure that would transport quantities of captured CO2, (from anthropogenic sources or the ambient air) for which firm commercial commitments are in place for CO2 supply and offtake
  2. Expanded Project consisting of a large-capacity, common carrier infrastructure with the capacity to transport an increased flow rate of CO2 compared to the Base Project.

  Approximately $500 million is available under this FOA or up to 10 awards of between $31 million and $125 million. Full applications are due on July 30, 2024.

• Building a Regional and Domestic Critical Materials Supply Chain—The DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) issued an FOA, "Regional Scale Collaboration to Facilitate a Domestic Critical Minerals Future: Carbon Ore, Rare Earth, and Critical Minerals (CORE-CM) Initiative." A similar FOA was issued in 2020 for the first phase of the CORE-CM initiative to advance the use of unconventional and secondary feedstocks to produce rare earth elements (REEs), critical minerals (CMs), and novel, high-value, nonfuel, carbon-based products (CBPs) as part of the next generation of domestic U.S. materials. Realizing the CM potential in these feedstocks would enable the U.S. to reduce its dependence on REE and CM imports and establish and advance a domestic critical minerals and materials (CMM) supply chain.

  Three tasks should be addressed by all applicants, particularly tasks two and three:

  1. Project Management and Planning
  2. Regional Resource Assessment and Initial Planning
  3. Regional Assessment of CORE-CM Resources/Sampling/Characterization.

  There are eight Areas of Interest (AOI) under the FOA that are identical aside from taking place in one of 8 different geographic regions in the US. A total of $75 million is available for one award in each of the geographic regions and applicants are encouraged to form coalitions of regional stakeholders prior to applying. Full Applications are due on June 24, 2024.

• Domestic Manufacturing for Conversion Grants for Electrified Vehicles—The DOE’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) seeks public input to help inform the DOE’s implementation of the Domestic Manufacturing Conversion Grants Program for Electrified Vehicles focusing on small- and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs) via state-federal partnerships. On August 30, 2023, the DOE released an FOA for the first round of Domestic Manufacturing Conversion Grants, with intent to make selections in Spring 2024. This RFI will inform an additional round of funding from these same appropriated funds that will specifically support SMMs as the DOE believes that state partnerships will allow for effective SMM targeting since state actors often work directly with SMMs. The DOE is seeking feedback on how best to implement state-federal partnership grants in support of SMM internal combustion engine vehicles-to-electric vehicle conversions.  Responses to this RFI are due on May 20, 2024, and no additional guidance has been given about any potential federal funding for this topic.

• SuperTruck Charge—The DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), on behalf of the Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO), intends to issue an FOA, "SuperTruck Charge." The potential FOA may seek innovative research, development, and demonstration of concepts for delivering high power charging, load management, and delivery of grid services that alleviate grid capacity challenges at a large-scale charging installation for medium-duty and heavy-duty (MD/HD) trucks through optimal design of charging infrastructure and operations. This AOI will have two sub-topics, focused on:

  • Truck Depots concentrated near hubs, ports, warehouses, and other logistical operations
  • Truck Stops/Travel Centers along key freight corridors.

  Technical approaches can include, but are not limited to, load sharing, peak shaving, delayed charging, bi-directional power-flow, utilization of on-site distributed energy resources, coordination with other on-site loads, and other approaches that optimize operation and integration with the grid and accelerate deployment timelines. Projects should demonstrate innovative flexible charging capabilities that account for available load capacity and grid conditions while meeting customer needs, showing high utilization, and remaining cost-effective. 

  Multiple awards are expected to be available and the EERE anticipates releasing a final FOA in June/July 2024.

Read the latest complete list of federal funding opportunities here. If you would like to receive alerts when the database is updated, subscribe here. As a reminder, refer to the white paper for a general guide to understanding how this federal funding works at a high level.

We remind you to read our recent alerts on the latest updates and regulations relevant to the clean energy industry:

• CPUC Seeks Comments on Centralized Procurement Mechanism Impacting California Offshore Wind Development
• Treasury and IRS Release Final Regulations on Credit Transferability
• DOE and IRS Set to Open Second and Potentially Final Round of Section 48C Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Credit Applications

Wilson Sonsini’s IRA of 2022 Resource is a single-source digital platform of relevant information related to IRA implementation. The resource page's "Implementation Tracker" provides the latest overall implementation status for each credit and bonus credit regarding their implementation as of May 14, 2024.