Grant Details

New and Updated | Grant Search

i2X Innovative Queue Management Solutions (iQMS) for Clean Energy Interconnection and Energization (Part B): Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) Load Request (Track 2) - FY 2024

Agency: U.S. Department of Energy
Office: Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange (i2X) Joint Office of Energy and Transportation (JOET) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) Wind Energy Technologies Office (WETO) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
Multipart Grant: Yes
Next Due: 10/16/2024 (Application)
Solicitation Date: 08/14/2024
   
Match Required: No
Actual Funds: $2,000,000 (Confirmed)
Range: $11,200,000 (Max)
Summary:

The purpose of this program is to provide support to distribution utilities to pilot innovative solutions for managing renewable energy and electric vehicle (EV) charging interconnection and energization queues. The program is intended to enable the adoption of simpler, faster, and fairer queue management solutions and accelerate decarbonizing the nation’s energy system.

Funding will be provided for pilot projects to demonstrate new interconnection queue management solutions on actual interconnection, service load request, and energization queues that will help utilities and public utility commissions understand the real-world capabilities of new software and workflow automation solutions and accelerate their adoption to enable rapid deployment of more solar energy, wind energy, energy storage, EV charging infrastructure, and other clean energy assets to the grid. Participating utilities will document and share lessons learned and best practices from their pilot projects to help other utilities manage similar interconnection and energization requests.

The program is designed to encourage functional departments, such as research, planning, information technology (IT), and operations to work together to improve data quality, interoperability, and integration among their internal IT systems, such as geographic information systems (GIS), distribution management system (DMS), or supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA). By integrating and expanding the capabilities of internal IT systems, the program helps distribution utilities test, implement, and validate new queue management approaches, eliminating unnecessary work, reducing errors, increasing productivity, and delivering reliable interconnection and service load request services to customers, ultimately reducing costs to consumers.

Queue management solutions must align with the utilities’ interests, priorities, needs, and capabilities to significantly improve their queue management practices and timelines for mid-scale clean energy projects. Example solutions are listed on page 3 of the NOFA file.

Funding will be provided for the following program components:

  • (Part A): Generator Interconnection (Track 1)
  • (Part B): Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) Load Request (Track 2)

The purpose of the Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) Load Request (Track 2) component is to support distribution-level queue management solutions for electric vehicle supply equipment load requests and energization queues. Solutions may include any process or technology pilot that demonstrably improves the efficiency and expediency of electric vehicle charging service load requests, such as:

  • Updated hosting capacity analysis and/or maps to assist with pre-application siting
  • Customer-facing service request application portals and services
  • Internal improvements to service load request application processes, including clarifying and standardizing application requirements and system constraints
  • Network upgrade mitigation techniques that include dynamic hosting capacity and/or phased capacity approvals
  • Technology solutions for EVSE load control
  • Systems related to closed loop control of EVSEs once installed

Funding is provided in two phases as follows, and in each phase the selected partnering distribution utility will demonstrate progress of capabilities to implement new queue management for EVSE service load and energization requests ranging from 100 kilowatt (kW) to 5 megawatt (MW):

  • Phase 1: prepare: utilities will be selected to take tangible actions towards testing and validating a compelling value proposition of at least one new queue management optimization solution combined with a plan to demonstrate such solutions under real-world conditions in Phase 2
  • Phase 2: demonstrate: up to four of the best-performing partnering utilities from Phase 1 will be selected to complete their proposed implementation plan and demonstrate how the new solution set delivers expected results under real-world conditions

An optional webinar and an optional office hours session are scheduled for this program. Refer to the Application section for details.

Program Office Notes:

The program officer stated applicants are encouraged to seek and finalize partnerships for their proposed projects prior to the application deadline, and that confirmed and committed partnerships are crucial, as applications relying solely on tentative or uncommitted partners may not be deemed sufficiently meritorious to be selected. Additionally, projects primarily focused on developing business relationships or establishing partnerships during Phase 1 may be considered ineligible.

Last Updated: April 04, 2025

Eligibility Notes:

Eligible applicants are distribution utilities.

Applicants that are electric co-operatives, municipal electric utilities, and investor-owned distribution utilities are encouraged to apply, and applicants that are U.S. distribution electric utilities are preferred. Applicants other than distribution electric utilities are eligible to apply, but are required to provide supporting evidence of a highly committed electric utility partner (partnering utility).

The program officer stated applicants are encouraged to seek and finalize partnerships for their proposed projects prior to the application deadline, and that confirmed and committed partnerships are crucial, as applications relying solely on tentative or uncommitted partners may not be deemed sufficiently meritorious to be selected. Additionally, projects primarily focused on developing business relationships or establishing partnerships during Phase 1 may be considered ineligible.

Applicants must qualify as a domestic entity, meaning the entity must be organized, chartered, incorporated, or otherwise formed under the laws of a particular U.S. state or territory. The entity must have majority domestic ownership and control and have a physical place of business in the United States, and must certify that it is not owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of government of country of risk, as detailed on page 6 of the NOFA file.

Applicants with active or pending U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awards are eligible to apply, provided that the proposed project scope does not overlap significantly with past or active DOE awards.

Applicants may apply to either or both funding tracks through this program overall. Applicants may also submit multiple applications. A separate application must be submitted for each track.

Federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) are not eligible to apply as the primary applicant.

FY 2024 award recipients through this component include:

  • National Grid USA (Massachusetts and New York)
  • NetMeterGO.com (Kentucky)
  • Puget Sound Energy (Washington)

Refer to the Award file for additional information regarding FY 2024 award recipients.

Eligible Applicants:
Local Government
Consortia
Private Sector
Application Notes:

Applications must be submitted by 3:00 p.m. ET on October 16, 2024.

Applications must be submitted online at energywerx.submittable.com.

Applications must include:

  • Responses to application questions
  • Proposal narrative (10 pages max):
    • Project title (10 words max)
    • Lead organization
    • Project summary (500 words max)
    • Partnering distribution utility (if applicable)
    • Project team and roles (1 page max)
    • Problem statement
    • Current practice(s)
    • Proposed solution(s)
    • Benefits of proposed solution(s)
    • Alignment with priorities
    • Project objectives
    • Tasks and outputs
    • Envisioned key results
  • Resumes for project members
  • Supporting documents (optional)

An optional webinar is scheduled for this program as follows:

August 29, 2024
3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. ET
RSVP: energywerx.wufoo.com

In addition, an optional informational office hours session is scheduled for this program as follows:

September 19, 2024
3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. ET
RSVP: energywerx.wufoo.com

Recordings of the webinar and office hours can be found online at www.energywerx.org/opportunities.

Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria: 

  • Scope and feasibility
  • Project team and workplan
  • Impact and scalability

Refer to the NOFA and AppTemplate files for additional application information.

Match Required: No
Actual Funds: $2,000,000 (Confirmed)
Range: $11,200,000 (Max)
Match Notes:

Matching funds are not required for this program; however, the applicant should have resources in place to support the scaling of the proposed solution within the project period.

Funding Notes:

A total of $11.2 million is available to support up to 25 awards through this program overall, with a total of $2 million available to support awards through this component. Awards will be provided in the following project phases:

  • Phase 1: prepare (8 months): up to ten awards of $100,000 each
  • Phase 2: demonstrate (16 months): up to four of the best-performing recipients from Phase 1 will each receive $250,000

In addition, up to five applicants may be selected to receive funding for both funding tracks offered through this program overall in Phase 1, with up to two recipients advancing to receive Phase 2 funding.

Award notifications are expected to be provided in January 2025.

The total project period may last for 24 months. Projects may begin as early as May 2025, and will follow the timeline detailed on pages 5-6 of the NOFA file.

Funds may not be used for:

  • Projects without committed partnering distribution electric utilities operating in the United States
  • Projects that focus on convening stakeholders or conducting research to produce new frameworks, grid modeling capabilities, propose new electricity regulations, or compile strategies for improving queue management practices
  • Projects that solely focus on improving queue management practices for small-scale generators, storage systems, or electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE)
  • Projects that focus on off-grid applications or plug-n-play technologies for generators or EVSE or both
  • Projects that focus solely on transmission-level management solutions
  • Projects that focus on marketing efforts or business development activities for existing or new solutions or products
  • Projects to support or fund specific interconnection applications or service requests
  • Projects that propose solutions or technologies not based on sound scientific principles
  • Activities to develop energy projects
  • Projects that involve solutions that exclusively focus on traditional loads

For FY 2024, a total of $2.1 million was distributed via 12 awards through Phase 1 of this program overall. Refer to the Award file for details.

Contacts:

Program Staff
info@energywerx.org

Agency Address
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Forrestal Building
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20585

Contact Notes:

Questions should be directed to the program staff.

Applications must be submitted online at energywerx.submittable.com.

The agency address provided is for reference purposes only.

Files:
NOFA File: US18048B_NOFA_FY2024.pdf (330.9 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US18048B_Notice_FY2024.pdf (173.1 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US18048B_AppTemplate_FY2024.pdf (52.3 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US18048B_Webinar_FY2024.zip (2.1 Mb)
Other Pre-Award File: US18048B_OfficeHours_FY2024.zip (1.7 Mb)
Other Pre-Award File: US18048B_Q&A_FY2024.pdf (95.2 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US18048B_Q&A2_FY2024.pdf (49.6 Kb)
Award File: US18048B_Award_FY2024.pdf (102.4 Kb)
File Notes:

The NOFA file contains detailed program information and application guidelines. The Notice file contains the notice of this program's solicitation. The AppTemplate file contains a sample of the online application and should be used for reference purposes only. The Webinar folder contains the presentation slides and the transcript of the webinar held for this program. The OfficeHours folder contains the presentation slides and the transcript of the office hours held for this program. The Q&A and Q&A2 files contain lists of questions and answers regarding this program. The Award file contains information on FY 2024 award recipients through this program overall. Additional resources for this component can be found online at www.energywerx.org/opportunities.

April 4, 2025
Information regarding awards through this program overall has been released and attached as the Award file. A sample of award recipients has been added to the Eligibility section, and a brief summary of the awards has been added to the Financial section.

October 10, 2024
An additional list of questions and answers regarding this program has been released and attached as the Q&A2 file.

September 26, 2024
The presentation slides and the transcript for the office hours held for this program have been released and attached in the OfficeHours folder as the OfficeHoursPresentation and OfficeHoursTranscript files, respectively.

September 19, 2024
A list of questions and answers regarding this program has been released and attached as the Q&A file. The Eligibility and Financial sections have been updated accordingly.

September 11, 2024
A recording of the webinar for this program has been released, and a link to the presentation is available in the Application section. In addition, the presentation slides and the transcript for the webinar have been released and attached in the Webinar folder as the WebinarPresentation and WebinarTranscript files, respectively.

August 21, 2024
The program officer provided clarifying information regarding proposed partnerships. The Eligibility section has been updated accordingly.

Grant Keywords
distribution utilities, distribution utility, utility, utilities, electric co-operative, municipal electric utility, investor-owned distribution utility, Department of Energy, Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange, i2X, Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, JOET, Solar Energy Technologies Office, SETO, Wind Energy Technologies Office, WETO, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, EERE, distribution, pilot, pilot project, renew, renewable, energy, renewable energy, electric vehicle, EV, charge, EV charging, interconnection, connect, connection, energization queue, queue management, decarbonize, energy system, service load, public utility commission, public utility, real-world capabilities, real-world capability, software, workflow automation, workflow, automate, automation, deploy, deployment, rapid deployment, solar, solar energy, wind energy, energy storage, EV charging infrastructure, infrastructure, charging infrastructure, clean energy, clean energy asset, grid, energy grid, functional department, information technology, IT, data quality, data, interoperability, operate, operability, integration, integrate, IT systems, geographic information systems, GIS, distribution management system, DMS, supervisory control and data acquisition, SCADA, city planning, civic, infrastructure development, municipal improvement, A&D, acquire, acquisition, acquisition and development, architectural improvement, build, building, construct, construction, engineering, erect, planning, energy conservation, energy efficiency, energy efficient, alternative energy, alternative fuel, energy demand, energy savings, green energy, electric, electrical, electricity, transport, transportation, facility, auto, automobile, automotive, capacity, car, motor vehicle, battery electric vehicle, BEV, electric car, PEV, plug-in electric vehicle, zero-emission vehicle, ZEV
Grant Categories
Community Development
Energy
Transportation
Science/Technology