The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) announced a new competitive funding opportunity (FOA) that provides up to $10 million for state, local, and tribal governments to validate innovative building technologies for commercial buildings and the public sector.
Projects funded through this FOA will enhance the energy efficiency of buildings and provide flexibility services to the electric grid. Many of these technologies can enable dynamic building interactions with the power grid that provide new value streams to commercial building owners. More information is available in the FOA announcement.
“Testing, measurement, and verification of advanced building technologies in real-world conditions is a fundamental step in the research and development process,” said Alex Fitzsimmons, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency. “Through rigorous field validation, DOE can help de-risk and accelerate the adoption of advanced technologies that improve the energy efficiency of America’s homes, businesses, and industries.”
Researchers, technology providers, industry partners, and end-users alike need trustworthy performance information (e.g., energy use, cost savings, interoperability, durability, maintenance) and a solid understanding of their chosen technology’s complexity to understand how it can improve their health, safety, security, and comfort. The Building Technologies Proving Ground – Public Sector Field Validation Funding Opportunity, funded by the Building Technologies Office and administered in partnership with the Weatherization and Intergovernmental Programs Office’s State Energy Program, will generate and publicly disseminate data on the field performance of new approaches to building technologies. The data will inform commercial and multi-family building efficiency, demand flexibility, and building-to-grid programs.
“Today’s announcement empowers our states, cities, counties, and tribal governments to shape their own energy productivity destinies by leading these field validation projects,” Deputy Assistant Secretary Fitzsimmons added. Competitively selected state, tribal, and local government awardees will partner with utilities, building owners and operators, and other technology providers to install various advanced building technologies in public and other commercial buildings, including envelope and window retrofits, thermal energy storage, advanced natural gas efficiency technologies, and plug load management solutions.
Apply for the Building Technologies Proving Ground – Public Sector Field Validation Funding Opportunity.
Deputy Assistant Secretary Alex Fitzsimmons blogs about how field-validation efforts advance DOE’s priorities.
Last modified: July 6, 2020