WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) today announced up to $4 million in federal funding to make clean hydrogen a more available and affordable fuel for electricity generation, industrial decarbonization, and transportation. Specifically, the funding opportunity will support research and development (R&D) projects that will expand the versatility and applicability of solid oxide fuel cell technology—a source of efficient, low-cost electricity from hydrogen or natural gas—with a focus on reversible solid oxide fuel cell (R-SOFC) systems. This technology has many energy efficiency and clean energy applications, including hydrogen production, hydrogen energy storage, energy conversion and storage for renewable and surplus energy, microgrids, combined heat and power, and more.

“To meet the Biden-Harris Administration’s ambitious climate goals, we must increase the efficiency and lower the cost of technologies that produce and use low-carbon fuels like hydrogen,” said Brad Crabtree, Assistant Secretary of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. “FECM is investing in research to test solid oxide fuel cells in various clean energy applications to help bring down costs and improve the commercial viability of this versatile technology.”

FECM’s R-SOFC program includes the testing of SOFCs with natural gas and/or hydrogen in distributed applications, including data centers, as well as various aspects of high-temperature solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) to produce hydrogen. The development of efficient systems for hydrogen production is technologically feasible, especially when supplementary heat is provided from solar or waste heat sources such as thermal power plants.

R-SOFC power systems can be configured to carbon-capture designs that are carbon dioxide-pipeline ready, representing a major research focus for FECM. The technology also has applications in national defense, space programs, and world health initiatives. Further, R-SOFC technologies utilize material resources that are abundant in the United States. The diversity of R-SOFC system applications, paired with fuel flexibility, hybridization with renewable resources, and hydrogen production capabilities, offers competitive and security advantages in the global energy environment.

Projects selected under this funding opportunity will help to achieve a low long-term degradation rate in high-temperature R-SOFC systems by performing research on the following two areas of interest:

• SOFC and SOEC R&D for reduced long-term degradation at high current density and high steam utilization. Understanding and minimizing the lifetime degradation rate for solid oxide cells operating reversibly in both SOFC and SOEC modes, instead of strictly one mode or the other.
• SOFC and SOEC component materials thermodynamic database. The measurements of thermodynamic properties of SOFC and SOEC component materials that can be used to develop stable electrochemical systems, while maintaining high performance; the objective is to expand the thermodynamic database related to SOFCs and SOECs.

Technology advanced under this FOA will support DOE’s Hydrogen Shot initiative, which seeks to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by 80% to $1 per 1 kilogram in one decade to enable the commercial development of new, clean hydrogen pathways in the United States.

Read more details about this FOA here. All questions must be submitted through FedConnect; register here for an account. The application deadline is December 22, 2024, at 5:00 PM.

FECM minimizes environmental and climate impacts of fossil fuels and industrial processes while working to achieve net-zero emissions across the U.S economy. Priority areas of technology work include carbon capture, carbon conversion, carbon dioxide removal, carbon dioxide transport and storage, hydrogen production with carbon management, methane emissions reduction, and critical minerals production. To learn more, visit the FECM website, sign up for FECM news announcements, and visit the National Energy Technology Laboratory website.