[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 1 (Friday, January 2, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53-54]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-32267]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


National Energy Technology Laboratory; Notice of Intent To Issue 
a Funding Opportunity Announcement

AGENCY: National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Department of 
Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Notice of intent to issue funding opportunity announcement.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given of the intent to issue Funding 
Opportunity Announcement No. DE-PS26-04NT42068 entitled State Energy 
Program (SEP) Special Projects Opportunity for Funding. The Department 
of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy 
(EERE) is anticipating the availability of financial assistance to the 
States for a group of special project activities. Funding is being 
provided by a number of programs in the EERE Office. States may apply 
to undertake any of the projects being offered by these programs. 
Financial assistance will be awarded to the States separately for each 
special project, with activities to be carried out in conjunction with 
their efforts under SEP. The special project's funding and activities 
are tracked separately so that the DOE Program Offices may follow the 
progress of individual projects.

DATES: The funding opportunity will be available on the ``Industry 
Interactive Procurement System'' (IIPS) Web page located at http://e-
center.doe.gov on or about January 8, 2004. Applicants can obtain 
access to the solicitation from the address above or through DOE/NETL's 
Web site at http://www.netl.doe.gov/business.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kelly A. McDonald, MS I07, U.S. 
Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory, P.O. Box 
880 / 3610 Collins Ferry Road, Morgantown, WV 26507-0880. E-mail 
address: [email protected], telephone number: (304) 285-4113.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  The proposed projects must meet the 
relevant requirements of the program providing the funding, as well as 
of the SEP as specified in the 2004 State Energy Program Special 
Projects Funding Opportunity. The goals of the special projects 
activities are to directly involve States in activities to accelerate 
deployment of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies; to 
facilitate the commercialization of emerging and underutilized 
technologies; and to increase the responsiveness of federally-funded 
technology development efforts to the needs of the marketplace.
    Fiscal Year 2004 is the ninth year special project activities have 
been funded in conjunction with the State Energy Program (10 CFR 420). 
Most of these special projects are related to or based on similar 
efforts that have been funded by other DOE programs.

Availability of Fiscal Year 2004 Funds

    With this publication, DOE is anticipating the availability of an 
estimated $14 million in new financial assistance awards from Fiscal 
Year 2004 appropriations. DOE's obligation for performance of this 
Funding Opportunity is contingent upon the availability of appropriated 
funds from which financial assistance awards can be made.
    The awards will be made through a competitive process. The programs 
that are participating in the State Energy Program Special Projects 
Opportunity for Fiscal Year 2004, with the estimated amount of funding 
available for each, are as follows:
    [sbull] Clean Cities: This program will provide funds to support 
the deployment of alternative fuels and alternative fuel vehicles (AFV) 
in the following six categories: (1) Projects that promote acquisition 
of commercially-available AFV's that maximize alternative fuel use, 
especially when those vehicles support an AFV niche market activity 
center or niche deployment strategy; (2) projects that promote AFV 
infrastructure development; (3) projects that promote truck idle 
reduction technologies; (4) projects that promote alternative fuel 
ferry demonstrations; (5) projects that promote the acquisition of AFV 
school buses and refueling infrastructure; and (6) projects that 
support coalition activities ($5,000,000).
    [sbull] Industrial Technology Program: The objective of this 
program is to broaden the impact of investments in advanced industrial 
technologies and practices geared toward energy savings and waste 
reduction. This will be done through increased partnerships composed of 
State agencies, universities, and local small and mid-sized 
manufacturing entities ($1,500,000).
    [sbull] Building Codes and Standards: This program will support 
States' actions to adopt, update, implement, enforce and evaluate the 
effectiveness of their residential and commercial building energy codes 
($1,650,000).
    [sbull] Rebuild America: This program supports Rebuild America 
State Programs which are consistent with the Rebuild America Strategic 
Plan that identifies specific and measurable building and related 
energy saving projects. The goal is for 50 percent of the partnerships 
to have completed at least one major building renovation project by 
2005. The partnerships must define a program and process that would 
show a significant opportunity for completion of building projects 
($3,000,000).
    [sbull] Building America: Applications under this program should 
include research that coordinates with Building America's goal of 
creating building system performance packages that make new houses 40 
percent to 70 percent more energy efficient than those built to local 
building code standards. Existing houses should be 30 percent more 
energy efficient than the local building code ($400,000).
    [sbull] Federal Energy Management Program: Applications should 
promote and facilitate sustainable design and construction, energy 
efficient operations and maintenance, distributed and renewable energy, 
renewable energy purchases, siting of renewable power on Federal sites, 
and assessment and implementation of load and energy reduction 
techniques ($400,000).
    [sbull] Solar Technology Program: The objective of this program is 
to deploy solar energy technologies onto brownfield sites in a manner 
consistent with local economic development activities and relevant 
local, State and Federal environmental regulations using the following 
activities: (1) Solar arrays located directly on the site; (2) solar 
technologies integrated into buildings on site; and (3) solar energy 
businesses located directly on site ($250,000).
    [sbull] State Wind Energy Support: Applications will be sought for 
instrumentation of existing tall towers (100 meters or taller) in areas 
suitable for potential wind power development where wind shear is 
expected to be a significant factor. ($250,000).
    [sbull] Distributed Energy and Electric Reliability--Regional 
Combined Cooling Heating and Power Applications Centers: The objectives 
of the Regional Application Centers will be to provide essential and 
appropriate applied research and development support, focused on the 
technology transfer and deployment of advanced Combined

[[Page 54]]

Heat and Power (CHP) technologies. The Regional Application Centers 
will achieve this objective through targeted education and outreach 
programs as well as project assistance ($800,000).
    [sbull] Biomass: To foster significant penetration of biomass-based 
technologies and products, cost-shared applications are sought under 
two broad categories: (1) Outreach and information transfer to 
consumers, producers, and industry; or (2) development of innovative 
State or local incentives that facilitate increased market development 
of bio-based power, fuels, and other valuable products ($600,000).

Restricted Eligibility

    Eligible applicants under this opportunity are limited to the 50 
States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern 
Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U. S. Virgin Islands. 
Applications must be submitted by the State Energy Office or other 
agency responsible for administering the State Energy Program pursuant 
to 10 CFR part 420, although States may work in collaboration with non-
State partners. For convenience, the term ``State'' in the funding 
opportunity will refer to all eligible applicants.
    The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance number assigned to the 
State Energy Program Special Projects is 81.119.
    Requirements for cost sharing contributions will be addressed in 
each category in the anticipated opportunity. Cost sharing 
contributions beyond any required percentage are desirable.

Evaluation Review and Criteria

    A first tier review for compliance will be conducted by the DOE 
NETL office. Applications found to be in compliance will undergo a 
merit review process by panels comprised of members representing the 
participating programs at DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and 
Renewable Energy. DOE reserves the right to fund, in whole or in part, 
any, all or none of the applications submitted in response to this 
notice.
    Once released, the funding opportunity will be available for 
downloading from the IIPS Internet page. At this Internet site, an 
applicant will also be able to register with IIPS, enabling submission 
of an application. Technical assistance in registering with IIPS, or 
any other IIPS function, may be obtained via calling the IIPS Help Desk 
at (800) 683-0751, or E-mailing the Help Desk personnel at center.doe.gov">IIPS_HelpDesk@e-center.doe.gov. The funding opportunity will only be made 
available in IIPS, no hard (paper) copies of the opportunity and 
related documents will be made available. Once the funding opportunity 
is issued, all questions regarding the opportunity must be submitted 
via the ``Submit Question'' feature in IIPS; the Government reserves 
the right to not answer questions submitted via any method other than 
the ``Submit Question'' feature in IIPS. Telephone requests, written 
requests, E-mail requests, or facsimile requests for a copy of the 
funding opportunity package will not be accepted and/or honored. 
Applications must be prepared and submitted in accordance with the 
instructions and forms contained in the opportunity.

    Issued in Pittsburgh, PA on December 17, 2003.
Dale A. Siciliano,
Director, Acquisition and Assistance Division.
[FR Doc. 03-32267 Filed 12-31-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P