[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 156 (Wednesday, August 12, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Page 48682]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-17605]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Notice of Request for Information (RFI) on Accelerated Materials 
R&D, Testing/Qualification, and Cost-Effective Manufacturing Routes for 
Harsh Service Environment Materials

AGENCY: Advanced Manufacturing Office, Office of Energy Efficiency and 
Renewable Energy, Office of Advanced Energy Systems, Office of Fossil 
Energy, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Request for Information (RFI).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) invites public comment on its 
Request for Information (RFI) number DE-FOA-0002385 regarding the 
MATERIALS FOR HARSH SERVICE CONDITIONS R&D. This RFI is sponsored by 
the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Advanced 
Manufacturing Office (AMO), and the Office of Fossil Energy (FE), 
Office of Advanced Energy Systems (AES). The purpose of this RFI is to 
solicit feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, 
government agencies, and other stakeholders on issues related to 
challenges and opportunities in various aspects of harsh service 
environment materials. These include: Accelerated materials research, 
development, and demonstration (RD&D), testing/qualification methods, 
and cost-effective manufacturing routes for the development of 
components, systems, and products exhibiting significant, or step-
change improvements over current state-of-the-art in system energy 
performance under harsh service conditions and extended service 
lifetimes. This information will be used by AMO and AES to inform 
strategies in support of energy savings and cost reduction goals, as 
well as to inform future planning and to possibly make adjustments to 
their R&D portfolios.

DATES: Responses to the RFI must be received by September 17, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are to submit comments electronically to 
[email protected]. Include Harsh Service Materials R&D in 
the subject of the title. Only electronic responses will be accepted. 
The complete RFI document is located at https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions may be addressed to Nick 
Lalena, 202-923-5637, or [email protected]. Further 
instructions can be found in the RFI document posted on the EERE 
Exchange.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The purpose of this RFI is to solicit 
feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government 
agencies, and other stakeholders on issues related to challenges and 
opportunities in accelerated materials RD&D, testing/qualification 
methods, and cost effective manufacturing routes for the development of 
components, systems, and products exhibiting significant, or step-
change improvements over current state-of-the-art in system energy 
performance under harsh service conditions and extended service 
lifetimes. Harsh environments include high temperature and corrosive 
environments, conditions of high mechanical wear/stress/load, thermal 
cycling and exposure to hydrogen, irradiation, and other embrittlement 
mechanisms. AMO and AES now seek to gather input from stakeholders on 
the technical and commercial prospects of novel material development 
and new manufacturing capabilities including but not limited to the 
advantages and technical challenges associated with new material 
breakthroughs, strategies for de-risking the cost and performance of 
novel materials, and considerations for scale-up of new materials 
manufacturing methods. AMO and AES seek individual input on high-
reaching targets/metrics and identification of key problem sets to be 
addressed. The intent is to define critical crosscutting problems/
barriers whose solutions represent near-term commercially viable paths 
to obtaining materials that can produce a step change improvement in 
energy performance under harsh service conditions beyond current state 
of the art. Specific questions can be found in the RFI. The RFI is 
available at: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/.

Confidential Business Information

    Pursuant to 10 CFR 1004.11, any person submitting information that 
he or she believes to be confidential and exempt by law from public 
disclosure should submit via email two well-marked copies: One copy of 
the document marked ``confidential'' including all the information 
believed to be confidential, and one copy of the document marked ``non-
confidential'' with the information believed to be confidential 
deleted. DOE will make its own determination about the confidential 
status of the information and treat it according to its determination.

Signing Authority

    This document of the Department of Energy was signed on August 06, 
2020, by Valri Lightner, Acting Director, Advanced Manufacturing 
Office, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, pursuant to 
delegated authority from the Secretary of Energy. That document with 
the original signature and date is maintained by DOE. For 
administrative purposes only, and in compliance with requirements of 
the Office of the Federal Register, the undersigned DOE Federal 
Register Liaison Officer has been authorized to sign and submit the 
document in electronic format for publication, as an official document 
of the Department of Energy. This administrative process in no way 
alters the legal effect of this document upon publication in the 
Federal Register.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on August 7, 2020.
Treena V. Garrett,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, U.S. Department of Energy.
[FR Doc. 2020-17605 Filed 8-11-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P