Request for Information Receivers and Reactors for Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power Plants and Solar Industrial Process Heat | DE FOA 0003275

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0003275

This opportunity is a Request for Information (RFI) issued by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) under the title "Request for Information Receivers and Reactors for Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power Plants and Solar Industrial Process Heat." Its main purpose is not to award funding directly, but to gather detailed input from the public and from stakeholders across industry, academia, national laboratories, utilities, developers, and other interested organizations. DOE is using this RFI to shape and prioritize future research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) directions that could accelerate near-term deployment of key hardware for concentrating solar-thermal technologies, specifically solar receivers used in concentrating solar power (CSP) plants and solar-driven reactors used for industrial applications.

The technical focus is on enabling practical, deployable receivers and reactors that can operate reliably in real-world CSP environments. In CSP electricity generation, receivers are the components that absorb concentrated sunlight and convert it into high-temperature heat, which is then used to produce power (often through thermal cycles) and can also be stored for dispatchable generation. For solar industrial process heat, reactors and related thermal components enable sunlight-derived heat to be used directly in industrial settings, potentially replacing fossil fuel combustion for certain processes. Through this RFI, DOE is effectively asking what the most pressing technical barriers are, what performance targets matter most, which designs or materials are promising, what validation or demonstration steps are needed, and what kinds of projects would most quickly move these technologies from development into near-term commercial use.

Administratively, the opportunity is listed as discretionary and associated with a grant funding instrument type in the system, but it is explicitly an RFI rather than a funding announcement. That distinction matters because an RFI is primarily a market and technical intelligence-gathering step that can precede a future Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). The opportunity number is DE FOA 0003275, the agency office is the DOE Golden Field Office, and it falls under the energy activity category with CFDA number 81.087. Eligibility is described as unrestricted, which is typical for RFIs because agencies generally want broad input from any knowledgeable party rather than limiting participation to specific entity types.

In terms of timeline and award expectations, the original closing date for responses was February 20, 2024. The listing shows an award ceiling of 1 and expected awards of 0, which aligns with the nature of an RFI: it is not structured to make awards from submitted responses. Instead, submissions are used to inform DOE planning, identify high-impact RD&D opportunities, and potentially refine topics, requirements, and evaluation criteria for later competitive funding programs. The posting date (creation date) is January 22, 2024, indicating a short response window typical of many DOE RFIs.

Overall, this RFI is best understood as a signal about DOE SETO priorities in CSP and solar industrial heat: the department is actively looking for actionable, near-term RD&D pathways for receivers and solar-thermal reactors that can be deployed sooner rather than later. Organizations with relevant experience or technology concepts would use an RFI like this to provide concrete suggestions on technical gaps, demonstration needs, cost and reliability challenges, manufacturing and supply-chain issues, performance benchmarks, and real-world deployment considerations, with the goal of influencing what DOE chooses to fund and emphasize in subsequent programs.

• The Golden Field Office in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Request for Information Receivers and Reactors for Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power Plants and Solar Industrial Process Heat" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.087.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-01-22.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-02-20. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

Apply for DE FOA 0003275

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