OpportunityTitle: NEXT GENERATION ELECTRIC MACHINES: MEGAWATT CLASS MOTORS
Description: Manufacturing is the use of energy, equipment, information, services, and capital to convert raw materials, components, and parts into goods that meet market expectations. As an economic sector, manufacturing generates 12 percent of U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs 12 million Americans. The DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy?s Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) makes research, development, and demonstration (RD&amp;D) investments in advanced manufacturing process and materials technologies. These technologies are foundational, pervasive, and promise crosscutting industrial applications and impact in reducing industry?s energy footprint and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as supporting the global competitiveness of clean energy products. By targeting the development of energy-related advanced manufacturing technology, AMO?s work can create completely new supply chains and stimulate significant economic growth and job creation. AMO?s Next Generation Electric Machines (NGEM) program is an RD&amp;D effort leveraging recent technology advancements in power electronics and electric motors to develop a new generation of energy efficient, high power density, high speed, integrated MV drive systems for a wide variety of critical energy applications. Improvements to these systems can be realized through the application of key enabling technologies, such as wide bandgap devices, advanced magnetic materials, improved insulation materials, aggressive cooling techniques, high speed bearing designs, and improved conductors or superconducting materials. Through this development program, NGEM will facilitate a step-change that enables more efficient use of electricity, as well as reduced drive system size and weight, developing lasting capabilities for motor material development, design, and analysis that are cost-shared with industry stakeholders. This specific Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is focused on developing MV integrated drive systems that leverage the benefits of state of the art power electronics (i.e., wide band gap devices) with energy efficient, high speed, direct drive, megawatt (MW) class electric motors for efficiency and power density improvements in three primary areas: (1) chemical and petroleum refining industries; (2) natural gas infrastructure; and (3) general industrial applications. These application areas represent a significant number of motor installations, a large amount of electrical energy consumption, and significant opportunities for U.S. technology and manufacturing competitiveness. EERE will conduct one informational webinar during the FOA process. It will be held after the initial FOA release but before the due date for Concept Papers. The purpose of this webinar is to give applicants a chance to ask questions about the FOA process generally. Attendance is not mandatory and will not positively or negatively impact the overall review of any Applicant submissions. As the webinar will be open to all Applicants who wish to participate, Applicants should refrain from asking questions or communicating information that would reveal confidential and/or proprietary information specific to their project. Specific dates for the webinar can be found on the cover page of the FOA. Here is information on how to register for the webinar: The Next Generation Electric Machines: Megawatt Class Motors FOA Informational Webinar will be held Wednesday, April 1, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. EDT. Standard application questions regarding the EERE Office and FOA procedures will be discussed. The eXCHANGE system is currently designed to enforce hard deadlines for Concept Paper and Full Application submissions. The APPLY and SUBMIT buttons automatically disable at the defined submission deadlines. The intention of this design is to consistently enforce a standard deadline for all applicants. Applicants that experience issues with submissions PRIOR to the FOA Deadline: In the event that an Applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission, the Applicant should contact the eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov).
GrantorContactEmailDescription: EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov
GrantorContactText: EERE-Exchange Support&lt;br/&gt;EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov&lt;br/&gt;
CloseDateExplanation: A mandatory Concept Paper is due 04/16/2015