Types of Funding Sources
WWPTO R&D projects covered in this report are financed through two primary sources of funding: Congressional Appropriations and Congressionally Directed Projects (CDPs). Congressional Appropriations determine the operating budgets for each EERE office. WWPTO-funded R&D projects are typically awarded to recipients as grants through competitive Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) that are dedicated to specific topic areas. CDPs are also funded by Congress, but are outside of the annual federal budget process. Frequently, there is a cost-share requirement for recipients of both competitive FOA grants and CDPs.
WWPTO also funds research projects at DOE’s national laboratories through the laboratories’ annual operating plans. This funding is not detailed in this report. However, a national laboratory may be a lead or a partner on a competitively awarded project covered in this report. In these cases, the national laboratory is identified as the lead or partner in the appropriate project descriptions.
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program in DOE’s Office of Science and the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) provide competitive awards-based funding for domestic small businesses engaging in R&D of innovative technology. SBIR and ARPA-E have funded MHK R&D projects; however, these projects are not covered in this report.