HAEJO SBIR STTR CP NOFO.pdf

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AR-311-10.24

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY – ENERGY (ARPA-E)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

HARNESSING AUTONOMY FOR ENERGY JOINT VENTURES

OFFSHORE SBIR/STTR (HAEJO SBIR/STTR)

Announcement Type: Initial Announcement

Notice of Funding Opportunity No. DE-FOA-0003537 Assistance Listing Number 81.135

NOFOs are posted on ARPA-E eXCHANGE (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/), Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov/), and FedConnect (https://www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/). Any modifications to the NOFO are also posted to these websites. You can receive an e-mail when a modification is posted by registering with FedConnect as an interested party for this NOFO. It is recommended that you register as soon as possible after release of the NOFO to ensure that you receive timely notice of any modifications or other announcements.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

BASIC INFORMATION ......................................................................................................................................- 5 -

I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION ...................................................................................................- 7 -

A. AGENCY OVERVIEW ........................................................................................................................................... - 7 - B. SBIR/STTR PROGRAM OVERVIEW ...................................................................................................................... - 9 - C. PROGRAM OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................................. - 10 - D. PROGRAM OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................................ - 17 - E. TECHNICAL CATEGORIES OF INTEREST ................................................................................................................. - 17 -

1. CATEGORY A: SMART AQUAFARM SENSORS .................................................................................................. - 18 -

2. CATEGORY B. OFFSHORE ENGINEERING ......................................................................................................... - 19 -

3. CATEGORY C. ENABLING MARKETS ............................................................................................................... - 20 -

F. TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE TARGETS .................................................................................................................. - 21 - G. DEFINITIONS .............................................................................................................................................. - 24 - H. LEVERAGING U.S. TECHNOLOGY ON INTERNATIONAL SCALED SEAWEED INDUSTRIES .............................................. - 25 - I. STATEMENT OF SUBSTANTIAL INVOLVEMENT ....................................................................................................... - 25 - J. FUNDING RESTRICTIONS ................................................................................................................................... - 26 -

1. ALLOWABLE COSTS .................................................................................................................................... - 26 -

2. PRE-AWARD COSTS ................................................................................................................................... - 27 -

3. PATENT COSTS .......................................................................................................................................... - 27 -

4. CONSTRUCTION ......................................................................................................................................... - 27 -

5. FOREIGN TRAVEL ....................................................................................................................................... - 27 -

6. PERFORMANCE OF WORK IN THE UNITED STATES ............................................................................................ - 27 -

7. PURCHASE OF NEW EQUIPMENT .................................................................................................................. - 28 -

8. TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND OUTREACH ...................................................................................................... - 28 -

9. LOBBYING ................................................................................................................................................ - 28 -

10. CONFERENCE SPENDING ............................................................................................................................. - 29 -

11. INDEPENDENT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT COSTS....................................................................................... - 29 -

12. BUY AMERICA REQUIREMENT FOR PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS .............................................................. - 30 -

13. REQUIREMENT FOR FINANCIAL PERSONNEL .................................................................................................... - 30 -

14. PARTICIPANTS, COLLABORATING ORGANIZATIONS, AND CURRENT AND PENDING SUPPORT ................................... - 30 -

15. PAYMENT OF FEE OR PROFIT ....................................................................................................................... - 31 -

II. ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION .................................................................................................................... - 32 -

A. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS ....................................................................................................................................... - 32 -

1. SBIR ELIGIBILITY ....................................................................................................................................... - 32 -

2. STTR ELIGIBILITY ...................................................................................................................................... - 32 -

3. JOINT SBIR AND STTR ELIGIBILITY ............................................................................................................... - 32 -

B. ELIGIBLE SUBRECIPIENTS ................................................................................................................................... - 33 -

1. RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS ............................................................................................................................ - 33 -

2. OTHER PROJECT TEAM MEMBERS ................................................................................................................ - 33 -

3. FOREIGN ENTITIES ..................................................................................................................................... - 34 -

C. ELIGIBLE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS ............................................................................................................... - 34 -

1. SBIR ....................................................................................................................................................... - 34 -

2. STTR ...................................................................................................................................................... - 34 -

D. FOREIGN PARTICIPATION ............................................................................................................................. - 35 -https://arpa-e.energy.gov/faqs mailto:ExchangeHelp@hq.doe.gov

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1. FOREIGN NATIONAL PARTICIPATION FROM COUNTRIES OF CONCERN ................................................................. - 35 -

2. FOREIGN PARTICIPATION CONSIDERATIONS ................................................................................................... - 35 -

E. ELIGIBILITY OF PRIOR SBIR AND STTR AWARDEES: SBA BENCHMARKS ON PROGRESS TOWARDS COMMERCIALIZATION . - 35 - F. COMPLIANCE AND RESPONSIVENESS ................................................................................................................... - 37 - G. LIMITATION ON NUMBER OF SUBMISSIONS ..................................................................................................... - 37 - H. COST SHARING ........................................................................................................................................... - 37 -

III. APPLICATION CONTENTS AND FORMAT ............................................................................................ - 38 -

A. GENERAL APPLICATION CONTENT REQUIREMENTS ................................................................................................ - 38 -

1. MARKING OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION ................................................................................................... - 38 -

2. EXPORT CONTROL INFORMATION ................................................................................................................. - 38 -

B. CONCEPT PAPERS ............................................................................................................................................ - 39 -

1. FIRST COMPONENT: CONCEPT PAPER............................................................................................................ - 39 -

2. SECOND COMPONENT: SUMMARY SLIDE ....................................................................................................... - 39 -

C. FULL APPLICATIONS .................................................................................................................................... - 40 -

1. FIRST COMPONENT: TECHNICAL VOLUME ...................................................................................................... - 40 -

2. SECOND COMPONENT: SF-424 ................................................................................................................... - 40 -

3. THIRD COMPONENT: BUDGET JUSTIFICATION WORKBOOK/SF-424A ................................................................ - 41 -

4. FOURTH COMPONENT: SUMMARY FOR PUBLIC RELEASE .................................................................................. - 41 -

5. FIFTH COMPONENT: SUMMARY SLIDE ........................................................................................................... - 42 -

6. SIXTH COMPONENT: BUSINESS ASSURANCES & DISCLOSURES FORM .................................................................. - 42 -

7. SEVENTH COMPONENT: SBIR.GOV COMPANY REGISTRATION ........................................................................... - 42 -

8. EIGHTH COMPONENT: ADDITIONAL OWNERSHIP CERTIFICATIONS ...................................................................... - 42 -

D. REPLIES TO REVIEWER COMMENTS ................................................................................................................ - 43 -

IV. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS AND DEADLINES ................................................................................. - 44 -

A. COMPLETION OF SBIR.GOV COMPANY REGISTRATION .......................................................................................... - 44 - B. UNIQUE ENTITY IDENTIFIER AND SAM REGISTRATION ........................................................................................... - 44 - C. USE OF ARPA-E EXCHANGE ...................................................................................................................... - 45 - D. REQUIRED DOCUMENTS CHECKLIST AND DEADLINES ......................................................................................... - 46 - E. COMPLIANCE .................................................................................................................................................. - 47 - F. INTERGOVERNMENTAL REVIEW ......................................................................................................................... - 47 -

V. APPLICATION REVIEW INFORMATION ................................................................................................... - 48 -

A. RESPONSIVENESS ............................................................................................................................................ - 48 -

1. TECHNICAL RESPONSIVENESS REVIEW ........................................................................................................... - 48 -

2. SUBMISSIONS SPECIFICALLY NOT OF INTEREST ................................................................................................. - 48 -

B. REVIEW CRITERIA ............................................................................................................................................ - 49 -

1. CRITERIA FOR CONCEPT PAPERS ................................................................................................................... - 50 -

2. CRITERIA FOR FULL APPLICATIONS ................................................................................................................ - 50 -

3. CRITERIA FOR REPLIES TO REVIEWER COMMENTS ............................................................................................ - 52 -

C. PROGRAM POLICY FACTORS ......................................................................................................................... - 52 - D. REVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS ................................................................................................................. - 53 -

1. CONCEPT PAPERS ...................................................................................................................................... - 53 -

2. FULL APPLICATIONS ................................................................................................................................... - 53 -

3. REPLY TO REVIEWER COMMENTS ................................................................................................................. - 53 -https://arpa-e.energy.gov/faqs

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4. PRE-SELECTION CLARIFICATIONS AND “DOWN-SELECT” PROCESS ...................................................................... - 53 -

5. SELECTION FOR AWARD NEGOTIATIONS ........................................................................................................ - 54 -

E. ARPA-E REVIEWERS ....................................................................................................................................... - 54 - F. ARPA-E SUPPORT CONTRACTORS ..................................................................................................................... - 55 - G. RISK REVIEW.............................................................................................................................................. - 55 -

VI. AWARD NOTICES AND AWARD TYPES ............................................................................................... - 57 -

A. AWARD NOTICES ............................................................................................................................................ - 57 -

1. REJECTED SUBMISSIONS ............................................................................................................................. - 57 -

2. CONCEPT PAPER NOTIFICATIONS .................................................................................................................. - 57 -

3. FULL APPLICATION NOTIFICATIONS ............................................................................................................... - 57 -

B. PRE-AWARD COSTS ......................................................................................................................................... - 58 - C. RENEWAL AWARDS ..................................................................................................................................... - 59 - D. FUNDING AGREEMENTS ............................................................................................................................... - 59 -

VII. POST-AWARD REQUIREMENTS AND ADMINISTRATION ..................................................................... - 60 -

A. NATIONAL POLICY REQUIREMENTS .................................................................................................................... - 60 -

1. NATIONAL POLICY ASSURANCES ................................................................................................................... - 60 -

2. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................................................... - 60 -

B. ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS ...................................................................................................................... - 61 -

1. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND DATA MANAGEMENT PLANS ............................................................................. - 61 -

2. U.S. COMPETITIVENESS .............................................................................................................................. - 61 -

3. NONDISCLOSURE AND CONFIDENTIALITY AGREEMENTS REPRESENTATIONS .......................................................... - 63 -

4. INTERIM CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY FOR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE .................................................................. - 63 -

5. COMPLIANCE AUDIT REQUIREMENT .............................................................................................................. - 64 -

6. RESEARCH SECURITY TRAINING REQUIREMENT ............................................................................................... - 64 -

C. REPORTING ................................................................................................................................................ - 65 -

1. FRAUD, WASTE, AND ABUSE ....................................................................................................................... - 65 -

2. COMMERCIALIZATION PLAN AND SOFTWARE REPORTING ................................................................................. - 65 -

VIII. OTHER INFORMATION ...................................................................................................................... - 66 -

A. TITLE TO SUBJECT INVENTIONS .......................................................................................................................... - 66 - B. GOVERNMENT RIGHTS IN SUBJECT INVENTIONS ................................................................................................... - 66 -

1. GOVERNMENT USE LICENSE ........................................................................................................................ - 67 -

2. MARCH-IN RIGHTS .................................................................................................................................... - 67 -

C. RIGHTS IN TECHNICAL DATA ......................................................................................................................... - 67 - D. PROTECTED PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION ...................................................................................... - 68 - E. MATERIAL SUPPLY PLAN .................................................................................................................................. - 68 -

IX. GLOSSARY ........................................................................................................................................ - 69 -

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BASIC INFORMATION

KEY DATES:

Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) Issue Date: January 14, 2025 Deadline for Concept Paper Questions to ARPA-E-CO@hq.doe.gov: 5 PM ET, February 3, 2025 Submission Deadline for Concept Papers: 9:30 AM ET, February 13, 2025 Anticipated Date for Encourage/Discourage Notifications: 5 PM ET, March 31, 2025 Deadline for Full Application Questions to ARPA-E-CO@hq.doe.gov: 5 PM ET, TBD Submission Deadline for Full Applications: 9:30 AM ET, TBD Expected Reviewer Comment Release Date: 5 PM ET, TBD Submission Deadline for Replies to Reviewer Comments: 5 PM ET, TBD Anticipated Timeframe for Selection Notifications: July 2025 Anticipated Timeframe for Award: October 2025 Anticipated Period of Performance: October 2025 - October 2028

BASIC INFORMATION:

Total Amount to Be Awarded

Approximately $25 million, subject to the availability of appropriated funds to be shared between NOFOs DE-FOA-0003537 and DE-FOA-0003536.

Anticipated Number and Value of Awards

ARPA-E anticipates making approximately 15 awards between NOFOs DE-FOA- 0003537 and DE-FOA-0003536. ARPA-E may issue one, multiple, or no awards under this NOFO. The Federal share of awards under this NOFO may vary between $314,363 and $4,505,859.

Agency Contact Information

• Questions and answers (Q&As) about ARPA-E and this specific NOFO:

http://arpa-e.energy.gov/faq.

• Send other questions about the NOFO to: ARPA-E-CO@hq.doe.gov.

• Send questions about use of ARPA-E eXCHANGE to:

ExchangeHelp@hq.doe.gov.

Upon the issuance of a NOFO, only the Grants Officer via ARPA-E-CO@hq.doe.gov may communicate with Applicants. This “quiet period” remains in effect until ARPA-E’s public announcement of project selections. Emails sent to other email addresses will be disregarded.

Offshore seaweed cultivation offers a gigaton-scale source of energy biomass that is useful for products such as fuels, plastics, fertilizers, chemicals, and other materials presently derived from terrestrial biomass such as land-limited corn or conventional hydrocarbon sources. The United States possesses the largest maritime Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of any nation (12,338,700 km2 including the Extended Continental Shelf) but does not possess a marine biomass industry at a scale demonstrated by some Asian nations. Technical solutions to the challenges precluding low-cost, scaled offshore cultivation would usher in an era of economic growth that would enhance U.S. energy and industrial commodity markets though diversification of supply sources and resilience through distributed production. The challenges of cultivation in U.S. waters today can be summarized by high costs associated with labor and inefficient practices, the lack of a large and reliable market into which biomass can be sold, and the lack of large-scale and reliable cultivation necessary for industrial trials.

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The Harnessing Autonomy for Energy Joint ventures Offshore (HAEJO) program will support the development of technical solutions to reduce the cost of seaweed biomass cultivation by a factor of four when scaled, from the low thousands today to $120-275 per Dry Metric Ton (DMT, 10% moisture) depending on the cultivated species. The program will also develop energy-centric, million-ton-scale markets in the United States, focusing on agricultural biostimulants that support the reduction of synthetic fertilizer use in the row crop industry and the utilization of carbon from seaweed biomass.

HAEJO features three technical objectives:

1. The development of new sensors and models to enable real-time, remote, and persistent understanding of farm state offshore;

2. Engineering solutions to enable offshore scale including hardware and control systems to enable the crop to periodically access deep water nutrients, and methods of dewatering harvests at sea to improve the economics of biomass transport and extend shelf life; and

3. The discovery of biostimulant mechanisms and investigation of their applicability to bioenergy row crops as a direct product line, and other new, innovative approaches such as carbon removal that harness embodied carbon and other components of seaweed to address U.S. energy needs.

HAEJO aims to engage technology developers from a broad range of backgrounds including optical, acoustic, electromagnetic, and chemical sensors, data-driven modeling, marine engineering and materials, moisture harvesting and hydrophilic/hydrophobic materials and processes, biostimulant analysis and terrestrial agriculture sciences. HAEJO also targets seaweed cultivation groups, processors and market developers.

Eligible recipients include U.S.-based lead organizations capable of achieving technical success in meeting or exceeding the metrics stated in this NOFO. Collaboration with Korean entities to leverage experience in scaled seaweed cultivation research and implementation is strongly encouraged (see Section I.H).

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I. FUNDING OPPORTUNITY DESCRIPTION

A. AGENCY OVERVIEW

The Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), an organization within the Department of Energy (DOE), is chartered by Congress in the America COMPETES Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-69), as amended by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (P.L. 111- 358), as further amended by the Energy Act of 2020 (P.L. 116-260):

“(A) to enhance the economic and energy security of the United States through the development of energy technologies that—

(i) reduce imports of energy from foreign sources;

(ii) reduce energy-related emissions, including greenhouse gases;

(iii) improve the energy efficiency of all economic sectors;

(iv) provide transformative solutions to improve the management, clean-up, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel; and

(v) improve the resilience, reliability, and security of infrastructure to produce, deliver, and store energy; and

(B) to ensure that the United States maintains a technological lead in developing and deploying advanced energy technologies.”

ARPA-E issues this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) under its authorizing statute codified at 42 U.S.C. § 16538. The NOFO and any cooperative agreements or grants made under this NOFO are subject to 2 C.F.R. Part 200 as supplemented by 2 C.F.R. Part 910.

ARPA-E funds research on, and the development of, transformative science and technology solutions to address the energy and environmental missions of the Department. The agency focuses on technologies that can be meaningfully advanced with a modest investment over a defined period of time in order to catalyze the translation from scientific discovery to early-stage technology. For the latest news and information about ARPA-E, its programs and the research projects currently supported, see: http://arpa-e.energy.gov/.

ARPA-E funds transformational research. Existing energy technologies generally progress on established “learning curves” where refinements to a technology and the economies of scale that accrue as manufacturing and distribution develop drive improvements to the cost/performance metric in a gradual fashion. This continual improvement of a technology is important to its increased commercial deployment and is appropriately the focus of the private sector or the applied technology offices within DOE. In contrast, ARPA-E supports transformative research that has the potential to create fundamentally new learning curves.

ARPA-E technology projects typically start with cost/performance estimates well above the level of an incumbent technology. Given the high risk inherent in these projects, many will fail to progress, but some may succeed in generating a new learning curve with a projected cost/performance metric that is significantly better than that of the incumbent technology.

ARPA-E will provide support at the highest funding level only for submissions with significant https://arpa-e.energy.gov/faqs mailto:ARPA-E-CO@hq.doe.gov http://arpa-e.energy.gov/

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- 8 -technology risk, aggressive timetables, and careful management and mitigation of the associated risks.

ARPA-E funds technology with the potential to be disruptive in the marketplace. The mere creation of a new learning curve does not ensure market penetration. Rather, the ultimate value of a technology is determined by the marketplace, and impactful technologies ultimately become disruptive – that is, they are widely adopted and displace existing technologies from the marketplace or create entirely new markets. ARPA-E understands that definitive proof of market disruption takes time, particularly for energy technologies. Therefore, ARPA-E funds the development of technologies that, if technically successful, have clear disruptive potential, e.g., by demonstrating capability for manufacturing at competitive cost and deployment at scale.

ARPA-E funds applied research and development (R&D). The Office of Management and Budget defines “applied research” as an “original investigation undertaken in order to acquire new knowledge…directed primarily towards a specific practical aim or objective” and defines “experimental development” as “creative and systematic work, drawing on knowledge gained from research and practical experience, which is directed at producing new products or processes or improving existing products or processes.”0F

1 Applicants interested in receiving financial assistance for basic research (defined by the Office of Management and Budget as “experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts”)1 should contact the DOE’s Office of Science (http://science.energy.gov/). Office of Science national scientific user facilities (http://science.energy.gov/user-facilities/) are open to all researchers, including ARPA-E Applicants and awardees. These facilities provide advanced tools of modern science including accelerators, colliders, supercomputers, light sources and neutron sources, as well as facilities for studying the nanoworld, the environment, and the atmosphere. Projects focused on early-stage R&D for the improvement of technology along defined roadmaps may be more appropriate for support through the DOE applied energy offices including: the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (http://www.eere.energy.gov/), the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (https://www.energy.gov/fecm/office-fossil-energy-and-carbon-management), the Office of Nuclear Energy (http://www.energy.gov/ne/office-nuclear-energy), and the Office of Electricity (https://www.energy.gov/oe/office-electricity).

ARPA-E encourages submissions stemming from ideas that still require proof-of-concept R&D efforts as well as those for which some proof-of-concept demonstration already exists.

Submissions can propose a project with the end deliverable being an extremely creative, but partial solution.

1 OMB Circular A-11 (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/a11_web_toc.pdf), Section 84,

pg. 3.

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B. SBIR/STTR PROGRAM OVERVIEW

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are Government-wide programs authorized under Section 9 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. § 638). The objectives of the SBIR program are to (1) stimulate technological innovation in the private sector, (2) strengthen the role of Small Business Concerns in meeting Federal R&D needs, (3) increase private sector commercialization of innovations derived from Federal R&D activities, (4) foster and encourage participation by socially and economically disadvantaged and women-owned Small Business Concerns, and (5) improve the return on investment from Federally funded research and economic benefits to the Nation. The objective of the STTR program is to stimulate cooperative partnerships of ideas and technologies between Small Business Concerns and partnering Research Institutions through Federally funded R&D activities.1F

ARPA-E administers a joint SBIR/STTR program in accordance with the Small Business Act and the SBIR and STTR Policy Directive issued by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).2F

ARPA-E provides SBIR/STTR funding in three phases (Phase I, Phase II, and Phase IIS).

Applicants must apply for a Combined Phase I/II Award or a Combined Phase I/II/IIS Award.

Combined Phase I/II and I/II/IIS Awards are intended to develop transformational technologies with disruptive commercial potential. Such commercial potential may be evidenced by (1) the likelihood of follow-on funding by private or non-SBIR/STTR sources if the project is successful, or (2) the Small Business Concern's record of successfully commercializing technologies developed under prior SBIR/STTR awards. Phase IIS awards are a “sequential” (i.e., additional) Phase II award, intended to allow the continued development of promising energy technologies. Combined Phase I/II/IIS awards may be funded up to $4,505,859. Funding amounts will be consistent with the Phase I and Phase II limits posted on SBIR.gov website.3F

ARPA-E reserves the right to select all or part of a proposed project (i.e., only Phase I, or only Phase I and Phase II). In the event that ARPA-E selects Phase I only or Phase I/II only, then the maximum award amount for a Phase I award is $314,363 and the maximum amount for a Phase I/II award is $2,410,111.

2 Research Institutions include FFRDCs, nonprofit educational institutions, and other nonprofit research organizations owned and operated exclusively for scientific purposes. Eligible Research Institutions must maintain a place of business in the United States, operate primarily in the United States, or make a significant contribution to the U.S. economy through the payment of taxes or use of American products, materials, or labor.

3 See 88 Fed. Reg. 19704 (May 3, 2023) or SBIR.gov file at SBIR and STTR Policy Directive - May 2023.

4 For current SBIR and STTR Phase I and Phase II funding amounts, see https://legacy.www.sbir.gov/about. Phase IIS funding amounts are equal to Phase II funding amounts for both SBIR and STTR awards.

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C. PROGRAM OVERVIEW

1. SUMMARY

ARPA-E’s Harnessing Autonomy for Energy Joint ventures Offshore (HAEJO) program envisions the creation of a U.S.-led marine energy hydrocarbon and industrial commodity supply from the deep-water offshore cultivation of seaweed at the gigaton scale. Such an industry would not require fresh water, artificial fertilizer, or any additional land use, and would not preclude any existing industry.

To achieve this vision, the goals of HAEJO are to support the development of new technologies to markedly improve the economics of offshore seaweed farms via sensors that enable autonomy, depth cycling infrastructure and vessel-based dewatering systems. HAEJO also seeks to reduce risk and uncertainty in the agricultural biostimulant market and discover new applications that can grow U.S. industry, accelerating scaled investment in biomass cultivation technology and building the offtake market to at least one million tons per year.

Specifically, this program will fund innovations in several areas (Table 1).

Table 1. Summary of farming technologies of interest to ARPA-E.

Technology Approach Smart Aquafarm Sensors In Situ Crop State Sensors that evaluate seaweed crop health and value in situ without physical sample retrieval.

Farm Infrastructure State Persistent, distributed sensors and models that enable real-time farm load analysis and predictive maintenance through digital twins.

Offshore Infrastructure Depth Cycling Offshore farm designs that harness deepwater nutrients for high productivity in oligotrophic ocean regions.

Dewatering Energy-efficient seaweed dewatering techniques for seaweed preservation, transportation cost reduction, and flexible logistics that enable final derivative manufacturing on-site.

This program also targets the use of seaweed as biostimulants and their use in the energy supply chain, with possible application to row crops as a bridge market to unlock value and scale. Specifically, funded projects will determine the mechanisms of action for seaweed biostimulants and perform scientific evaluation of their efficacy, connecting to resultant reductions in synthetic fertilizer use. ARPA-E is also open to technology development proposals enabling other energy-centric markets for seaweed and derivative products, including carbon removal and storage, provided a sufficient level of economic and energy impact can be achieved.

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- 11 -

This NOFO contains some terms with meanings that are specific to this program. Some of these terms refer to quantitative limits or performance metrics. See the list of definitions provided in Section I.G.

2. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION

The U.S. seaweed cultivation industry is still in its infancy, harvesting 971 tons in 2023 at a cost of more than $1,000 per dry metric ton.4F

5, 5F

6, 6F

7 The industry faces scaling challenges in reducing production costs and developing offtake markets that will grow demand to the megaton levels seen in overseas markets. To match the scale of overseas markets, significant farming must occur further from U.S. coastlines than is possible today. These are necessary stepping-stones on the way to achieving the gigaton scale required to fully utilize the U.S. maritime Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

This program will support the development of technical solutions to reduce production costs by a factor of four when the industry has scaled to what exists in Korea today. This cost reduction must be achieved to reach parity with terrestrial sources of biomass commodities such as sugars and ethanol. The proposed technical solutions aim to increase market size by three orders of magnitude to build demand from applications that economically benefit the U.S.

energy industry and diversify supply chains.

Smart Aquafarm Sensors

To achieve the production scales required to economically support a megaton-scale energy commodities industry, seaweed farms must produce crops offshore without the intensive, sometimes daily, manual inspections required by the coastal cultivation process today.

Autonomous cultivation will be predicated on understanding the relevant farm parameters (e.g., crop state and structural integrity) at the right temporal and spatial scales.

In Situ Crop State: While many environmental parameters (e.g., water temperature, light levels, and physical forcing) and some ocean chemical parameters (e.g., pH, partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2), and dissolved nitrogen) can be quantified today, other parameters more directly indicative of crop state (e.g., bulk nitrogen in vivo or protein content, sugar content) cannot presently be quantified without direct sampling. This involves raising farm lines for

5 “State of the States”, University of Connecticut, accessed December 12th, 2024, http://www.seaweedhub.extension.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3646/2023/04/2023-State-of-the- States_For-Posting_Dec2023.pdf 6 DeAngelo, Julianne, Benjamin T. Saenz, Isabella B. Arzeno-Soltero, Christina A. Frieder, Matthew C. Long, Joseph Hamman, Kristen A. Davis, and Steven J. Davis. "Economic and biophysical limits to seaweed farming for climate change mitigation." Nature Plants 9, no. 1 (2023): 45-57.

7 Coleman, Struan, Adam T. St Gelais, David W. Fredriksson, Tobias Dewhurst, and Damian C. Brady. "Identifying scaling pathways and research priorities for kelp aquaculture nurseries using a techno-economic modeling approach." Frontiers in Marine Science 9 (2022): 894461.

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Questions about this NOFO? Check the Frequently Asked Questions available at https://arpa-e.energy.gov/faqs. For questions that have not already been answered, email ARPA-E-CO@hq.doe.gov (with NOFO name and number in subject line). Problems with

- 12 -visual inspection or laboratory-based sampling approaches that are fundamentally limiting to scaled cultivation.

While data telemetry, sensor platforms, and power solutions have been developed by other at-sea industries, the development of sensors that can quantify these variables is still necessary to achieve the vision of an autonomous farm. This program focuses on the creation of sensors that can provide quantification of the following:

• Nitrogen content in vivo: With the exception of floating seaweed, cultivators lack the capability to evaluate nitrogen content within seaweed tissue, a key parameter that informs crop health estimates.7F

• Biomass yield and growth rates: The development of yield quantification methods for sinking kelp species is a nascent field. Today, farmers either estimate these parameters from small subsamples despite significant variability across a single farm, or the parameters are quantified post-harvest.8F

• High-value components9F

10 of crops: Types of saccharides and mass fractions in vivo are currently evaluated through physical sample collection followed by laboratory analysis.10F

11, 11F

Farm Infrastructure State: Infrastructure damage such as line breakage is currently evaluated through manual inspection and largely remediated through post-event repair.

12F

13 Applying such an approach to offshore farms will prohibitively exacerbate risks and costs, since distances from port will be one to two orders of magnitude greater than for coastal farms. Timely open-ocean inspection will necessitate a larger, more capable, ocean-going, and more costly class of vessel that may consume fuel at more than five times the rate of a smaller coastal vessel at equivalent speeds. Additionally, depending on the location, the physical distance to shore and open-ocean environmental conditions will significantly reduce the number of safe inspection days.

8 Bell, Tom W., Nick J. Nidzieko, David A. Siegel, Robert J. Miller, Kyle C. Cavanaugh, Norman B. Nelson, Daniel C.

Reed et al. "The utility of satellites and autonomous remote sensing platforms for monitoring offshore aquaculture farms: a case study for canopy forming kelps." Frontiers in Marine Science 7 (2020): 520223.

9 Jung, Seung Wook, and Chang Geun Choi. "Estimation of Marine Macroalgal Biomass Using a Coverage Analysis."

Journal of Marine Science and Engineering 10, no. 11 (2022): 1676.

10 High-value components include mannitol, laminarin, alginate, fucoidan, and other CHON molecules with a scalable energy application.

11 Kim, Nag-Jong et al., “Ethanol Production from Marine Algal Hydrolysates Using Escherichia Coli KO11,” Bioresource Technology 102, no. 16 (August 2011): 7466–69, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2011.04.071.

12 Horn, S J, I M Aasen, and K Østgaard, “Production of Ethanol from Mannitol by Zymobacter Palmae,” Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology 24, no. 1 (January 1, 2000): 51–57, https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jim.2900771.

13 Stenius, Ivan et al., “A System for Autonomous Seaweed Farm Inspection with an Underwater Robot,” Sensors 22, no. 13 (July 5, 2022): 5064, https://doi.org/10.3390/s22135064.

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Questions about this NOFO? Check the Frequently Asked Questions available at https://arpa-e.energy.gov/faqs. For questions that have not already been answered, email ARPA-E-CO@hq.doe.gov (with NOFO name and number in subject line). Problems with

- 13 -

To overcome these restrictions, new monitoring paradigms must be created for offshore farms.

Infrastructure monitoring sufficient to negate in-person inspections requires constant, real-time measurement and quantification of a farm’s structural integrity.

Offshore Infrastructure

Depth Cycling: While dissolved nitrate values of 0.07 micrograms per milliliter (μg/ml) are considered a workable minimum for cultivation in scaled overseas seaweed farms, concentrations at the ocean surface are often below 0.01 μg/ml during summertime periods in the North Pacific, where scaled offshore cultivation may occur.13F

14, 14F

15, 15F

Figure 1. Ocean productivity is shown in representative example relationships between depth, light, nutrients and phytoplankton concentrations in subtropical open-ocean conditions. Nitrogen concentrations are displayed in micromoles/kilogram (µmol/kg) and Chlorophyll a is displayed in nanograms/kilogram (ng/kg).12

Nutrient concentrations in deep water are often inversely correlated with levels of photosynthetically available radiation (PAR), as typified by Figure 1. Seaweed absorbs and retains nutrients long enough such that growth is accelerated through nightly exposure to nutrients in concentrations found in deep water as shown.16F

17 Prior ARPA-E funded efforts to

14 Gerard, Valrie A., “In Situ Rates of Nitrate Uptake by Giant Kelp, Macrocystis Pyrifera (L.) C. AGARDH: Tissue Differences, Environmental Effects, and Predictions of Nitrogen-Limited Growth,” Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 62, no. 3 (July 1982): 211–24, https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0981(82)90202-7.

15Smith, Jason M. et al., “Urea as a Source of Nitrogen to Giant Kelp (Macrocystis Pyrifera),” Limnology and Oceanography Letters 3, no. 4 (June 7, 2018): 365–73, https://doi.org/10.1002/lol2.10088.

16Chen, Shuangling et al., “Remote Estimates of Sea Surface Nitrate and Its Trends from Ocean Color in the Northwest Pacific,” Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 129, no. 2 (February 16, 2024), https://doi.org/10.1029/2023jc019846.

17 Sigman, Daniel M., and Mathis P. Hain. "The biological productivity of the ocean." Nature Education Knowledge 3, no. 10 (2012): 21.

https://arpa-e.energy.gov/faqs

Questions about this NOFO? Check the Frequently Asked Questions available at https://arpa-e.energy.gov/faqs. For questions that have not already been answered, email ARPA-E-CO@hq.doe.gov (with NOFO name and number in subject line). Problems with

- 14 -periodically sink a farm at night and access nutrient rich waters have shown the potential for growth rates roughly 300% greater than equivalent, non-cycled farms.17F

Today, no commercially feasible depth cycling system exists due to what has been assessed are the following technical limitations:

• The lack of buoyancy engine technology that can meet the energy efficiency requirements of offshore systems that must harvest all operating energy from the surrounding environment;

• The lack of control systems that can continuously optimize farm depth in accordance with in situ environmental and crop data;

• Technical and design challenges associated with reliability during depth cycling; and

• The unanticipated impact of environmental variables such as storms and biofouling on mechanical systems.

Dewatering: Water content in seaweed, typically 70-90% of total biomass weight, significantly impacts the economics of biomass transport. Far-offshore farms are uniquely sensitive to transport costs, typically $0.1-0.35 per ton per kilometer (km), due to greater distance from shore and weather-based limitations imposed upon transport logistics.18F

19 Today, water removal is conducted exclusively onshore via thermomechanical or purely thermal evaporative approaches, requiring expedient…