The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is issuing, on behalf of the Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO), this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) titled “Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Section 41006: Water Power Projects: Innovative Technologies to Enable Low Impact Hydropower and Pumped Storage Hydropower Growth.” Awards made under this FOA will be funded, in whole or in part, with funds appropriated by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, more commonly known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). This FOA seeks applications to address innovative solutions to retrofit non-powered dams with environmentally sustainable hydropower at a reasonable cost; applications to address development and testing technologies that mitigate challenges to pumped storage hydropower deployment, including market and revenue uncertainty, development costs and financing, long development timelines, permitting challenges, construction risks, and environmental impacts; and applications to address and encourage emerging organizations to support hydropower development. WPTO expects the amount of funding available for projects under this FOA will be approximately $14.5 million and cover the following topic areas:

1. Hydropower Retrofits for Non-Powered Dams;

2. Innovative Pumped Storage Hydropower Technologies; and

3. Hydropower R&D by Emerging Organizations.