SPURRING PROJECTS TO ADVANCE ENERGY RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE SWIFTLY (SPARKS) | DE FOA 0003164

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0003164

SPURRING PROJECTS TO ADVANCE ENERGY RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE SWIFTLY (SPARKS) is an ARPA-E funding opportunity (DOE FOA 0003164) designed as a wide-open entry point for new, high-risk, high-reward energy technology ideas that may not fit neatly into ARPA-E's more common, tightly defined program solicitations. ARPA-E sits within the U.S. Department of Energy and was created by Congress to strengthen U.S. economic and energy security by backing technologies that can reduce reliance on foreign energy, cut energy-related emissions (including greenhouse gases), boost efficiency across the economy, improve solutions for radioactive waste and spent fuel management, and increase the resilience, reliability, and security of energy infrastructure. In practice, SPARKS functions as a mechanism to capture emerging concepts and unconventional approaches that could become the next major ARPA-E program area or complement existing ones.

The core theme of SPARKS is "transformative" applied research and development, meaning work that aims to create fundamentally new technology trajectories rather than incremental improvements along well-known industry learning curves. ARPA-E emphasizes that many conventional energy technologies improve gradually through refinements and scale, which is often better suited to private sector product development or other DOE applied offices. SPARKS, by contrast, targets ideas that may start out looking expensive or uncompetitive relative to incumbent technologies, but that have a plausible path to dramatically better cost and performance if key technical risks are retired. ARPA-E expects that many projects will not succeed, but the ones that do should have the potential to establish a new learning curve and ultimately become disruptive, either by displacing existing technologies at scale or by creating new markets. Because energy markets can take time to change, ARPA-E looks for proposals that, if technically successful, have a credible line of sight to scalable manufacturing and deployment at competitive cost.

The opportunity is intentionally broad across energy forms and end uses. ARPA-E frames "useful energy" in very expansive terms, including electricity, thermal energy, mechanical energy for transportation, radiant energy for lighting, chemical energy, and energy used in manufacturing. This breadth is meant to encourage applicants to submit novel concepts across the full energy landscape, especially those in new or fast-developing fields that arise after specific focused programs have closed or that fall outside their scopes. While the FOA text in your excerpt does not list specific topic areas, it makes clear that ARPA-E is looking for ideas that improve the efficiency, economics, sustainability, and environmental footprint of energy production, delivery, storage, and use, aligned with ARPA-E's statutory mission.

In terms of fit, ARPA-E draws a boundary between applied R&D and other kinds of work. Projects that are primarily basic research (work aimed at understanding fundamental phenomena without a near-term practical objective) are generally steered toward DOE's Office of Science. Likewise, projects that mainly advance a technology along an established roadmap, where the key question is incremental optimization rather than a major technical leap, may be a better match for DOE applied offices such as EERE, Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, Nuclear Energy, or the Office of Electricity. That said, ARPA-E applicants and awardees can make use of DOE Office of Science user facilities (supercomputers, light sources, neutron sources, nanoscience facilities, and more) as tools to execute ARPA-E-style applied R&D.

From an administrative standpoint, SPARKS is a discretionary grant opportunity with an unrestricted eligibility category, meaning a wide range of applicant types can typically apply (for example, companies, universities, nonprofits, and consortia), subject to the FOA's detailed requirements. The listed award ceiling in the source data is $500,000. The opportunity is posted with an original closing date of 2029-09-30, indicating a long-lived, open call structure rather than a single short deadline, although applicants still need to follow the FOA's specific submission windows and instructions as published on ARPA-E's site.

Applications must be submitted through ARPA-E eXCHANGE, ARPA-E's required online submission portal. The FOA must be obtained from the ARPA-E FOA website, and ARPA-E states it will not review or consider concept papers submitted by other means. Applicants are directed to the eXCHANGE User Guide for step-by-step portal instructions. For technical problems with the portal, support is available via ExchangeHelp@hq.doe.gov (with the FOA name and number in the subject line). For FOA content questions, ARPA-E points applicants first to its FAQ page and then to ARPA-E-CO@hq.doe.gov for questions not already answered.

Overall, SPARKS is best read as ARPA-E's on-ramp for bold energy ideas: a way to fund smaller, targeted pushes that can quickly test whether a concept has the technical and techno-economic potential to become a step-change improvement, justify follow-on investment, and eventually compete at scale in real energy markets.

• The Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy in the oz, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "SPURRING PROJECTS TO ADVANCE ENERGY RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE SWIFTLY (SPARKS)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.135.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-11-09.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2029-09-30.
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $500,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

Apply for DE FOA 0003164

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