U.S. Department of Energy, Golden Field Office, 1617 Cole Blvd., Golden, CO 80401

A -- INTEGRATED RENEWABLE/HYDROGEN SYSTEM SOL DE-PS36-97GO10227.000 POC Contact, Matthew Barron, (303)275-4787; Contracting Officer, John Meeker WEB: Home Page for the Department of Energy, Golden Field Office, http://www.eren.doe.gov/golden. The Department of Energy (DOE), under authority of Section 2026 of the Energy Policy Act of 1992, Public Law 102-486, and the Hydrogen Futures Act of 1996, Public Law 104-271, is interested in providing assistance for the development of renewable/hydrogen electric generation systems. The DOE will be requesting applications for industry to participate in cost-shared projects to integrate hydrogen production, storage, and utilization systems with electricity generated from existing or planned renewable sources. The goal of the solicitation is to provide DOE financial assistance for mid-term (5 to 10 years) renewable hydrogen system applications which may lead to the installation of larger-scale, privately-funded integrated systems. The development of these integrated hydrogen technologies should address the significant technical issues associated with hydrogen production, storage, and utilization technologies. Technology development plans that address key development milestones, performance goals, and specific subsystem design objectives need to be provided. Associated issues of intermittency, dispatchability, reliability, life cycle costs, and system integration of the renewable energy generation source also need to be addressed. It is expected that these systems include stand- alone or distributed electricity generation, as well as energy storage subsystems, in a deregulated utility environment. Consideration of such facilities and systems for use in remote, island, and village power applications is encouraged. This announcement is also intended to encourage owners and operators of existing or planned renewable energy generation facilities to consider submitting applications for integrating hydrogen systems with their facilities. It is expected that employment of these integrated systems will lead to many benefits, including operational and environmental advantages. Such systems are limited to electrolysis and generation system technologies including fuel cells or generator sets, and aqueous/non-aqueousreversible fuel cell technologies that can be integrated with hydrogen storage for load-leveling applications in conjunction with electricity buying and selling strategies. DOE will only make awards to recipients that are private-sector firms. The recipient can represent a consortium of entities. These consortia can include public entities, business partnerships, joint ventures, individual commercial firms, user groups (such as investor-owned or municipal electric utilities), or other business relationships between such organizations as profit or non-profit corporations, educational institutions, etc. All respondents must propose to cost- share at least 50% of the total project cost from non-federal sources. Awards under this solicitation will be cooperative agreements, with a term of up to five years. The project should be conducted in two phases. Phase I will include the development of a detailed business plan, development of a conceptual system design, and performance of any required hydrogen technology validation/testing. A Go/No-Go decision will be conducted jointly by the applicant and DOE at the end of Phase I to determine the merits of proceeding to Phase II. If justified, the project will proceed to Phase II, which will include the construction, testing, and initial operation of the renewable hydrogen system. It is anticipated that the solicitation will be issued in June, 1997, and will contain detailed information on funding, cost sharing that these systems include stand- alone or distributed electricity generation requirements, eligibility, application preparation, DOE proposal evaluation criteria, and the proposal selection process for awards. Responses to the solicitation will be due 60 days after solicitation release. To obtain a copy of the solicitation once it is issued, submit a written request to the U.S. Department of Energy, Golden Field Office, 1617 Cole Boulevard, Golden, CO 80401, Attention: Mr. Matthew Barron, Contract Specialist. For convenience, requests for the solicitation may be faxed to Mr. Barron at (303) 275-4754. Solicitations may also be obtained electronically through the Golden Field Office Home Page at http://www.eren.doe.gov/golden/solicit.htm, followed, within ten days, by a written notification of receipt to Mr. Barron. All responsible sources may submit an application and all timely applications will be considered, subject to the limitations above. (0125)

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