A Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for the advancement of marine and hydrokinetic technology was announced by the U.S. Department of Energy today. The FOA, entitled "Marine and Hydrokinetic Technology Readiness Advancement Initiative," will solicit applications for projects to advance the development of technologies that generate renewable electricity from waves, currents, tides, free-flowing rivers, and the ocean's thermal energy. Technologies at various levels of development will be evaluated based on metrics and guidelines established by DOE, and funding will be competitively awarded to a variety of projects. For more details, please view the Notice of Intent on the FedConnect Web site.

Projects will be selected in two areas:

* Concept Development: Component or system-level projects at the discovery and concept definition stage that are developed enough to allow for rough cost projections.
* Technology Readiness Level Advancement: Component or system-level projects between the proof-of-concept and commercial-scale application stages that are ready for technological and operational advancement.

The FOA will be issued by DOE Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program, which works to research, test, and develop innovative technologies capable of generating renewable, environmentally responsible, and cost-effective electricity from water. The DOE anticipates issuing this FOA in FedConnect no later than March 31, 2010.