PERFORMANCE-BASED ENERGY RESOURCE FEEDBACK, OPTIMIZATION, AND RISK MANAGEMENT (PERFORM) 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.

credit:

/>110-69), as amended by the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010 (P.L.

111-358) to:
“(A) to enhance the economic and energy security of the United States through the development of energy technologies that result in— (i) reductions of imports of energy from foreign sources; (ii) reductions of energy-related emissions, including greenhouse gases; and (iii) improvement in the energy efficiency of all economic sectors; and (B) to ensure that the United States maintains a technological lead in developing and deploying advanced energy technologies.” ARPA-E issues this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) under the programmatic authorizing statute codified at 42 U.S.C.

§ 1653 8.

The FOA and any awards made under this FOA are subject to 2 C.F.R.

Part 200 as amended by 2 C.F.R.

Part 91 0.

ARPA-E funds research on and the development of high-potential, high-impact energy technologies that are too early for private-sector investment.

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/.

Programmatic Overview:
The overall objective of PERFORM is to develop innovative technologies and approaches to quantify and manage risk for electric power systems.

Risk management includes:
(i) asset-level assessment to reflect an asset’s ability to deliver on its energy and ancillary services obligations and (ii) system-level risk-driven operations and planning to optimally manage the cost and the risk of serving electricity demand given a portfolio of grid assets.

ARPA-E envisions the design of a risk score or measure that clearly communicates the physical delivery risk of an asset’s offer, similar to the role a credit score plays in determining the creditworthiness of an individual.

At the system level, ARPA-E envisions the design of grid management systems that endogenously capture uncertainty and evaluate and hedge the system risk position to meet or exceed a baseline system risk index.

The anticipated outcome of PERFORM is a transformative and disruptive risk-driven grid management paradigm that optimally utilizes all assets (including emerging technologies) to reduce costs and improve reliability.

To apply to this FOA, Applicants must register with ARPA-E eXCHANGE (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Registration.aspx.

Full Applications and Replies to Reviewer Comments must be submitted through ARPA-E eXCHANGE (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/login.aspx).

ARPA-E will not review or consider applications submitted through other means (e.g., fax, hand delivery, email, postal mail).

For detailed guidance on using ARPA-E eXCHANGE, please refer to the “ARPA-E eXCHANGE Applicant Guide” (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/Manuals.aspx).