Topic #: CW26-T02 · Branch: DOE · Status: Open
This topic focuses on advancing innovations that expedite the scaling up of manufacturing for materials, components, devices, equipment, and production processes essential for energy applications. Projects under this topic are intended to enhance any manufacturing pathway relevant to energy where technical innovation can lead to improvements in manufacturability, production readiness, domestic supply capability, quality, cost, throughput, reliability, or energy productivity.
Posted: 10/30/2026 · Opens: 10/30/2026
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This topic focuses on advancing innovations that expedite the scaling up of manufacturing for materials, components, devices, equipment, and production processes essential for energy applications. Projects under this topic are intended to enhance any manufacturing pathway relevant to energy where technical innovation can lead to improvements in manufacturability, production readiness, domestic supply capability, quality, cost, throughput, reliability, or energy productivity.
Application areas covered include batteries and energy storage, power electronics and semiconductors, advanced conductors, magnets, grid hardware, components for power generation systems (such as gas, nuclear, hydropower, and geothermal), recycling and remanufacturing, as well as other energy-related materials, parts, or systems.
A particular area of interest is the advancement of high throughput “micro-scale” manufacturing. At present, photolithography on thin films for semiconductor chip manufacturing is the only widely established micro-scale technology. This technique has provided significant benefits to both the U.S. and global economies. However, recent draft R&D roadmaps from CMEI highlight the need to scale up additional micro-scale manufacturing techniques. Such advancements would support industries including microelectronics, power electronics, battery manufacturing, and associated equipment.
These emerging techniques include field-assisted technologies that utilize magnetic, mechanical (such as strain fields), acoustic, electromagnetic, or light-assisted fields. The motivation behind this research area stems from the observation that many energy technologies face challenges transitioning from laboratory validation to commercial production. The primary barriers are manufacturing processes that lack sufficient repeatability, economic viability, energy efficiency, cybersecurity, qualification, or compatibility with existing production infrastructure.
Areas of Interest Specifically, this topic seeks applications in the following priority areas of interest:
a. Scale-up of advanced manufacturing processes for energy materials, components, and devices Illustrative technologies: advanced forming, joining, welding, coating, casting, additive manufacturing, powder processing, machining, roll-to-roll processing, electrochemical processing, separations, critical-materials refining, recycling, remanufacturing, thermal processing, semiconductor and power-electronics manufacturing, battery electrode and cell manufacturing, and manufacturing approaches for large, complex, high-performance, or safetycritical energy components. Goals and metrics: Applicants must state a specific, measurable target metric related to the scale-up bottleneck they are addressing, such as throughput (units or mass per hour); first-pass yield; defect or scrap rate; cost per accepted unit; energy use per accepted unit; material utilization; or qualification/certification timeline.
b. Modular, flexible, and retrofit-ready manufacturing platforms that reduce the time and cost of moving from prototype to pilot or early production Illustrative technologies: modular or reconfigurable tooling, retrofit kits or interfaces for legacy production equipment, flexible platforms supporting multiple product variants or rapid changeover, and standardized modular units for pilot-to-production scale-up. Goals and metrics: Applicants must state a specific, measurable target metric related to reduction of the time and cost of moving from prototype to pilot or early production, such as reduction in prototype-to-pilot transition time; reduction in retrofit or changeover cost; reduction in capital cost per unit of production capacity; or increase in the number of product variants or process conditions supported without major re-tooling.
c. Smart manufacturing tools that enable real-time process understanding, quality control, digital qualification evidence, and secure supply-chain visibility Illustrative technologies: in-line metrology, nondestructive evaluation, multimodal sensing, robotics and automation tied to a manufacturing process, machine vision, edge analytics, digital twins, physics-informed models, SI-enabled design of experiments, closed-loop process control, secure data infrastructure, digital-thread architectures, and traceability or provenance systems. Goals and metrics: Applicants must state a specific, measurable target metric related to realtime process understanding, quality control, digital qualification evidence, and secure supplychain visibility, such as reduction in defect escape rate; reduction in inspection or qualification time; improvement in process capability; reduction in unplanned downtime; or a measurable increase in the share of process data captured in a machine-readable, standards-compliant, and traceable format. Where digital or SI-enabled systems are proposed, applicants must also address model validation, data quality, uncertainty, cybersecurity, operator usability, and integration with existing equipment or legacy manufacturing environments.
Goals and Metrics for Topic 2 Areas of Interest Key R&D innovations sought include methods that improve transition from bench-scale or prototype demonstrations to pilot-scale or production-relevant operation. Proposals should define the target material, component, device, or process; the current scale or maturity level; the limiting manufacturing barrier; and measurable outcomes.
To qualify as responsive, an innovation must target a specific manufacturing bottleneck related to energy materials, components, devices, equipment systems, or production processes. The main technical risk should involve issues with manufacturability, scaling up production, process management, qualification, or production costs. Phase II projects are required to showcase and integrate a prototype within a relevant manufacturing setting, operating at sufficient scale,
duration, and duty cycle to assess repeatability, reliability, interoperability, safety, cybersecurity, and cost efficiency.
Projects will not be considered if they work solely on basic material discovery, lab-scale synthesis, computational filtering, product performance, or energy-system modeling without a clear focus on manufacturing or scaling up. Also excluded are proposals that mainly buy commercial equipment, conduct routine process improvements, do market research, offer consulting services, or develop training materials without unique technical R&D contributions. Custom demonstrations without a reliable path toward broader use, repeated deployment, or commercialization are also nonresponsive.
Generic software tools do not qualify unless they specifically resolve challenges like manufacturing scale-up, process control, quality assurance, qualification, or production costs for an energy application. Nonresponsive examples include general dashboards, enterprise resource planning tools, scheduling platforms, independent predictive maintenance software, or generic SI models not validated in manufacturing contexts. Projects that only handle postprocess inspection without boosting manufacturability, feedback, quality control, or readiness for scaling up will not meet topic goals. Technologies demanding classified operations, unsafe autonomous controls for critical systems, unsupported claims of market readiness, or digital solutions like blockchain or large language models used independently rather than integrated into a manufacturing solution are all out of scope.
References 1. Energy Act of 2020, section 6006. Energy Act of 2020, Pub. L. No. 116-260, div. Z, tit. VI, § 6006, 134 Stat. 2418, 2560 (2020) (codified at 42 U.S.C. § 17115a). See Energy Act of 2020, U.S. Congress (2020), https://www.congress.gov/116/plaws/publ260/PLAW-116publ260.pdf. 2. U.S. Dep't of Energy, National Smart Manufacturing Strategic Plan: To Facilitate More Rapid Development, Deployment and Adoption of Smart Manufacturing Technologies (July 2022), https://doi.org/10.2172/1880185. 3. National Academies, Options for a National Plan for Smart Manufacturing. Nat’l Acads. of Scis., Eng’g & Med., Options for a National Plan for Smart Manufacturing (Nat’l Acads. Press 2024), https://doi.org/10.17226/27260. 4. National Strategy for Advanced Manufacturing, Subcomm. on Advanced Mfg., Comm. on Tech., Nat’l Sci. & Tech. Council, National Strategy for Advanced Manufacturing (Oct. 2022), https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2024-03/National-Strategy-for- Advanced-Manufacturing-10072022.pdf. 5. Alaa Elwany, Christopher Hovanec & Nick Lalena, Near Net Shape Workshop Report (U.S. Dep't of Energy Feb. 2024), https://doi.org/10.2172/2316044. 6. U.S. Dep't of Energy, Genesis Mission: A National Mission to Accelerate Science Through Artificial Intelligence, https://genesis.energy.gov/ (last visited Aug. 7, 2026). 7. OMB Memorandum M-25-21. Off. of Mgmt. & Budget, Exec. Off. of the President, Memorandum M-25-21, Accelerating Federal Use of AI Through Innovation, Governance, and Public Trust (Apr. 3, 2025), https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2025/02/M-25-21-Accelerating-Federal-Use-of-AI-through-Innovation- Governance-and-Public-Trust.pdf. 8. Exec. Off. of the President, Winning the Race: America's AI Action Plan (July 2025). See Winning the Race: America's AI Action Plan, Exec. Off. of the President (2025), https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Americas-AI-Action-Plan.pdf. 9. Nat'l Inst. of Standards & Tech., U.S. Dep't of Com., Guide to Operational Technology (OT) Security, NIST Special Publication 800-82 Rev. 3 (Sept. 2023),
https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.800-82r3.2023). See Guide to Operational Technology (OT) Security, NIST Special Publication 800-82 Rev. 3, Nat'l Inst. of Standards & Tech. (2023), https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.800-82r3. 10. Int'l Soc'y of Automation, ISA/IEC 62443 Series of Standards, https://www.isa.org/standards-and-publications/isa-standards/isa-iec-62443-series-ofstandards (last visited Aug. 7, 2026). 11. NIST SP 800-161. Nat’l Inst. of Standards & Tech., U.S. Dep’t of Com., Cybersecurity Supply Chain Risk Management Practices for Systems and Organizations, NIST Special Publication 800-161 Rev. 1, Update 1 (May 2022, updated Nov. 1, 2024), https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.SP.800-161r1-upd1