The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center’s AmplifyMass program provides funding of up to $300,000 for academic or startup company projects pursuing cost share or adders for a federal/non-federal prime award (“Prime Award”) (such as awards from ARPA-E, NSF, DOE, and USABC), as well as funding of up to $100,000 for academic projects that are not tied directly to a prime grant.
Donor Name: Massachusetts Clean Energy Technology Center (MassCEC)
State: Massachusetts
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: Ongoing
Size of the Grant: up to $300,000
Details:
In these cases, projects must aim to commercialize or substantially de-risk an innovation that falls within MassCEC’s mission.
Project Eligibility
All projects must meet MassCEC’s definition of Clean Energy in order to be eligible.

The term “Clean Energy Technologies” shall mean “…advanced and applied technologies that significantly reduce or eliminate the use of energy from non-renewable sources including, but not limited to:

energy efficiency;
demand response;
energy conservation; or
technologies powered, in whole or in part, by the sun, wind, water, geothermal energy, including networked geothermal and deep geothermal energy, hydrogen produced by non-fossil fuel sources and methods, alcohol, fuel cells, fusion energy or any other renewable, nondepletable or recyclable fuel. Please note that technologies related to coal, oil, nuclear power, woody biomass , and natural gas (except where used in fuel cells) will not be considered Clean Energy Technologies for purposes of this RFP.


”Clean energy research”, advanced and applied research in new clean energy technologies including:

solar photovoltaic;
solar thermal;
wind power;
geothermal energy, including networked geothermal and deep geothermal energy;
wave and tidal energy;
advanced hydropower;
energy transmission and distribution;
energy storage;
renewable biofuels, including ethanol, biodiesel and advanced biofuels;
renewable, biodegradable chemicals;
advanced thermal-to-energy conversion;
fusion energy;
hydrogen produced by non-fossil fuel sources and methods;
carbon capture and sequestration;
energy monitoring;
green building materials;
energy efficiency;
energy-efficient lighting;
gasification and conversion of gas to liquid fuels;
industrial energy efficiency;
demand-side management; and
fuel cells; provided, however, that ”clean energy research” shall not include advanced and applied research in coal, oil, natural gas, woody biomass, or nuclear power other than fusion energy.



While AmplifyMass funding may be used to support development of any technology that meets MassCEC’s definition of “clean energy” , particular emphasis will be placed on identifying projects in the following four (4) focus areas (the “Focus Areas”):

High performance buildings

Impactful, resilient, and cost-effective electrification technologies and approaches to decarbonizing the building sector


Clean transportation

Technologies that address the market barriers to electric vehicle deployment across weight classes, as well as technologies that reduce GHG emissions through vehicle-mile travelled reduction and reduction of fuel usage in vehicles that have no electrification solution at present


Offshore wind

Project risk and cost reduction, market confidence enhancement and economic development that advance this new industry


Net zero grid’

Technologies that enable a transition to a modernized and smarter grid which can host sufficient clean energy and flexible load resources to reach Net Zero, such as microgrids and energy storage



Eligibility Criteria

Eligible applicants include Massachusetts-based cleantech small businesses and academic institutions/universities.

Proposals must satisfy the definition of “clean energy” as explained in the AmplifyMass Application Process and Eligibility document.



Companies

Must be a small business as outlined by the United States Small Business Administration’s “Table of Small Business Size Standards” and must have a significant Massachusetts presence
May apply for projects pursuing cost share or adders for a federal/non-federal prime award (such as awards from ARPA-E, NSF, DOE, and USABC) only
For cost share support, applications must be submitted before the primary funding is contracted.

Massachusetts Academic Institutions/Universities

May apply for projects pursuing cost share or adders for a federal/non-federal prime award (such as awards from ARPA-E, NSF, DOE, and USABC). Note: Awards are typically a fraction of the required cost share and the total project cost.
For cost share support, applications must be submitted before the primary funding is contracted. Certain exceptions may be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Academic/university applicants may also  individual or follow-on projects that are notcost share or simultaneous “adder” scopes. Such applications must aim to commercialize an innovation or substantially de-risk an innovation for commercialization purposes. Applications without a prime grant or which follow a concluded prime grant will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. These awards are capped at $100,000 apiece.

For more information, visit AmplifyMass Program.