RFI - Underground Power Lines | DE FOA 0002720

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002720

The Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) issued this opportunity as a Request for Information (RFI) titled "RFI - Underground Power Lines" (DE-FOA-0002720). It is strictly an information-gathering notice, not a funding solicitation: ARPA-E is not accepting applications for financial assistance, there is no award ceiling, and no awards are expected. The agency is using the RFI to collect technical and practical input that could shape a future ARPA-E research program aimed at improving the resilience, reliability, and security of the medium-voltage (MV) electric distribution grid by moving distribution lines underground and making undergrounding significantly easier, cheaper, and faster to deploy at scale.

The potential future program described in the RFI focuses on three big outcomes. First, ARPA-E is looking for construction and installation methods for underground MV distribution that are reliable and safe while becoming cost-competitive with traditional overhead line construction, since civil works and installation complexity are major cost drivers for underground systems today. Second, the agency is interested in robust health monitoring and predictive maintenance technologies for both existing and newly installed underground distribution assets, recognizing that underground faults can be harder to detect, localize, and resolve quickly. Third, ARPA-E wants approaches that enable rapid repair and restoration after failures with minimal surface disruption, because digging up roads, sidewalks, and developed areas can be slow, expensive, disruptive to communities, and difficult to permit.

ARPA-E specifically asks for input on "transformative, scalable, and rapidly deployable" technologies across the full undergrounding lifecycle, from planning and civil works through installation, monitoring, and repair. On the front end, they are seeking ideas that can reduce the cost of civil works for overhead-to-underground conversions or for new underground builds, especially in dense areas near buildings and active surface use like roads with traffic, while keeping surface disruption as low as possible. They also want concepts for constructing underground vaults and installing conduits in a broad range of terrain and geologic conditions in a cost-effective way, and doing so while avoiding damage to existing buried infrastructure such as subways, gas lines, drinking water and sewer pipes, and telecommunications lines. In addition, the RFI highlights the need to cut down on installation errors in places where failures are most likely, including cable splices and other sensitive installation steps, implying interest in better processes, tools, quality assurance methods, or design approaches that make correct installation easier and more repeatable.

Beyond the physical build, ARPA-E is inviting information on advanced sensing, diagnostics, and data-driven tools that can improve the performance and maintainability of underground systems. Examples called out include technologies to continuously monitor and analyze system health, locate failures quickly and precisely, and detect and classify early-stage or "incipient" failures before they escalate into catastrophic outages. The RFI also emphasizes repair: ARPA-E wants options that allow a failed segment or component to be repaired quickly and safely while minimizing the need for extensive excavation or prolonged disruption at the surface, with the end goal of faster power restoration and less impact on the surrounding community.

A key theme throughout the RFI is understanding why underground MV distribution is not deployed more widely today, despite resilience benefits in many contexts. ARPA-E is explicitly looking for feedback on the biggest barriers to implementing underground MV systems (technical, economic, logistical, operational, regulatory, or related to construction practices and workforce constraints) and the innovations required to overcome them. They also want stakeholders to weigh in on which technology development areas should be prioritized, so that any future ARPA-E program targets the highest-impact gaps rather than incremental improvements.

Administratively, the RFI was posted with a creation date of March 1, 2022, and responses were due by April 1, 2022, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Submissions were to be sent as a PDF to ARPA-E-RFI@hq.doe.gov, with additional instructions available in the full RFI text on the ARPA-E funding opportunity site (https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov). Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, meaning any type of entity could provide input, subject to any clarifications in the full announcement. Although the listing includes "Cooperative Agreement" under funding instrument type, that reflects the typical instrument ARPA-E uses for actual award programs; in this case, the notice itself is only meant to collect information to inform possible future funding opportunities.

• The Department of Energy, Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy in the opportunity zone benefits, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "RFI - Underground Power Lines" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.135.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 01, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 01, 2022 Reponses to this RFI should be submitted in PDF format to the email address ARPA-E-RFI@hq.doe.gov by 500 p.m. Eastern Time on 04/01/2022. For further instruction, please review the RFI in its entirety at https://apra-e-foa.energy.gov.. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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