One of the major collaborative activities under the Biomass Initiative is the joint solicitation issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy. Each year in which funds are made available, USDA and DOE jointly solicit applications for financial assistance addressing research and development of biomass based products, bioenergy, biofuels and related processes.
Technical Areas
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 amended Section 307(d)(1) – (4) of the Biomass R&D Act of 2000 and set forth the technical areas for the joint solicitation.
The Technical Areas are:
1) Feedstock Production through the development of crops and cropping systems relevant to production of raw materials for conversion to biobased fuels and biobased products.
2) Overcoming Recalcitrance of cellulosic biomass through developing technologies for converting cellulosic biomass into intermediates that can subsequently be converted into biobased fuels and biobased products.
3) Product Diversification through technologies relevant to production of a range of biobased products (including chemicals, animal feeds, and cogenerated power) that eventually can increase the feasibility of fuel production in a biorefinery.
4) Analysis that provides strategic guidance for the application of biomass technologies in accordance with realization of improved sustainability and environmental quality, cost effectiveness, security, and rural economic development, usually featuring system-wide approaches.
Joint Solicitation Awards
See Solicitations for the fiscal year 2002
See Solicitations for the fiscal year 2003
See Solicitations for the fiscal year 2004
See Solicitations for the fiscal year 2005
See Solicitations for the fiscal year 2006
See Solicitations for the fiscal years 2002 - 2006
USDA and DOE have issued a joint solicitation each Fiscal Year since 2002. Since that time, 60 awards have been for research and development.
Legislative Authority
Collaboration between DOE and USDA on the Biomass Research and Development Initiative is directed under various statutory authorities, primarily the Biomass Research and Development Act of 2000, and as amended by Title IX of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-171) and Title II of the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-148) as well as Titles XX through XXII of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (P.L. 102-486) and the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-58; Section 941).