Notice2022-22004
Notice of Availability of a Request for Information on the Defense Production Act
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
October 11, 2022
Issuing agencies
Energy Department
Abstract
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces the notice of availability (NOA) and invites public comment on its request for information on the Defense Production Act (DPA), which will inform how the DPA authority provided to DOE through Presidential Determinations could best be used as a tool to accelerate manufacturing and deployment of clean energy technologies to bolster national defense, tackle climate change and environmental justice, and improve employment opportunities and broader economic prosperity for Americans. This RFI invites public comment on general use of DPA authority as well as potential program activities and/or designs addressing four of the five technology areas announced by the President on June 6, 2022: transformers and critical electric grid components; solar photovoltaics; insulation materials; and electrolyzers, platinum group metals, and fuel cells for clean hydrogen. Consistent with the intent of Congress, DOE plans to use $250 million of funds appropriated by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to support the fifth and final technology area for which the President issued a determination under the Defense Production Act on June 6, 2022, electric heat pumps. Thus, use of DPA Title III for heat pumps will be addressed in a separate, forthcoming DOE announcement for which public input will be sought.
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 195 (Tuesday, October 11, 2022)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 195 (Tuesday, October 11, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61306-61307]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-22004]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Notice of Availability of a Request for Information on the
Defense Production Act
AGENCY: Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains, Office of
Policy, Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of availability of request for information (RFI).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces the notice of
availability (NOA) and invites public comment on its request for
information on the Defense Production Act (DPA), which will inform how
the DPA authority provided to DOE through Presidential Determinations
could best be used as a tool to accelerate manufacturing and deployment
of clean energy technologies to bolster national defense, tackle
climate change and environmental justice, and improve employment
opportunities and broader economic prosperity for Americans. This RFI
invites public comment on general use of DPA authority as well as
potential program activities and/or designs addressing four of the five
technology areas announced by the President on June 6, 2022:
transformers and critical electric grid components; solar
photovoltaics; insulation materials; and electrolyzers, platinum group
metals, and fuel cells for clean hydrogen. Consistent with the intent
of Congress, DOE plans to use $250 million of funds appropriated by the
Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to support the fifth and final technology
area for which the President issued a determination under the Defense
Production Act on June 6, 2022, electric heat pumps. Thus, use of DPA
Title III for heat pumps will be addressed in a separate, forthcoming
DOE announcement for which public input will be sought.
DATES: Responses will be reviewed and considered on a rolling basis but
are due no later than 5:00 p.m. (ET) on November 30, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties are to submit comments electronically to
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6b0f1b0a0e050e190c122b031a450f040e450c041d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="23475342464d4651445a634b520d474c460d444c55">[email protected]</span></a> and include ``RFI: Defense Production Act'' in the
subject line. Email attachments can be provided as a Microsoft Word
(.docx) file or an Adobe PDF (.pdf) file, prepared in accordance with
the instructions in the RFI. Attachments with file sizes exceeding 25MB
should be compressed (i.e., zipped) to ensure message delivery;
however, no email shall exceed a total of 45MB, including all
attachments. The complete RFI document is located at <a href="http://www.energy.gov/mesc/defense-production-act-request-information">www.energy.gov/mesc/defense-production-act-request-information</a>. Please refer to the
Disclaimer and Important Note section at the end of the RFI on how to
submit business sensitive and/or confidential information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions may be addressed to
Tsisilile Igogo at (240) 278-5471 or <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#bbdfcbdaded5dec9dcc2fbd3ca95dfd4de95dcd4cd"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="8eeafeefebe0ebfce9f7cee6ffa0eae1eba0e9e1f8">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Securing energy technology supply chains to
ensure grid reliability and support the transition to clean energy is
critical to current and future U.S. national security. The urgency of
this need has been apparent in recent months. For instance, in the
electricity sector, an unprecedented combination of global supply chain
challenges, Russia's war in Ukraine, and climate-exacerbated heat
waves, wildfires, and storms have threatened utilities' ability to
deliver energy cleanly, reliably, and affordably, and to restore power
quickly in the event of outages. In the past year, legislative and
executive actions have focused on building and strengthening America's
energy sector supply chains and manufacturing base. In February 2022,
DOE laid out the federal government's first-ever comprehensive strategy
for securing U.S. energy supply chains, with technology-specific
reports
[[Page 61307]]
focused on challenges in electric grid supply chains, solar PV,
platinum group metals, and more.\1\ In June 2022, President Biden
issued Presidential Determinations to DOE to utilize the DPA authority
to accelerate domestic manufacturing and deployment of five key energy
technologies.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ <a href="http://www.energy.gov/policy/securing-americas-clean-energy-supply-chain">www.energy.gov/policy/securing-americas-clean-energy-supply-chain</a>.
\2\ <a href="http://www.energy.gov/articles/president-biden-invokes-defense-production-act-accelerate-domestic-manufacturing-clean">www.energy.gov/articles/president-biden-invokes-defense-production-act-accelerate-domestic-manufacturing-clean</a>.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congress passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also
known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL),\3\ which invests over
$22 billion in several clean energy supply chains, including
technologies such as batteries, carbon capture, clean hydrogen, nuclear
energy as well as critical minerals used in multiple clean energy
technologies.\4\ Most recently, Congress passed significant investments
in clean energy supply chains through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)
\5\ and the CHIPS and Science Act (CHIPS Act).\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ <a href="http://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684">www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684</a>.
\4\ <a href="http://www.energy.gov/policy/articles/americas-strategy-secure-supply-chain-robust-clean-energy-transition">www.energy.gov/policy/articles/americas-strategy-secure-supply-chain-robust-clean-energy-transition</a>.
\5\ <a href="http://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/5376/text">www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/5376/text</a>.
\6\ <a href="http://www.commerce.senate.gov/services/files/CFC99CC6-CE84-4B1A-8BBF-8D2E84BD7965">www.commerce.senate.gov/services/files/CFC99CC6-CE84-4B1A-8BBF-8D2E84BD7965</a>.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
IRA energy investments total approximately $369 billion over the
next 10 years,\7\ which will help drive deployment and manufacturing of
clean energy technologies, while the CHIPS Act provides more than $52.7
billion over the next 10 years to restart and expand the development
and manufacturing of the domestic semiconductors industry.\8\ Further,
section 30001 of the IRA appropriates $500 million to DPA. Consistent
with Congressional intent, the activities supported by these funds will
focus on critical minerals processing and on electric heat pumps. As
such, DOE plans to use $250 million of DPA funds appropriated by IRA
for electric heat pumps, and public comments on the use of DPA for
electric heat pumps will be solicited through a separate forthcoming
announcement.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ <a href="http://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/inflation_reduction_act_one_page_summary.pdf">www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/inflation_reduction_act_one_page_summary.pdf</a>.
\8\ <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/09/fact-sheet-chips-and-science-act-will-lower-costs-create-jobs-strengthen-supply-chains-and-counter-china/">www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/09/fact-sheet-chips-and-science-act-will-lower-costs-create-jobs-strengthen-supply-chains-and-counter-china/</a>.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Through this RFI, DOE seeks comments to understand the needs,
concerns, and challenges related to energy supply chains for
transformers and critical electric grid components; solar
photovoltaics; insulation materials; and electrolyzers, platinum group
metals, and fuel cells for clean hydrogen. Responses will help inform
how best the Department, with appropriate funding, can use the DPA
tools to support the private sector, workers, and communities to secure
and strengthen the U.S. industrial base needed to ensure current and
future energy and national security. This RFI includes broad questions
on the use of DPA authority and invites comments on four of the five
technologies that received Presidential Determinations; information
specifically related to electric heat pumps should be reserved for a
separate, forthcoming comment opportunity focused on the use of IRA
funds.
This RFI is available at: <a href="http://www.energy.gov/mesc/defense-production-act-request-information">www.energy.gov/mesc/defense-production-act-request-information</a>.
Confidential Business Information: Pursuant to 10 CFR 1004.11, any
person submitting information that he or she believes to be
confidential and exempt by law from public disclosure should submit via
email two well-marked copies: one copy of the document marked
``confidential'' including all the information believed to be
confidential, and one copy of the document marked ``non-confidential''
with the information believed to be confidential deleted. Submit these
documents via email. DOE will make its own determination about the
confidential status of the information and treat it according to its
determination.
Signing Authority: This document of the Department of Energy was
signed on September 29, 2022, by Kathleen Hogan, Principal Deputy Under
Secretary for Infrastructure, pursuant to delegated authority from the
Secretary of Energy. That document with the original signature and date
is maintained by DOE. For administrative purposes only, and in
compliance with requirements of the Office of the Federal Register, the
undersigned DOE Federal Register Liaison Officer has been authorized to
sign and submit the document in electronic format for publication, as
an official document of the Department of Energy. This administrative
process in no way alters the legal effect of this document upon
publication in the Federal Register.
Signed in Washington, DC, on October 5, 2022.
Treena V. Garrett,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, U.S. Department of Energy.
[FR Doc. 2022-22004 Filed 10-7-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on October 11, 2022.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.