Commerce will open a new round of Research, Development and Demonstration (RD&D) grants on October 05, 2023. Approximately $3.9 million in funding, from the 2021-2023 Biennium is available for entities to engage in strategic research and development of new and emerging clean energy technologies that will help achieve climate goals. If the demand exceeds available funds from the 21-23 budget, Commerce may award funding from the 2023-2025 biennium (up to and additional $11.6 million) as well as funding from previous rounds.

These grants will support statewide clean energy strategies that align with the 2021 State Energy Strategy.

Applicants will be divided into two tracks.

• Track 1: non-profits; local governments; Non-R1 (PDF) research institutions; tribes. Please note that national labs are not eligible under this track.
• Track 2: Private sector applicants, established research institutions, higher education institutions, state agencies, and national labs.

The application will be conducted in two phases.

• Phase One Applications are due by November 21, 2023, 5:00 p.m. PT.
  • Note: Applicants will receive a recommendation of “Encouraged” or “Discouraged” to submit Phase Two Applications on January 19, 2024.
• Phase Two Applications will be due by  March 25, 2024, 5:00 p.m. PT.

Pre-Application Conference

One Pre-application conference to assist with the application process will be held via Zoom on Oct 12, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. PT. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Partner List (Optional)

We have provided an optional partnership list (on Smartsheet) to facilitate information exchange among applicants who would like to form a partnership. To share information about your organization, you may optionally fill out this partner survey (on Smartsheet). All information is subject to public disclosure and will be posted on the website, so don’t submit trade secrets, proprietary, or confidential information in your response.

Note: Commerce accepts no liability for the contents of the sheet. Moreover, Commerce does not sponsor or endorse any of the entities that have self-identified on this sheet. Commerce will not conduct due diligence or evaluate the qualifications or veracity of the information submitted by the entities in this list.

Questions and Answers

Written questions regarding the application process may only be submitted via email to CEF@Commerce.wa.gov. All questions and responses will be published to the webpage.