The U.S. Army DEVCOM Analysis Center (DAC) is soliciting whitepapers and proposals for applied research under the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) titled “Reliability of alternative methods for energy generation and storage alternatives.” This opportunity is identified as DAC BAA-018 and falls under the domain of Data & Analysis and Lifecycle Engineering. The research is supported by the DAC Foundational Research Competencies, specifically in Integrated Materiel Performance and Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability. The BAA aligns with the Army’s modernization priority for the Next Generation Combat Vehicle.

This funding opportunity responds to the growing demand for alternative energy generation and storage methods as Army systems become increasingly electrified. The objective is to explore and assess novel technologies, including electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered systems, and fuel cells, for their technical maturity, complexity, and reliability. A central aim is to determine how these systems can support Army operations while minimizing the logistics footprint, in alignment with the principles of Multi-Domain Operations.

In addition to military considerations, this opportunity also evaluates the implications of adopting alternative energy solutions within commercial sectors. It seeks to understand the impact of wide-scale deployment of technologies like large solar arrays and residential rooftop panels on system reliability. The research further explores whether these systems increase energy system robustness or introduce unreliability and added sustainment costs. Researchers are encouraged to develop methods to model and assess these trade-offs between increased capabilities and system reliability.

The BAA invites research proposals that focus on understanding and modeling the interplay between the enhanced functionality of electrified systems and the risks of increased complexity, cost, and potential unreliability. Topics of interest include integration with electronic control systems, long-term maintenance costs, and evaluating overall system resilience under real-world operational conditions.

Eligibility is open to a wide range of applicants including academia, industry, non-profits, and other research institutions. Proposals that align strongly with DAC’s core competencies and address critical Army challenges are encouraged, even if they do not directly match a predefined topic. Whitepapers may be submitted prior to full proposals to receive feedback from a DAC Technical Point of Contact.

Interested applicants should consult the full announcement W911NF-23-S-0003, available on Grants.gov and SAM.gov, for submission instructions and deadlines. There is no fixed close date as proposals are reviewed on a rolling basis. For further information or technical inquiries related to this specific topic, contact Dr. Richard Heine at (443) 643-8317 or richard.w.heine.civ@army.mil.