A core responsibility of the Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) is to oversee the expenditure of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) technology transfer funds. As such, OTT is responsible for implementing the Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF). The goal of TCF is to “promote promising energy technologies for commercial purposes.” Congress established the TCF through the Energy Policy Act of 20051 and reauthorized it by the recent Energy Act of 2020 (EA 2020)2.
Base Annual Appropriations TCF
The Base Annual Appropriations TCF is the base program created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This is an estimated $35 million annual program that supports the commercialization of National Lab technologies and build out of the National Lab commercialization ecosystem.
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law TCF
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) provided more than $62 billion to DOE for Research, Development, Demonstration, & Commercial Application. Under this BIL TCF program, OTT is working collaboratively across relevant DOE program offices to pursue activities that broadly support the commercialization of promising energy technologies. OTT seeks to cultivate a broader innovation network around the BIL provision activities to enable faster replication and scaling of demonstration projects.
Latest TCF News:
1 Energy Policy Act of 2005, Public Law 109–58, 109th Cong. (August 8, 2005), Improved technology transfer of energy technologies, 42 U.S. Code § 16391 (a).
2 Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, Public Law 116–260, 116th Cong. (December 27, 2020), 134 Stat. 2597, Sec. 9003. https://www.congress.gov/116/plaws/publ260/PLAW-116publ260.pdf.
3 TCF does not apply to DOE’s budget for deployment activities.