Request for Proposals: Evaluating IRA and IIJA Clean Energy Policies

Resources for the Future (RFF), generously supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is releasing a Request for Proposals for research projects evaluating the clean energy policies now being implemented as part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Depending on the number, quality, and cost of submissions received, we expect to award four to eight grants of up to $25,000-$100,000 each, up to a total of $400,000.

The IRA and IIJA include hundreds of billions—if not more—worth of grants and tax credits spurring investment and innovation in clean energy. Rigorous studies evaluating the effectiveness of these policies will be key for society’s understanding of the efficient use of public funds and guiding potential future policy. The implementation of IRA and IIJA thus offers myriad opportunities for researchers to investigate the effectiveness of the various policy approaches being employed. Furthermore, effective and rigorous evaluation requires that adequate data is collected during program implementation. Therefore, to ensure that adequate data will be collected and available to conduct rigorous policy evaluation, it may be particularly advantageous for researchers to be involved with government agencies during program implementation to advise on what data collection efforts will be valuable or necessary.

This call solicits project proposals from researchers to evaluate clean energy policies contained in the IIJA and/or IRA. We especially encourage project proposals that explicitly seek to collaborate with government agencies implementing the IIJA and IRA, both to facilitate data collection for researchers to use in their analysis and to enhance the ultimate policy impact of the resulting research. We especially encourage a diverse set of researchers and institutions to respond to this call to ensure that awards are helping to broaden the pool of scholars contributing to the field of clean energy policy evaluation.

Proposed projects can cover a wide variety of topics. Some examples of the types of research questions that would be considered within scope are included below, although we strongly encourage original proposals:

1. What are the impacts of grants under the hydrogen hub program on the costs of low-carbon hydrogen production?
2. What effects have loan guarantees from the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office had on spurring new or larger private investment that would not otherwise have taken place?
3. How big is the causal effect of the domestic sourcing requirements in the Clean Vehicle Credit program on domestic investment in battery and/or critical mineral supply chains?
4. How has the shift to a technology-neutral clean electricity investment and production tax credits changed the types and deployment level of different zero-carbon electricity generating technologies?
5. How have the bonus credits for “energy communities” affected the location of projects?
6. How cost effective is the Civil Nuclear Credit Program in reducing CO2 emissions?

In addition to identifying important research questions, we are also interested in novel and effective program evaluation and identification strategies. For example, variations in timing and eligibility rules (e.g., geographic discontinuities) in various IRA provisions create opportunities for quasi-experimental analysis and improved causal identification. As another example, one could leverage data on applicants who narrowly lost out on competitive funding programs (such as DOE’s regional hubs for hydrogen or direct air capture) to serve as counterfactuals against those who won, although such an approach may require the proposal to have identified a plan ex ante with the relevant government agencies or other sources to collect data on both sets of applicants.

While we highly value well-identified approaches to causal identification, we welcome and encourage submissions using a broad range of empirical economic methodologies, including not only reduced form/quasi-experimental approaches but also structural or other approaches. We also particularly welcome studies that speak to agencies' Justice40 commitments and evaluate the distribution of benefits across communities.

We expect each award to result in at least one paper evaluating an IIJA or IRA policy or program, ideally intended for submission to and publication in a peer-reviewed academic journal. We also particularly welcome other project deliverables (such as blog posts or podcast episodes) specifically targeted in length and tone to communicate with policymakers and other non-academic audiences, including government agencies.

We anticipate holding two workshops where grantees will present their work. The first virtual workshop will bring grantees together to present their work-in-progress to other researchers and academics, providing an opportunity to collect suggestions to inform final papers. The final workshop will convene grantees, other researchers, and key policymakers in-person to review findings and discuss their communication to the broader policy community. Additional travel costs support for workshop participation will be provided separately by RFF.

• Lead principal investigators must be based at United States universities, colleges, or other non-profit research institutions.
• Submissions from diverse researchers and/or those based at Minority Serving Institutions are strongly encouraged, either as lead primary investigators or in team member roles.
• Non-U.S.-based researchers may participate in proposed projects and can receive funding as research team members, advisors, or collaborators.
• Researchers may participate in a maximum of two proposals under this RFP.

Submissions are due by 11:59pm Eastern on December 31, 2024. Application materials should be delivered as single, combined PDF files to [email protected].

RFF held host an informational call for Q&A about this RFP at 1pm ET on Wednesday, November 13, covering the details of proposal submission along with RFF’s role as a bridge between researchers and policymakers in the context of the RFP and its funded projects.

A complete submission packet should include:

• A research proposal, up to 7 pages long, explaining:
  • What is the research question (or questions) and why is it important?
  • What is the proposed research methodology, workplan, and timeline?
  • Who are the key members of the research team and what are their qualifications?
  • What will be the outputs from the research project and how will they be disseminated among various stakeholders?
  • If applicable, what data do you anticipate needing to complete the proposed research, and how/when do you anticipate gaining access to that data? If this plan does not work out, do you have alternatives in mind?
  • If applicable, how have you coordinated—or how do you plan to coordinate—with policymakers to ensure that the proposed research has maximum impact on policy understanding or design?
• A budget table for the proposed project, covering up to 2 years. We anticipate grants of up to $100,000 but would look favorably upon proposals for smaller amounts, which would permit us to fund more projects. Allowable expenses include:
  • For lead researchers, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, or undergraduate students: salary/stipend, plus benefits, based on project time commitment.
  • For project-related administrative and research staff: salary, plus benefits.
  • Research implementation expenses: data acquisition, conducting experiments, computation, hardware, advisory committee honoraria, and other research expenses.
  • Indirect costs will be capped at 16 percent.
• References/Bibliography list of up to 2 pages
• CVs of project leads and other relevant team members
• If applicable, Letters of Support from research partners, data providers, or other collaborators including government agencies (if available)

Proposals will be reviewed by an evaluation panel consisting of both RFF researchers and external academic researchers. At a broad level, the evaluation rubric will focus on (a) the novelty and value of the question being posed and answered; (b) the potential breadth of applicability to future program design; (c) the quality of the evaluation strategy; (d) project feasibility given timing constraints and anticipated data availability (if any); and (e) the research team (expertise and diversity). Proposers may be asked to prepare a response to comments and questions from the evaluation panel. Depending on the number, quality, and cost of submissions received, we expect to award four to eight grants.

For more information or for questions, please contact [email protected]. We will endeavor to respond to all relevant inquiries in a timely fashion. (Please note that RFF is closed from December 25, 2024 - January 2, 2025, so we will not be responding to inquiries in that window.)