FAQ: Request for Ideas
What is CalMTA’s process for developing market transformation initiatives?
CalMTA identifies and administers a portfolio of market transformation initiatives (MTIs) that offer the best opportunity to advance California’s energy efficiency and climate goals. These efforts were put into action in January 2023, when the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) created CalMTA as the state’s first-ever Market Transformation Administrator to advance groundbreaking energy efficiency transformation initiatives that will bring sustainable, cost-effective market changes to California.
CalMTA selects MTIs for development based on a transparent vetting and scoring process through our Request for Ideas (RFI). Once an MTI is selected for future development, CalMTA follows a multi-stage process that is described on our website and in the following content.
What types of market transformation ideas are you looking for?
Your idea can be for a technology, product, service, practice, and/or delivery approach. However, you should be able to describe how your proposed idea will save energy and catalyze market change that ultimately results in the energy efficient technology or practice becoming the industry standard. See the selection criteria for other priorities.
If an entity submits an idea, and that idea is selected, does the entity receive funding to get that idea to market?
CalMTA will not award funds directly to submitters of ideas, but rather will develop an execution plan based on the submitted idea and, in Phase III of our process, conduct a competitive solicitation to select a company or companies to deliver the plan. Submitting an idea will not preclude the submitter from future participation in our implementer solicitation process. The types of activities funded may include interventions to influence what’s available in the market; workforce development and training programs, demonstration projects, research studies, or other activities that remove or reduce market barriers.
Why should I submit an idea?
Submitting your idea to CalMTA is an opportunity to shape and influence the way California spends ratepayer dollars to meet our climate and energy efficiency goals and create initiatives that have lasting change and impact. If the MTI is selected, the proposed technology or practice will be the focus of intensive market transformation investment over the next several years with the goal of catalyzing and accelerating market adoption. If you work in the market where the MTI is proposed, market activity would likely create economic opportunities for your industry, business, or organization.
I participated in the last RFI. What is the status of my submitted idea?
CalMTA’s Idea Portal keeps a record of all submitted ideas, so you can log back in to see which of the following status categories applies to your submission:
- Ideas with the status “Stage 2 Scoring Review” are those ideas that CalMTA has advanced to Stage 2 of our MTI development process. In some cases, top-scoring ideas were selected to move into Phase II of development based on deeper review and feedback from our Market Transformation Advisory Board.
- Ideas that CalMTA did not recommend advancing to Stage 2 scoring are in the status “Archive/Stage 1.” Appendix A and B of our Draft Phase 1 Disposition Report includes a short explanation of the primary reason(s) an idea was not scored highly enough to move forward at this time.
- When ideas were duplicative or complementary in nature, they were combined and scored together. In these cases, the status indicates “Combined” and notes in Appendix A indicate which ideas were combined. Some combined ideas are now part of the ideas in Phase I or Phase II of development.
- Ideas with the status “Stage 1 Research/Refinement” are submissions that CalMTA was able to score in Stage 1 but did not contain enough information to fully understand the market or market transformation theory to move to Stage 2. CalMTA may conduct light research in 2024 to resolve any outstanding areas of uncertainty and will rescore these ideas along with the new submissions received in the next RFI.
- Ideas with the status “Archived at Threshold Review” did not pass CalMTA’s threshold review due to insufficient information in the submittal or because the idea produced no energy savings, was not commercially available, or was a tactic and not a technology/practice. Specific details can be found in Appendix C of the Draft Phase 1 Disposition Report.
Note that your username in the Idea Portal is now your email address.
If you previously submitted an idea that has not moved forward in our MTI development process, please do not re-submit it unless you have new information about the idea, such as recent market changes or research findings. CalMTA will regularly review past submissions and reach out if we are interested in following up on those ideas at any point.
How will CalMTA use the information submitted?
CalMTA will use the information provided through the RFI process to assess and score the idea for consideration as part of its portfolio of MTIs. If your idea is selected, CalMTA will develop a market transformation theory, identify market barriers, and identify a strategy for removing those barriers. After developing a full MTI Plan and receiving approval to fund the plan from the CPUC, a competitive solicitation for delivery of the MTI Plan will be released.
Will I get compensated for my idea?
Ideas submitted through the RFI will not directly result in any funding or contract award. Our RFI is designed to get feedback from market actors about innovative technologies and practices that (1) have the potential to achieve measurable energy savings in California, (2) are commercially available today or will be in the next six months, and (3) face non-financial barriers to adoption. The top-ranked ideas will be developed by the CalMTA team into full MTIs that will be approved by the CPUC and then bid out for implementation through an RFP process, which will result in a contract and financial award. Some high-potential ideas may also be delivered as a pilot before they are developed into a full MTI.
Isn’t Resource Innovations a program implementer? How will you protect my idea from conflicts of interest?
The Resource Innovations team assigned to implement CalMTA is separated organizationally and physically from the teams conducting energy program implementation for program administrators in California. Furthermore, CalMTA will not implement the MTIs. For each selected MTI, CalMTA will develop a plan for executing it and conduct a competitive solicitation to select a company or companies for its delivery.
What information do I need to complete the RFI submission form?
You can review the submission form questions here. We will also ask you to answer a set of self-screen questions to ensure your idea is right for our market transformation approach before you invest time in the full submission.
Will my idea be kept confidential?
If you have confidential information that will strengthen your submission, please include that material only in the document uploads on the submission form and clearly mark files/documents as CONFIDENTIAL. Except as required under law or for regulatory purposes we will maintain confidentiality of such information. See our full terms of use.
In addition, any confidential details you provide subsequent to your submission about your proposed market transformation approach (e.g., targeted market partners) will be kept confidential and only shared with select members of the CalMTA team. It will not be shared publicly, including in any future RFPs, as long as that material is clearly marked as CONFIDENTIAL.
What if my technology or product is proprietary?
CalMTA will accept ideas related to technologies or products that are proprietary. However, market transformation is about developing and growing markets, which in some cases benefit from competition. Note that if your product contains proprietary technology, you should indicate that on the submission form and CalMTA will treat it confidentially, as described above. Proprietary information will not be shared publicly.
Who will be able to see my submitted idea?
CalMTA is required to conduct the selection process in a transparent manner. The selection process will be presented to the MTAB in open, public meetings so your idea will likely be included in discussions on prioritizing ideas. However, the submitter’s names will not be identified in this process and any material marked CONFIDENTIAL in the submission will not be shared.
Can I see an example of a successful submission?
As CalMTA is in its second year of operation, no ideas have advanced to Phase III: Market Deployment yet. However, several CalMTA ideas have advanced to Phase II. Two case studies on our website describe successful MTIs led by other organizations: one focused on front-loading washers and one targeting 80-PLUS power supplies.
Does my project have to be located in California?
The technology or practice must be suitable to and able to provide benefit in California, but the submitter or manufacturer can be located outside of California.
How much time will it take me to prepare my submission?
Once you have all the information at hand, we estimate that completing the intake questions should take one to two hours, depending on the level of detail you provide. We are looking for complete information and as much detail as possible.
What happens after I submit my idea?
After your idea is submitted, CalMTA will score your idea and rank it relative to the other submitted ideas. We may contact you if we have questions. You will receive a notification telling you whether or not your idea was selected to advance to Stage 2 scoring.
What criteria will you use to determine which ideas to support?
Please see our Selection Criteria page.
How much time will I need to dedicate if my idea is selected for development?
The submitter does not have any obligations in the MTI development process. However, you may wish to respond to a future competitive solicitation for implementation of an MTI related to your submitted idea.
What types of ideas are appropriate for CalMTA?
Appropriate ideas include technologies or practices that offer significant energy efficiency, GHG reduction, and/or grid benefits, but are currently facing identifiable barriers to widespread market adoption. For example, the following ideas might be a good fit for market transformation: an emerging technology that currently has low production or lacks adequate distribution or marketing, or a technology or practice that designers or contractors are not aware of or are insufficiently trained to use.
What types of ideas are not appropriate for CalMTA?
Ideas that involve emerging technologies in the pre-commercialized stages are not appropriate for CalMTA and may be a better fit for CalNEXT.
At what stage of market readiness must technologies be to be supported by the program?
California already has emerging technology programs, so CalMTA seeks ideas that are commercially available somewhere in the world or are expected to be in the near future (approximately six months from now).
When can I submit my idea?
Future ideas will be accepted on a rolling basis.
How do I see all the submission questions in advance?
Before starting your submission, or at any time during the process, you can review the submission questions here.
How many projects does CalMTA expect to select in this RFI?
The scoring team anticipates bringing 15-20 of the top-ranked initiatives to our advisory board via public meetings in September and November 2024. You can track and register for upcoming MTAB meetings on our website.
Does CalMTA have a per-project budget range in mind?
Each MTI is unique and can vary widely. Because we are looking for large-scale, long-lasting savings, MTI implementation is typically a multi-year, multi-million- dollar effort.