The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, commonly referred to as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) authorizes DOE to invest $1 billion in energy improvements in rural or remote areas.
Donor Name: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
State: All States
County: All Counties
U.S. Territories: American Samoa, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 07/13/2023
Size of the Grant: $500K – $5M
Grant Duration: 5 years
Details:
DOE’s Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas (ERA) Program is managed by the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED). OCED will provide financial investment, technical assistance, and other resources to advance clean energy demonstrations and energy solutions that benefit rural and remote communities.
ERA aims to fund clean energy projects with three specific goals:
- Deliver measurable benefits to energy customers in rural or remote areas by funding replicable energy projects that lower energy costs, improve energy access and resilience, and/or reduce environmental harm;
- Support new rural or remote energy system models using climate-resilient technologies, business structures that promote economic resilience, new financing mechanisms, and/or new community engagement practices; and
- Build clean energy knowledge, capacity, and self-reliance in rural America.
Goals
This FOA provides funding for clean energy projects up to $5 million that meaningfully benefit rural and remote communities by addressing their energy needs and priorities. Clean energy projects funded under this FOA must satisfy at least one of the objectives listed in BIL Section 40103(c)(3). These “resilient clean energy objectives” are:
- Improving overall cost-effectiveness of energy generation, transmission, or distribution systems;
- Siting or upgrading transmission and distribution lines;
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy generation in rural or remote areas;
- Providing or modernizing electric generation facilities;
- Developing microgrids; and
- Increasing energy efficiency.
Additional benefits could include:
- Decrease energy burden in disadvantaged communities (DACs);
- Decrease environmental exposure and burdens for DACs;
- Increase parity in clean energy technology (e.g., solar, storage) access and adoption in DACs;
- Increase access to low-cost capital in DACs;
- Increase clean energy enterprise creation and contracting (MBE/DBE) in DACs;
- Increase clean energy jobs, job pipeline, and job training for individuals from DACs;
- Increase energy resiliency in DACs; and
- Increase energy democracy in DACs.
Funding Information
- Anticipated Funding Amount: $50,000,000
- Community-Driven Clean Energy Projects Award Size: $500K – $5M
- Award Floor: $500,000
Project Period
The maximum project period is 5 years or as proposed.
Eligible Applicants
The applicant and subrecipient(s) must be domestic entities. The following types of entities are eligible to participate either as prime recipients or subrecipients of this FOA:
- State and local governmental entities;
- Indian Nations (DOE Order 144.1, 7.a);
- Non-profit entities;
- For-profit entities;
- Institutions of higher education;
- Consortia
Domestic Entities
- To qualify as a domestic entity, the entity must be organized, chartered, or incorporated (or otherwise formed) under the laws of a particular state or territory of the United States; have majority domestic ownership and control; and have a physical place of business in the United States.
- Federal agencies and instrumentalities (other than DOE) are not eligible to participate in projects funded under this FOA under any capacity. DOE/NNSA Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) and non-DOE/NNSA FFRDC are not eligible to participate as prime or subrecipients under this FOA.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
