The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) has issued a Notice of Intent (NOI) for up to $400 million to spur innovative, community-focused clean energy solutions in rural and remote areas across the U.S., as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda.
The funding, supported by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, will help deploy and encourage adoption of a variety of commercially available, clean energy technologies for rural and remote residents.
The upcoming investment is part of the Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas (ERA) Program, which aims to fund community-driven projects that demonstrate clean energy systems, deliver measurable and sustained benefits to people who live in rural or remote areas, and build clean energy knowledge, capacity, and self-reliance throughout rural America.
The funding builds upon three previous funding rounds from the ERA Program, totaling more than $450 million for 36 projects and 67 prize winners across the country. It plans to support the demonstration of energy technologies to provide clean, resilient, reliable, affordable power, while also aiming to increase local energy independence and economic development.
Eligible projects will have to address: 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; or increasing energy efficiency.
OCED expects the opportunity to help communities demonstrate practical paths to catalyze more rural and remote communities to integrate and benefit from clean energy. OCED plans to fund about 16-69 projects, offering a range of funding from $2–50 million each with a 5–50% minimum non-federal cost share per project.
Eligible applicants include tribal nations, state and local governmental entities, non-profit and for-profit entities, rural electric cooperatives, farming associations and cooperatives, institutions of higher education, and both incorporated and unincorporated consortia. DOE anticipates releasing a Notice of Funding Opportunity in the fall of 2024.
