DE-FOA-0002970_Energy_Improvement_in_Rural_or_Remote_Areas_Funding_Opportunity_Announcment - Mod 000001.pdf

OCED T 540.117-01: Funding Opportunity Announcement

Questions about this FOA? Email ERAFOA1@hq.doe.gov

Problems with OCED eXCHANGE? Email OCED-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov Include FOA name and number in subject line.

U.S. Department of Energy Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

Energy Improvement in Rural or Remote Areas

Funding Opportunity Announcement Number: DE-FOA-0002970

Type: Modification 000001

Assistance Listing Number: 81.255

FOA Modification Date: June 2, 2023

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) may be re-opened for subsequent funding cycles, potentially with adjusted funding amounts, topic areas or other requirements.

Cycle 2023-1:

Submission Deadline for Concept Papers: 04/14/2023, 5 p.m. ET

Informational Webinar: 03/29/2023, 1 p.m. ET

Submission Deadline for Applications: 08/2/2023, 5 p.m. ET

Expected Date for OCED Selection Notifications: November 2023

Expected Timeframe for Award Negotiations Spring 2024

Applicants must submit a Concept Paper by 5 p.m. ET on the due date listed above to be eligible to submit an Application.

mailto:ERAFOA1@hq.doe.gov mailto:OCED-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov i

Modifications

All modifications to the FOA are HIGHLIGHTED IN YELLOW

Mod. No. Date Description of Modification

000001 6/2/2023 • Modified Topic Area 1’s Technical Volume max. # of pages.

• Updated the submission deadline for applications.

• Updated Topic Area 1 and Topic Area 2 award size funding eligibility requirements.

• Added link to separate Grant Funding Opportunity

Announcement, which has now been published.

• Added definition of ‘commercially available technologies’ in

Section 2.2.2.1.

ii

Table of Contents Table of Contents .............................................................................................................................................. ii

1.0 Overview of Key Information

2.0 Funding Opportunity Description

2.1 Background and Goals

2.2 ERA Topic Areas and Regional Areas of Interest

2.3 Project Management Structure

2.4 Pre-award Technical Assistance, Related Prize Competition, Related Programming

3.0 Award Information

4.0 Eligibility Information

4.1 Eligible Applicants

4.2 Cost Sharing

4.3 Responsiveness Criteria

4.4 Limitation on Number of Concept Papers and Applications Eligible for Review

5.0 Application and Submission Information

5.1 Application Package

5.2 Application Submission

5.3 Application Forms

5.4 Submission Dates and Times

5.5 Requirement for Full and Complete Disclosure

5.6 Proposal Content

6.0 Application Review Information

6.1 Technical Review Criteria

6.2 Other Selection Factors

6.3 Evaluation and Selection Process

6.4 Anticipated Notice of Selection and Award Negotiation Dates

7.0 Award Administration Information

7.1 Notifications

7.2 Award Conditions and Reporting

8.0 Questions/Agency Contacts

Appendix A – Additional Information

Appendix B – Waiver Requests for Foreign Entity Participation and Foreign Work

Appendix C – List of Acronyms

1.0 Overview of Key Information

Agency: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

Program Overview: The Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas (ERA) program will provide financial investment, technical assistance, and other resources to advance clean energy demonstrations and energy solutions in rural and remote areas that can be replicated and scaled. This program was created by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The goals of the program are to:

1. 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.

2. Demonstrate 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 best practices.

3. Build clean energy knowledge, capacity, and self-reliance in rural America.

Deadlines:

• April 14, 2023, at 5 p.m. ET: Concept paper due

• June28 August 2, 2023, at 5 p.m. ET: Application due

Funding Overview: $1 billion over 5 years. Up to $300 million in funding available in this funding opportunity.

Eligible Applicants: Applications must identify at least one area in the United States (including U.S. territories) with a population of not more than 10,000 inhabitants that benefits from the proposal. The proposed applicant and subrecipient(s) must be domestic entities.

The following types of entities are eligible to participate as prime recipients or subrecipients:

1. Institutions of higher education

2. Non-profit entities

3. For-profit entities

4. Tribal Nations

5. State and local governmental entities

6. Incorporated Consortia

7. Unincorporated Consortia

Key Benefits and Metrics:

• Improved grid performance, measured through positive changes in metrics such as a reduction in total prolonged outages, reduction in threshold major event days, improvement in system average interruption duration index (SAIDI) and/or system average interruption frequency index (SAIFI), or similar metrics demonstrating improved reliability because of the project.

• Improved resilience, measured through positive changes in metrics such as restoration time, total number of event days, and/or average number of customers impacted by events because of the project.

• Reduced energy burden and poverty, measured through positive changes in metrics such as improvement in energy burden from a baseline established prior to project implementation, reduction in the number or frequency of customer arrearages, and/or the percent of customers receiving shut-off notices because of the project.

• Increased economic resilience, measured in ongoing permanent jobs created in the community, wages and benefits, and build-out of the supply chain or other induced economic effects.

• Improved environmental performance from energy generation to support public health, measured through positive changes in metrics such as air quality index (AQI), total dissolved solids (TDS), streamflow, and aquifer hydraulic head because of the project.

• Reduce greenhouse gas impact of energy system, measured by change in carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions because of the project, relative to an established baseline.

• Energy Access, reducing the number of homes currently without access to electricity.

Topics and example projects:

• Topic Area 1: Community-Scale Demonstrations o Overview: Proposals to implement clean energy projects with a Federal cost share of at least $5 million and at most $10 million, using one or more clean energy technologies that advance resilience and provide other benefits to one or more rural or remote communities.

o Example projects: Microgrid designs and service models that enable cost-competitive deployment to a broad set of rural or remote communities; small hydropower systems providing community benefits; hybrid configurations of distributed energy resources that are operable during extreme weather events;

and demonstrating operation of existing technologies to new climates.

• Topic Area 2: Large-Scale Demonstrations o Overview: Proposals to implement clean energy projects with a Federal cost share of at least $10 million and at most $100 million. Large-scale demonstrations should benefit multiple communities, either through a single installation that benefits multiple rural or remote communities, or through a series of installations with similar or complementary characteristics across multiple communities.

o Area of Interest – Aggregation. Similar projects at multiple locations in a manner that leads to a demonstratable benefit relative to conducting that project at only one location.

▪ Example project: Solar and/or wind farms, with or without energy storage, in multiple locations that share a common administrative and support staff.

o Area of Interest – Single-Site Projects. Projects that involve a single installation site that can enable replication of a solution and/or benefit multiple rural or remote communities.

▪ Example projects:

• A utility-scale solar, wind farm and/or hydrogen or battery storage facility.

• A bioreactor that uses locally available biomass to replace fossil fuel generation.

• A renewables project that delivers significant additional benefits to a local community.

• A transmission investment that reduces reliance on fossil fuels.

• Clean energy generation in an area having trouble attracting investment due to geographic isolation.

Cost Share:

• 20% cost share in cases where the prime recipient is a domestic institution of higher education; domestic nonprofit entity; or U.S. state, local, or tribal government entity (including Alaska Native Corporations and Alaska Native Village Corporations).

• 50% cost share for all other projects.

Anticipated Award Size and Funding Amount:

Topic Area No.

Topic Area Title Anticipated Number of

Awards

Cost Share Range per Award Total Anticipated Fed

Share1 Award Size (Fed Share) 3

Applicant Share2

Community-Scale Demonstrations

4-8 $5 million (M)–

$10 M $1 M–$10 M $40M

Large-Scale

Demonstrations 3-20

$10 M– $100 M

$2 M–$100 M $260M

Notes: Total1 $300M

1. Total anticipated under this FOA.

2. Twenty percent (20%) or fifty percent (50%) applicant cost share depending on applicant’s cost share eligibility, see Section 4.2 Cost Sharing.

Applications that have federal funding requests below the Topic Area amounts specified in the above table and in Section 2.2 will be determined ineligible to receive an award under this FOA.

Applicants with proposals below the Topic Area award sizes are encouraged to review additional opportunities under the ERA program. For clean energy demonstration projects requiring less than $5 million in federal cost share, see OCED Exchange DE-FOA-0003045.

2.0 Funding Opportunity Description

2.1 Background and Goals

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. DOE’s ERA program will provide financial investment, technical assistance, and other resources to advance clean energy demonstrations and energy solutions that are replicable and scalable. ERA aims to fund clean energy projects with three specific goals:

1. 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.

2. Demonstrate 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 best practices.

3. Build clean energy knowledge, capacity, and self-reliance in rural America.

The ERA program is managed by the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED), whose mission is to deliver clean energy technology demonstration projects at scale to accelerate deployment, market adoption, and the equitable transition to a decarbonized energy system.

https://oced-exchange.energy.gov/Default.aspx#FoaId25339769-c6de-4818-9cb2-63c31cc79623

OCED seeks to provide equal opportunity to qualified applicants from rural and remote areas of the United States, which for the purposes of this statutory section means areas of less than 10,000 inhabitants. OCED recognizes that potential applicants will come to this program with widely varying energy and resilience needs.

To address this reality that one size does not fit all, OCED has organized this $300 million Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) into nine geographic regions, each with its own set of broad energy challenges that provide applicants the opportunity to propose creative solutions at a variety of sizes and scales to address those challenges. Depending on response, OCED may open up additional Funding Opportunity Announcements in the future. In addition, OCED is offering a related prize competition to assist development of clean energy system proposals. The Energizing Rural Communities Prize competition opens on March 1, 2023, challenging individuals and organizations to develop partnership plans and innovative financing strategies.

Finally, in recognition that many creative energy solutions happen at a smaller scale and do not require a complex application process, OCED announced a simplified approach, distinct from this FOA, for those applicants with qualifying projects seeking less than $5 million in federal funding, see OCED Exchange DE-FOA-0003045.

Technical assistance is available for this FOA pending sub-program and FOA proposals, to enable capacity building and continuous strategic engagement to answer questions which might arise along the way (see Section 2.4).

The ERA program intends to improve the cost, reliability, environmental impact, and climate and economic resilience of energy systems in rural or remote communities by funding clean energy projects with commercially viable or near-commercially viable technologies. Projects funded through this FOA will de-risk investment in the energy infrastructure of rural or remote communities. Funded projects will provide insights for future investments, such as deployment of similar technologies, use of similar business models, or adoption of similar community engagement best practices and clarify pathways to future good paying union jobs (see Section 2.1.3).

2.1.1 Ensuring Direct Benefit to Rural or Remote Areas

This FOA is designed to enable citizens in rural or remote communities, to realize material benefits as the result of investment in their energy infrastructure. These benefits can include, but are not limited to: lower energy costs, improved energy access, economic resilience, and environmental protection from adverse impacts of historic energy generation. Selected projects will implement cost-effective clean energy technologies that promote the overall resilience of the local energy system against climate impacts, and support more diversified rural economies better able to weather economic shocks.

https://americanmadechallenges.org/challenges/rural-energy/

To ensure that these benefits are spread equitably across affected communities applicants are required to submit a Community Benefits Plan (CBP). This plan outlines how the project will support community and labor engagement, invest in the American workforce, contribute to the President’s goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities (the Justice40 Initiative), and promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA).

DOE recognizes that applicants have different levels of capacity and experience related to this kind of community-focused planning and will support FOA awardees to develop and implement robust, locally tailored, and measurable plans (see Section 5.6.2.3 for more details).

Consistent with the objectives of this program, OCED expects projects to utilize local staff and local resources to the maximum extent possible. If external resources are necessary, projects funded under this FOA and any related activities will seek to encourage meaningful engagement and participation of local business organizations, labor unions, underserved communities and underrepresented groups, federally recognized tribes and tribal and indigenous communities and native entities.

2.1.2 Promoting Community Energy Solutions for Regional Climate Challenges

Selected projects will promote community energy solutions to improve the cost, reliability, environmental impacts, and climate and economic resilience of energy generation in rural or remote communities. Applicants are required to identify at least one applicable region for the project (reference Figure 1 and Table 2 below), along with any regional climate risk(s) the project is proposing to help mitigate. OCED seeks applications that leverage a region’s natural resources, local industry, stakeholders, climate and/or economic risks, or other factors, as such factors may be critical towards the ultimate replicability of the project in other rural or remote areas within the region (See Section 2.1.3 for further details on replicability). Section 2.2.3 outlines, for illustrative purposes only, some potential examples of regional climate-driven energy system risks and potential solutions that can leverage regional resources. OCED encourages applicants to identify regional challenges and opportunities as they see fit based on their own assessment of their community’s energy challenges, needs and opportunities.

2.1.3 Ensuring Project Replicability

Replicability is key to market adoption of technologies to benefit rural or remote areas beyond those participating in the ERA program. The program seeks to build confidence of decision makers to invest in clean energy in rural and remote areas, including financiers, utilities, and tribal, state, and local governments, who can enable replication.

Proposed projects can demonstrate established, commercial technologies for the first time in a new setting or place, or at a larger scale; an innovative approach to improve siting and permitting timelines; enabling energy access for homes/communities that do not have access to electricity; self-reliance, or reduction in environmental harm from generation; economic development and local job creation leading to more overall economic resilience, and/or an innovative technology application in a rural or remote area.

2.2 ERA Topic Areas and Regional Areas of Interest

2.2.1 Guidance Across All Topic Areas

While the ERA program emphasizes the importance of regional considerations, FOA applicants should begin their project proposals by choosing one of two distinct Topic Areas as described below. DOE may issue awards in one, both or none of the following topic areas:

Table 1. Topic Areas Overview

Topic Area No.

Topic Area Title Anticipated Number of

Awards

Cost Share Range per Award Total Anticipated Fed

Share1 Award Size (Fed Share) 3

Applicant Share2

Community-Scale Demonstrations

4-8 $5M - 10M $1M - $10M $40M

Large-Scale

Demonstrations 3-20 $10M - $100M $2M - $100M $260M

Notes: Total1 $300M

1. Total anticipated under this FOA.

2. Twenty percent (20%) or fifty percent (50%) applicant cost share depending on applicant’s cost share eligibility, see Section 4.2 Cost Sharing.

Applications that have federal funding requests below the Topic Area amounts specified in Table 1. Topic Areas Overview will be determined ineligible to receive an award under this FOA.

Applicants with proposals below the Topic Area award sizes are encouraged to review additional opportunities under the ERA program. For clean energy demonstration projects requiring less than $5 million in federal cost share, see OCED Exchange DE-FOA-0003045.

Applicants may submit more than one application per Topic Area if the proposed projects are substantially different. Projects ideally should be sited within the rural or remote community or communities they are designed to benefit. Projects proposed to be built outside of a rural or remote area may be considered for funding but must clearly define the rural or remote area(s) of less than 10,000 inhabitants receiving the benefits, the types of benefits, and the method through which these benefits will be quantitatively measured and accounted for in the CBP. All projects are required to be built within the United States.

Applicants should assemble teams that show a clear capacity to execute on the proposed projects. Applicants should consider and clearly define project ownership models, including community or tribal ownership of systems and assets.

The following sections will detail the requirements that are consistent across both topic areas, the technical criteria that are differentiated across topic areas (see Section 2.2.2), and the Regional Areas of Interest to consider (see Section 2.2.3).

2.2.1.1 Specifications Across All Topic Areas

Projects funded in either Topic Area must satisfy at least one of the objectives listed in BIL Section 40103(c)(3). These "resilient clean energy objectives” are:

A. Improving overall cost-effectiveness of energy generation, transmission, or distribution systems.

B. Siting or upgrading transmission and distribution lines.

C. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy generation in rural or remote areas.

D. Providing or modernizing electric generation facilities.

E. Developing microgrids.

F. Increasing energy efficiency.

DOE encourages projects that position rural or remote communities with energy solutions that are resilient to anticipated regional climate changes (see Section 2.2.3). Additional benefits may be considered through Program Policy Factors (e.g., drinking water production or use of waste heat for home heating).

2.2.1.2 Metrics to Consider Across All Topic Areas

The final determination of the necessary goals and metrics to report and assess for each project will be developed in project negotiation and Phase 1 of implementation (see Section 2.3).

Applicants must demonstrate their method for quantifying and tracking direct benefits through metrics in the Community Benefit from the CBP. Quantitative goals that may be used to assess “benefit” to rural or remote communities include, but are not limited to:

a. Improved grid performance, measured through positive changes in metrics such as a reduction in total prolonged outages, reduction in threshold major event days, improvement in system average interruption duration index (SAIDI) and/or system average interruption frequency index (SAIFI), or similar metrics demonstrating improved reliability as a result of the project.

b. Improved resilience, measured through positive changes in metrics such as restoration time, total number of event days, and/or average number of customers impacted by fewer disruption events, as a result of the project.

c. Reduced energy burden and poverty, measured through positive changes in metrics such as improvement in energy burden from a baseline established prior to project implementation, reduction in the number or frequency of customer arrearages, and/or the percent of customers receiving shut-off notices as a result of the project.

d. Increased economic resilience, measured in ongoing permanent jobs created in the community, wages and benefits, and build-out of the supply chain or other induced economic effects.

e. Improved environmental performance from energy generation to support public health, measured through positive changes in metrics such as air quality index (AQI), total dissolved solids (TDS), streamflow, and aquifer hydraulic head as a result of the project.

f. Reduce greenhouse gas impact of energy system, measured by change in carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions as a result of the project, relative to an established baseline.

g. Energy Access, reducing the number of homes currently without access to electricity.

2.2.2 Topic Areas

Applicants should consider each Topic Area and use the guidelines below to determine which Topic Area is the optimal fit for their application. Topic Areas are technology neutral.

2.2.2.1 Topic Area 1: Community-Scale Demonstrations

Topic Area 1 solicits proposals to implement clean energy projects with a federal cost share of at least $5 million and at most $10 million, using one or more clean energy technologies that advance resilience and provide other benefits listed above, to a one or more rural or remote communities.

These proposals must demonstrate solutions to barriers that impede broad-scale adoption of clean energy solutions, such as:

• Limited market size.

• Lack of a locally trained workforce.

• Higher project costs due to geographic isolation or other location factors.

• Gaps in existing infrastructure.

Projects proposed under this topic area should be appropriately sized to meet community energy challenges.

Example projects include microgrid designs and service models that enable cost-competitive deployment to a broad set of rural or remote communities; small hydropower systems providing community benefits; hybrid configurations of distributed energy resources that are operable during extreme weather events; and demonstrating operation of existing technologies to new climates.

Applicants to Topic Area 1 must propose to only use commercially available technologies. For purposes of this FOA, commercially available technology is defined as a product that has been offered for sale, lease, or license to the public. This could be done by showing the product can be warrantied, can be purchased from a commercial vendor for the intended purpose or some other justification of the applicant’s choosing, and the technologies must be considered Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 9, as defined by DOE, before the initiation of Construction.

See the Guidance Document available on OCED eXCHANGE under this FOA’s posting for the definition of TRL and its levels.

Proposals must demonstrate the technology is commercially available and identify a plan to procure the proposed technology.

Applicants must propose to demonstrate at least one project installation that benefits at least one rural or remote area. The applicant must clearly articulate benefits of the project to the rural or remote areas and the metrics for assessing these benefits.

2.2.2.2 Topic Area 2: Large-Scale Demonstrations

Topic Area 2 solicits proposals to implement clean energy projects with a federal cost share of at least $10 million and at most $100 million.

Large-scale demonstrations should benefit multiple communities, either through a single installation that benefits multiple rural or remote communities, or through a series of installations with similar or complementary characteristics across multiple communities. For multiple site proposals, the applicant must explain metrics to assess direct benefit to multiple communities.

There are two Areas of Interest (AOIs) for this Topic Area. Proposals may address only one of the two AOIs, but not both, in the same proposal.

Area of Interest 1: Aggregation Aggregation refers to conducting “similar” projects at multiple locations in a manner that leads to a demonstratable benefit relative to conducting that project at only one location. In this context “similar” implies that by virtue of conducting the projects as a portfolio, the proposal addresses one or more of the following:

• Constraints to expanding clean energy, such as limited workforce and supply chain issues.

• Common barriers to rural or remote community energy investments.

• Achievement of lower capital investment costs, economies of scale in purchased equipment or materials, ability to leverage transportation of materials for multiple projects in very remote areas, or other measurable investment improvements.

Example proposals under this AOI include: an aggregation of solar and/or wind farms, with or without energy storage, in multiple locations that share a common administrative and support staff; or grid hardening and resilience efforts to multiple substations. In these scenarios, the applicant must demonstrate benefits to all indicated communities from the energy generation and related economic activity.

Area of Interest 2: Single-Site Projects This AOI includes projects that involve a single installation site that can enable replication of a solution and/or benefit multiple rural or remote communities.

Replication can be achieved many ways; for example, projects may propose investments that can unlock a previously unavailable capability for multiple rural or remote areas that spur follow-on investment in those areas.

Replicability also could be demonstrated by proposing demonstration-ready technologies that are not widely commercially available but leverage unique regional resources. In this latter case, the proposed project might include technology with competitive advantage when deployed in the region, or leverage existing energy assets that have ceased operation, or may soon cease operation, due to the renewable energy transition.

Examples of projects proposed under this topic area include:

• A utility-scale solar, wind farm and/or hydrogen or battery storage facility.

• A bioreactor that uses locally available biomass to replace fossil fuel generation.

• A renewables project that delivers significant additional benefits to a local community.

• A transmission investment that reduces reliance on fossil fuels.

• Clean energy generation in an area having had trouble attracting investment due to geographic isolation.

2.2.3 Regions of Interest

The ERA program encourages applicants to propose technologies that improve one or more rural or remote community’s resilience to climate impacts, while inviting all ideas that meet the Topic Area requirements. The Regional Areas of Interest described below outline example regional energy challenges, as well as technologies that could address the impacts.

This FOA divides the United States into Regions of Interest as shown below. The regional breakdown closely resembles those of other federal agencies and is meant to reflect a diversity of regional energy supply and demand, access, and/or climate resilience issues identified by national laboratory experts. The regional breakdown and issues identified in Table 2 are not all inclusive.

Figure 1. Regions of Interest Map

Table 2 below includes potential energy and climate challenges by region, and corresponding example energy technology solutions. Applicants should consider the energy challenges and technologies in this table, but this table is not exhaustive. OCED also welcomes proposals on risks, challenges, and energy technology solutions outside these lists which meet the topic area requirements outlined in Section 2.2.2. The Region(s) of Interest should be the location of the rural or remote area(s) that will benefit from the project.

• Applicants should first identify the Topic Area specific to their proposal (see Section 2.2.2). Then, applicants must specify all Region(s) of Interest that will benefit from the proposed energy improvement(s).

• Concept Papers and Applications must identify at least one Topic Area and all Region(s) of Interest.

• If the project will cover more than one Region of Interest, the project must address at least one energy challenge per Region of Interest. Projects must propose installation(s) in one or more U.S. states or territories within the Region of Interest or improve rural or remote area(s) in one or more U.S. state or territory within the Region of Interest.

Table 2. Potential Regional Energy Challenges and Technologies

Region Name

States/Territories Common Regional Energy Challenges

Example Regional Technology Solutions

Northeast CT, D.C., DE, MA, ME, MD, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, WV, VA, VT

• Coastal and grid infrastructure resilience

• Aging infrastructure

• Reliance on fuel oil

• Utility-scale storage

• Coal to renewable energy conversion

• District heating, including geothermal

Southeast AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN

• Coastal resilience of renewable power and grid infrastructure

• Aging infrastructure

• Energy systems integration

• Utility-scale solar and wind

• Utility-scale energy storage

• Grid modernization

Midwest IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, MO, OH, WI

• Aging infrastructure

• Wind energy integration

• Reliance on coal

• Utility-scale solar and wind

• Biorefineries

• Decarbonizing the industrial and agricultural sectors

• Grid modernization

South- Central

AR, LA, NM, OK, TX • Wind energy integration

• Climate impacts

• Grid expansion, integration, and modernization

• Utility-scale solar and wind

• Hydrogen infrastructure

• Utility-scale energy storage

North Central

CO, KS, ND, NE, MT,

SD, UT, WY

• Reliance on coal

• Grid expansion, integration, and modernization

• Working with tribal governments to support next-generation clean energy and efficient water use

• Limited transmission access and capacity

• Utility-scale solar and wind

• Biorefineries

• Grid modernization

• Carbon-free agriculture

Southwest AZ, CA, NV • Water constraints

• Increasing energy demand

• Climate impacts, especially fires

• Limited transmission capacity

• Utilities

• Energy-water nexus efficiency

• Geothermal

• Biomass

• Distributed storage and microgrids

Northwest ID, OR, WA • Climate change impacts on energy reliability and energy demand

• Balancing multiple resource interests and protecting the environment

• Working with tribal governments to support next-generation clean energy and efficient water use

• Microgrids

• Hydro and marine hydrokinetic power

• Geothermal for generation and district heating

Alaska AK • Providing affordable, reliable, resilient energy for small, isolated populations

• Reliance on costly diesel fuel

• Microgrids

• Small-, large-scale, and long-duration storage

2.3 Project Management Structure

OCED projects follow a structured, phased management approach. The application should describe how the project will be managed in accordance with these phases. The approach includes the following five phases:

• Phase 0 – Application

• Phase 1 – Detailed Project Planning

• Phase 2 – Project Development, Permitting, and Financing

• Phase 3 – Installation, Integration, or Construction

• Phase 4 – Ramp-Up and Sustained Operations

Each phase includes specific activities and associated requirements, which will be tailored during award and phase negotiations to the size and complexity of the proposed project. Please refer to the OCED ERA Project Management Structure (PMS) section in the Guidance Document available on OCED eXCHANGE under this FOA’s posting for details on each of the phases mentioned above.

2.4 Pre-award Technical Assistance, Related Prize Competition, Related Programming

The ERA program is providing resources to assist communities in building successful teams, developing necessary technical analysis, tracking metrics, and sharing experiences. For this FOA, the Energizing Rural Communities Prize competition, and subsequent ERA FOAs, technical assistance is available to communities to support the initial development of project concepts.

Options for technical assistance and other ERA activities are illustrated below, in Figure 2.

Applicants can access the technical assistance through the ERA website. Experts from the DOE national laboratories are available to meet with communities in an “Office Hour” format, as well as being available for limited individual sessions. Technical assistance has no cost to Applicants.

Region Name

States/Territories Common Regional Energy Challenges

Example Regional Technology Solutions

• Opportunities to apply available hydropower and wind resource baseload power in Railbelt electric grid (as well as other technologies)

• System hardening and redundancy

Islands and Territories

AS, GU, HI, PR,

USVI, and MP

• Reliance on relatively high-cost fuel oil and diesel generation

• Power quality and reliability

• Climate impacts

• Utility and microgrid solar/wind

• Long-duration energy storage

• Small-scale green hydrogen https://www.energy.gov/oced/energy-improvement-rural-or-remote-areas

By mid-2023, regional technical assistance also will be available through a partnership with the EPA’s Environmental Justice Thriving Community Technical Assistance Centers (EJ TCTAC).

Finally, a Grant Program to support small projects less than $5 million in size was announced on May 11, 2023. This programming will include reduced application requirements for community-based clean energy project proposals requiring less than $5 million in federal support, see OCED Exchange DE-FOA-0003045.

For information and guidance please visit the OCED Funding webpage.

The ERA program will coordinate with established federal and non-profit entities that can facilitate connections, including the whole-of-government Rural Partners Network (RPN), led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). RPN Community Liaisons are full-time federal staff members that help enhance connections between rural communities and Federal resources and provide technical assistance tailored to the community’s unique needs and objectives. ERA also will coordinate with USDA’s Rural Utilities Service, which can provide loan financing with debt forgiveness to rural communities for renewable energy.

Figure 2: Pre-award technical assistance, prize competition and related programming https://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/environmental-justice-thriving-communities-technical-assistance-centers https://www.energy.gov/oced/oced-funding-information https://www.rural.gov/

3.0 Award Information

Anticipated Type of Award: Cooperative Agreement

Application Types Allowed: New

Estimated Number of Awards: 7 - 28

Anticipated Funding Amount: $300,000,000

Award Budget: Application budgets are limited to amounts noted on Table 1 per award.

Anticipated maximum federal funding for this FOA:

$300 M

Award Project Period: The maximum project period is 7 years, and the scope of the proposed project would determine that specific project period within the maximum project period.

A Cooperative Agreement is an award funding type where there will be substantial federal scientific or programmatic involvement. See Appendix A of this FOA for additional award information, and the Guidance Document available on OCED eXCHANGE under the FOA’s posting for additional award guidance and information about Substantial Involvement.

The applicant will establish four phases for the proposed project. DOE will initially fund Phase 1.

Subsequent funding for Phase 2–4 is dependent on Go/No-Go determinations and recipient performance.

4.0 Eligibility Information

Section 40103(c) of the BIL defines rural or remote areas as a “city, town, or unincorporated area that has a population of not more than 10,000 inhabitants.” Applications must identify at least one area in the United States (including U.S. territories) with a population of not more than 10,000 (using the 2020 Census Bureau figures) that will benefit from the proposal. The identified area must be either: (a) a city, town or other unincorporated municipality or (b) a Census Designated Place (CDP) or similarly discreet and identifiable community that is not located within an incorporated municipality. Applications that do not satisfy this requirement will be considered ineligible and removed from further evaluation. See the Guidance Document for this FOA available on OCED eXCHANGE under this FOA’s posting for information on how to use the U.S. Census Bureau Data to determine a community’s population.

DOE will not make eligibility determinations for potential applicants prior to the date on which Applications to this FOA must be submitted. The decision whether to apply in response to this FOA lies solely with the applicant.

4.1 Eligible Applicants

4.1.1 Domestic Entities

The proposed 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:

1. Institutions of higher education

2. Non-profit entities

3. For-profit entities

4. Tribal Nations

5. State and local governmental entities

6. Incorporated Consortia

7. Unincorporated Consortia

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. Appendix B lists the information that must be included in a foreign entity waiver request. The applicant does not have the right to appeal DOE’s decision concerning a waiver request.

Federal agencies and instrumentalities (other than DOE) are not eligible to participate in projects funded under this FOA under any capacity. DOE/National Nuclear Security Administration (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.

Please refer to the Applicant Eligibility Guidance section on the Guidance Document for this FOA available on OCED eXCHANGE under this FOA’s posting for descriptions on the types of entities listed above and their requirements.

Please note that DOE will not assess an organization’s eligibility prior to the application deadline.

4.2 Cost Sharing

Applicants are bound by the cost share proposed in their applications if selected for award negotiations. Cost share may be provided in the form of cash or cash equivalents, or in-kind contributions. Cost share must come from non-federal sources (unless otherwise allowed by law) such as project participants, state or local governments, or third-party financing. Federal financing, such as DOE Loan Guarantees, cannot be leveraged by applicants to provide the required cost share or otherwise cover the same scope that is proposed in the application. A contingency reserve will also be required for all Phase 3 and 4 activities.

A minimum of 50% non-federal cost share is required for projects in this FOA, unless the entity applying is eligible for the Special Cost Share described below. This 50% cost share is based on total allowable costs (i.e., the sum of the government share and the recipient share of allowable costs equals the total allowable cost of the project) and must come from non-federal sources unless otherwise allowed by law.

Special Cost Share for Domestic Institutions of Higher Education, Domestic Nonprofit Entities, and U.S. State, Local, or Tribal Government Entities: The recipient cost share requirement for the non-federal share of projects is reduced from 50% to 20% where the prime recipient is a domestic institution of higher education; domestic nonprofit entity; or U.S. state, local, or tribal government entity (including Alaska Native Corporations and Alaska Native Village Corporations).

Applicants who believe their project qualifies for the reduced recipient cost share must be able to provide verification that the above requirements are satisfied.

Each project team is free to determine how best to allocate the cost share requirement among the team members. The amount contributed by individual project team members may vary if the cost share requirement for the project as a whole is met. Although the non-federal cost share requirement applies to the project as a whole, including work performed by members of the project team other than the applicant, the applicant is legally responsible for paying the entire cost share.

If the funding agreement is terminated prior to the end of the project period, the applicant is required to contribute at least the cost share percentage of total expenditures incurred through the date of termination.

The applicant is solely responsible for managing cost share contributions by the project team and enforcing cost share obligations assumed by project team members in subawards or related agreements.

4.3 Responsiveness Criteria

The following types of applications will be deemed nonresponsive and will not be reviewed or considered:

• Applications that fall outside the technical parameters specified in Sections 2.1 and 2.2.

• Applications that do not benefit at least one rural or remote area as described throughout Section 2.2.1.1.

• Applications for proposed technologies that are not based on sound scientific principles

(e.g., violates the laws of thermodynamics).

• Applications including research, development, and pilot-scale activities.

4.4 Limitation on Number of Concept Papers and Applications

Eligible for Review

An entity may submit more than one Concept Paper and Application to this FOA provided that each Concept Paper and subsequent Application describes a unique, distinct concept and provided that a Concept Paper was submitted for each Application. There are no limits to submissions by topic area by the prime applicant. DOE will notify applicants of its determination to encourage or discourage the submission of an Application, potentially including reviewer comments. DOE will post these notifications to OCED eXCHANGE.

5.0 Application and Submission Information

5.1 Application Package

All submissions must conform to the form and content requirements described below, including maximum page lengths. Submissions must follow the following requirements:

• Each must be submitted in Adobe PDF format unless stated otherwise.

• Each must be written in English.

• All pages must be formatted to fit on 8.5- by 11-inch paper with margins not less than one inch on every side. Use Calibri typeface, a black font color, and a font size of 12 point or larger (except in figures or tables, which may be 10-point font). References must be included as footnotes or endnotes in a font size of 10 or larger. Footnotes and endnotes are counted toward the maximum page requirement.

• A control number will be issued when an applicant begins the OCED eXCHANGE application process. The control number must be included with all application documents. Specifically, the control number must be prominently displayed on the upper right corner of the header of every page and included in the file name (i.e., Control Number_Applicant Name_Application).

• Page numbers must be included in the footer of every page.

• Each submission must not exceed the specified maximum page limit, including cover page, charts, graphs, maps, and photographs when printed using the formatting requirements set forth above and single spaced. If applicants exceed the maximum page lengths indicated below, DOE will review only the authorized number of pages and disregard any additional pages.

Note: The maximum file size that can be uploaded to the OCED eXCHANGE website is 50 megabytes (MB). Files in excess of 50 MB cannot be uploaded, and hence cannot be submitted for review. If a file exceeds 50 MB but is still within the maximum page limit specified in the FOA it must be broken into parts and denoted to that effect.

DOE will not accept late submissions that resulted from technical difficulties due to uploading files that exceed 50 MB.

5.2 Application Submission

There are several one-time actions required before submitting an Application in response to this FOA, and it is vital that applicants address these items as soon as possible. Some may take several weeks, and failure to complete them could interfere with an applicant’s ability to apply to this FOA, or to meet the negotiation deadlines and receive an award if the Application is selected. These requirements are as follows:

5.2.1 OCED eXCHANGE

To apply to this FOA, applicants must register with and submit application materials through OCED eXCHANGE at https://oced-exchange.energy.gov, OCED’s online application portal. See detailed instructions at Financial Opportunities: Manuals (energy.gov). OCED eXCHANGE is designed to enforce the deadlines specified in this FOA. The “Apply” and “Submit” buttons will automatically disable at the defined submission deadlines. If an applicant experiences technical difficulties with a submission, the applicant should contact the OCED eXCHANGE helpdesk for assistance (OCED-exchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov).

5.2.2 Unique Entity Identifier and System for Award Management

Each applicant (unless the applicant is excepted from those requirements under 2 CFR 25.110) is required to: (1) be registered in the System for Award Management (SAM) at https://www.sam.gov before submitting its Application; (2) provide a valid unique entity identifier (UEI) number in its Application; and (3) continue to maintain an active SAM registration with current information at all times during which it has an active federal award or an application or plan under consideration by a federal awarding agency. DOE may not make a federal award to an applicant until the applicant has complied with all applicable UEI and SAM requirements and, if an applicant has not fully complied with the requirements by the time DOE is ready to make a federal award, the DOE will determine that the applicant is not qualified to receive a federal award and use that determination as a basis for making a federal award to another applicant. Designating an Electronic Business Point of Contact and obtaining a special password called a Marketing Partner ID Number (MPIN) are important steps in SAM registration.

NOTE: Entities should start the UEI and SAM registration process as soon as possible. If entities have technical difficulties with the UEI validation or SAM registration process, they should utilize the Help feature on SAM.gov. Additional entity validation resources can be found here: GSAFSD Tier 0 Knowledge Base - Validating your Entity.

https://oced-exchange.energy.gov/ https://oced-exchange.energy.gov/Manuals.aspx mailto:OCED-exchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov https://www.sam.gov/ https://www.fsd.gov/gsafsd_sp?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0058422&sys_kb_id=1b5f22581b2115102fe5ed7ae54bcb4e&spa=1

5.2.3 FedConnect

Register in FedConnect at https://www.fedconnect.net. To create an organization account, your organization’s SAM MPIN is required. For more information about the SAM MPIN or other registration requirements, review the FedConnect Ready, Set, Go! Guide at https://www.fedconnect.net/FedConnect/Marketing/Documents/FedConnect_Ready_Set_Go.

pdf.

5.2.4 Grants.gov

Register in Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov) to receive automatic updates when modifications to this FOA are posted. However, please note that Concept Papers and Applications will not be accepted through Grants.gov. As applicable, modifications to this FOA will be posted on the OCED eXCHANGE website and the Grants.gov system. However, you will only receive an email when a modification is posted if you register for email notifications for this FOA in Grants.gov. OCED recommends that you register as soon after the release of the FOA as possible to ensure you receive timely notice of any amendments or other FOAs.

5.2.5 Electronic Authorization of Applications and Award Documents

Submission of an Application and supplemental information under this FOA through electronic systems used by the DOE, including OCED eXCHANGE and FedConnect.net, constitutes the authorized representative’s approval and electronic signature.

5.3 Application Forms

The Application forms and instructions are available on OCED eXCHANGE. To access these materials, go to https://OCED-exchange.energy.gov and select…