Grant Funding Notice: Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas

Office:  Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations    
FOA Number:   DE-FOA-0003045
Access the FOA:  OCED eXCHANGE 
FOA Amount:  $50 Million 

Background Information   

On May 11, 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) issued $50 million in grant funding for the Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas (ERA) Program to help deploy community-driven clean energy solutions in rural and remote areas across the country. This funding opportunity will award grants for projects with a dollar amount between $500,000 to $5 million and requires no cost-share from recipients to help ensure an equitable transition to a clean energy future.

The ERA Program aims to fund clean energy projects with at least one of the following resilient clean energy objectives: 

  1. Improving overall cost-effectiveness of energy generation, transmission, or distribution systems;
  2. Siting or upgrading transmission and distribution lines;
  3. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy generation in rural or remote areas;
  4. Providing or modernizing electric generation facilities;
  5. Developing microgrids; and,
  6. Increasing energy efficiency.

Download the full funding opportunity for more information on objectives.

Eligibility   

Eligible applicants include institutions of higher education, for-profit and non-profit organizations, state, local governments, and Tribal Nations, incorporated and unincorporated consortia. 

Topic Area

This funding opportunity has one topic area: 

  1. Community-driven clean energy projects of at least $500,000 and at most $5 million, using one or more clean energy technologies that improve reliability and/or resilience of energy systems, reduce energy poverty, or improve environmental performance of energy generation in a rural or remote community.

Download the full funding opportunity for more information.   

Funding  

OCED expects to make anywhere from 10-100 awards between $500,000 to $5 million for each project. Additional funding opportunities may follow this announcement. 

Download the full funding opportunity for more information. 

Key Dates 

Informational Webinar: 

 05/30/2023 at 2 p.m., ET 

Submission Deadline Pre-Applications: 

07/13/2023 by 5 p.m., ET 

Submission Deadline for Full Applications: 

10/12/2023 by 5 p.m., ET 

Expected Date for DOE Selection Notifications:

February 2024

Expected Timeframe for Award Negotiations:

Spring 2024

Download the full funding opportunity for more information on eligibility.   

Additional Information