Energy Future Grants (EFG): Creating a Community-Led Energy Future - FY 2023
| Agency: | U.S. Department of Energy |
|---|---|
| CFDA: | 81.041 |
| Federal FON: | DE-FOA-0002870 |
| Office: | Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP) |
| Multipart Grant: | No |
| Next Due: | 11/10/2023 (Application) |
|---|---|
| Solicitation Date: | 07/20/2023 |
| Match Required: | Recommended |
| Match Type: | Cash/In-Kind |
| Actual Funds: | $27,000,000 (Estimated) |
| Award Range: | $500,000 (Max) |
| Number of Awards: | 50 (Estimated) |
Summary:
The purpose of this program is to support meaningful clean energy investments in communities by providing financial and technical assistance to local government, state, territorial, and/or tribal partnerships to design innovative, multijurisdictional deployment plans that maximize scalable energy affordability. This program will support innovative ideas in and across the power, building, and/or transportation sectors by funding deployment-focused strategic plans that benefit disadvantaged communities.
The strategic goals of this program are to:
- Establish collaborative and sustainable partnerships between local, state, territorial, and/or tribal governments, with a goal of at least three to four partners per applicant team
- Develop innovative deployment-focused clean energy plans in and across the transportation, power, and/or building sectors
- Prioritize plans that result in innovative program designs that maximize energy affordability and provide other benefits of clean energy, including economic development and jobs, housing affordability, health, mobility, and energy access
- Ensure all plans have deployment strategies that benefit disadvantaged communities
This program will support applicants in developing and implementing plans that break new ground in the following three topic areas:
- Topic area 1: transportation: efforts to reduce the energy intensity or greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, with a focus on local or regional economic development partnerships that increase equitable infrastructure and/or mobility; potential areas of interest include:
- Infrastructure: transit-oriented development, zoning changes, streamlined permitting, or road fix-it-first/repair solutions
- Electric vehicles (EVs): mobility roadmaps, EV-ready building codes, mobile charging stations, EV-friendly rates, pricing, or tariffs
- Net zero fuels: public-private partnerships for production, regional, or market-based deployment plans
- Fleet strategies: light, medium, and heavy-duty fleet electrification plans; use of net zero carbon fuels; solutions to address demand charges in partnerships with utilities; or collaborations with ridesharing companies, trucking, transit, freight, and airport fleets
- Topic area 2: power sector: scalable innovations in the power sector through distributed energy delivery models, such as microgrids, that emphasize demand flexibility; potential ares of interest include:
- Electrification: scaled adoption of electric devices that benefit consumers and the power grid
- Resource planning: approaches to ensure local priorities for energy efficiency, storage, and distributed energy are incorporated in utility resource planning
- Local planning, siting, and procurement: permitting or regulatory changes to benefit affordable energy access and deployment
- Topic area 3: buildings: innovations in net zero and existing commercial and residential buildings, including solutions that address the energy burden in affordable housing or improve community facilities; potential areas of interest include:
- On-site generation: plans to scale distributed energy including solar, storage, efficiency, geothermal, or other technologies to reduce emissions and costs
- Codes and incentives: new approaches that account for embodied carbon, environment, or other impacts from buildings
- Strategic ideas: approaches may include retrofits based on building typology, a focus on community assets, or opportunities in manufacturing housing or net zero energy construction
Applicants are not bound to the topic areas above, nor to a single topic area. Applicants are encouraged to propose multisector integrated solutions.
The EFG program will encourage innovation by competitively awarding funds in two phases. This program represents Phase 1 of the EFG program. Following the completion of Phase 1, the funding agency intends to conduct a competitive process for Phase 2 that will fund a subset of teams making progress toward developing and/or implementing their clean energy program designs. Whereas Phase 1 will fund planning efforts, Phase 2 will allow teams to fund work needed to make plans deployment-ready.
Optional webinars are scheduled for this program. Refer to the Application section for details.
Last Updated: October 25, 2023
Eligibility Notes:
Eligible applicants are:
- Local governments
- States
- Territories
- Tribes
The funding agency encourages innovative partnership models that bring together at least three to four jurisdictions per team, such as a state and three cities in the state, several cities in a region, or a city and multiple tribes. In addition, the funding agency encourages partners to team up on a single application, and strongly encourages multijurisdiction teaming arrangements that include a wide range of team members. Ideally, each team should involve a community organization.
The following entities are eligible as subrecipients:
- Nonprofit entities, including community-based organizations (CBOs)
- Institutions of higher education
- Local or regional planning organizations
- Utilities
- For-profit entities
Applicants may submit only one application.
Only new applications will be accepted. Applications for renewals of existing awards issued by the funding agency will not be considered.
Nonprofit organizations described in Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that engaged in lobbying activities after December 31, 1995, are not eligible to apply.
Eligible Applicants:
Local GovernmentConsortia
Native American Tribe
State Government
Application Notes:
Applications must be received by 5:00 p.m. ET on September 30, 2023.
The due date for the application has been extended to 5:00 p.m. ET on November 10, 2023. Additional information is included in the NOFA file.
Applications must be submitted online at infrastructure-exchange.energy.gov.
Applications must include:
- Project narrative (10 pages max)
- SF 424A
- Letters of commitment (2 pages max each)
- Community benefits plan (12 pages max)
- SF 424
- Summary/abstract for public release (1 page max)
- Summary slide (1 page max)
- SF LLL
- U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) work proposal for national lab partner (if applicable)
- Authorization from cognizant contracting officer for federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) (if applicable)
Applications must be formatted on standard-sized pages with margins no smaller than one inch on every side, and must be formatted in black Calibri font no smaller than 12-point, although figures and tables may be 10-point. References must be included as footnotes or endnotes, which will count toward the maximum page requirements, in a font no smaller than 10-point. The control number must be prominently displayed on the upper-right corner of the header of every page and included in the file name. Page numbers must be included in the footer of every page. The maximum file size that may be uploaded is 50 MB. If a file exceeds 50 MB but is still within the maximum page limit, it must be broken into parts and denoted to that effect. Files must be formatted and named according to the specifications detailed on pages 26-27 of the NOFA file.
The following are required in order to submit an application:
- Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number
- SAM (System for Award Management) registration
- SPOC (state Single Point of Contact) notification
Applicants may obtain a UEI number and verify or renew SAM registration status at www.ecivis.com/sam. Applicants in states participating in the SPOC program must contact the relevant SPOC listed in the SPOC file before applying.
Optional webinars will be held for this program as follows:
July 27, 2023
2:00 p.m. ET
teams.microsoft.com
August 3, 2023
4:00 p.m. ET
teams.microsoft.com
Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Opportunity for innovation and impact (40 percent)
- Project implementation and workplan (10 percent)
- Partner team and resources (20 percent)
- Community benefits plan: job quality and equity (30 percent)
As a part of the application evaluation process, applicants may be invited by the funding agency to participate in pre-selection interviews.
Refer to the NOFA file for additional application information.
| Match Required: | Recommended |
|---|---|
| Match Type: | Cash/In-Kind |
| Actual Funds: | $27,000,000 (Estimated) |
| Award Range: | $500,000 (Max) |
|---|---|
| Number of Awards: | 50 (Estimated) |
Match Notes:
Matching funds are not required for this program. Cost share in the form of cash or in-kind contributions is encouraged to maximize the impact of projects; however, inclusion of cost share will not have an impact on review scores during the application evaluation process.
Funding Notes:
Approximately $27 million is available to support approximately 50 cooperative agreements of up to an anticipated $500,000 each through this program. Award availability will vary according to governmental jurisdiction, as follows:
- State/territory: approximately 10 awards
- Local: approximately 35 awards
- Tribal: approximately 5 awards
In addition to monetary awards, this program will provide technical assistance, aiming to ensure that innovative ideas have support through peer sharing, analyses, or other efforts, as detailed on pages 16-18 of the NOFA file.
Award notifications are expected to be made at 5:00 p.m. ET on January 30, 2024, and award negotiations are expected to take place at 5:00 p.m. ET on February 29, 2024.
The project period is expected to last 12 to 18 months and be comprised of one budget period.
Applicants selected for award negotiations must request prior written approval to charge pre-award costs. In addition, award recipients must obtain written authorization from their contracting officer before incurring any major construction costs.
Funds will not support:
- Projects that fall outside the technical parameters of this program
- Proposed technologies that are not based on sound scientific principles
- Projects that do not clearly identify the market barrier and how it will be addressed by a multijurisdictional team
- Projects focused on emerging technologies
- Projects focused on technology validation or demonstration
- Projects that do not clearly identify the underserved community to be served by the solution being developed
- Foreign travel
- Lobbying
- Certain telecommunications and video surveillance services or equipment, as detailed on page 70 of the NOFA file
- Pre-selection interview costs
Contacts:
Program Staff
EnergyFutureGrants@hq.doe.gov
Agency Address
U.S. Department of Energy
1000 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, D.C. 20585
Contact Notes:
Questions should be directed to the program staff no later than three business days prior to the application deadline. Questions and answers will be posted online at infrastructure-exchange.energy.gov, and the funding agency will attempt to respond to questions within three business days, unless a similar question and answer has already been posted online.
Applications must be submitted online at infrastructure-exchange.energy.gov.
The agency address provided is for reference purposes only.
Files:
Other Pre-Award File: US18325_Webinar_FY2023.pdf (99.4 Kb)Application File: US18325_Application_FY2023.zip (651.6 Kb)
NOFA File: US18325_NOFA_FY2023.pdf (794.5 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US18325_TeamingList_FY2023.xlsx (31.3 Kb)
Other Pre-Award File: US18325_Q&A_FY2023.pdf (116.4 Kb)
Federal Forms:
SPOC (67.7 Kb)File Notes:
The NOFA file contains the revised solicitation for this program. The Application folder contains required forms for submission. The Webinar file contains information regarding optional webinars scheduled for this program. The TeamingList file contains a list of organizations with expertise in project topics that are interested in exploring potential partnerships with applicants. The Q&A file contains an updated list of questions and answers regarding this program. The SPOC file contains information on the state Single Point of Contact program.
October 25, 2023
An updated list of questions and answers regarding this program has been released and attached as the Q&A file.
October 12, 2023
An updated list of questions and answers regarding this program and an updated list of potential project partners with topical expertise have been released and attached as the Q&A and TeamingList files, respectively.
September 28, 2023
A revised solicitation for this program, which includes an announcement concerning the changing of the due date for the application, has been released and attached as the NOFA file. The Application section has been updated accordingly.
September 25, 2023
An updated list of questions and answers regarding this program and an updated list of potential project partners with topical expertise have been released and attached as the Q&A and TeamingList files, respectively.
September 13, 2023
An updated list of questions and answers regarding this program has been released and attached as the Q&A file.
September 8, 2023
An updated list of questions and answers regarding this program has been released and attached as the Q&A file.
August 31, 2023
A revised solicitation for this program has been released and attached as the NOFA file. The Application section has been updated accordingly. Additionally, a list of questions and answers regarding this program has been released and attached as the Q&A file.
August 24, 2023
An updated list of questions and answers regarding this program and an updated list of potential project partners with topical expertise have been released and attached as the Q&A and TeamingList files, respectively. In addition, an updated application file has been released and attached as the ProjectNarrative file in the Application folder.
August 11, 2023
A list of questions and answers regarding this program has been released and attached as the Q&A file. In addition, an updated list of potential project partners with topical expertise has been released and attached as the TeamingList file.
Grant Keywords
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Community DevelopmentEnergy
Environment/Natural Resources
Human Services
Transportation