ERA Notice of Funding Opportunity Informational Webinar

[Music] good afternoon to everyone uh my name is Todd Shrader I am the principal director for project management here at the office of clean energy demonstrations commonly referred to as oset uh thank you for joining us today to learn more about the uh energy improvements in Rural and remote areas program and the recently announced new funding opportunity oftenly called ER program and we're going to talk more about that today next slide please uh so a little bit about logistics uh as we go through today uh first uh you can turn on live captions by clicking on the captions in your control panel uh to turn on the Spanish or ASL interpretation please click on the interpretation button in your control panel also uh finally you will be able to find recordings of this webinar in English uh and Spanish and a copy of the presentation slides on our website within about a week uh in addition osed will post a Spanish translation of this notice of funding opportunity document to our website in the coming weeks also next slide please uh little disclaimer uh that attending this webinar and watching the recording are completely voluntary and will not impact the application process at all it's meant to be information uh for everyone to see uh in the case of any inconsistencies that might come up today between the funding opportunity document in this webinar the notice of funding opportunity document is the controlling document and and always comply with that uh as you move forward next slide please um so uh before I turn it over to my colleague Regina uh as a lot of people know we have had this program in place for over a year now uh earlier this year we had the uh ability and and pleasure of awarding over selecting over 30 projects uh in the ER area in World remote America uh which uh many have now been awarded they were selected negotiations finished and they've since been awarded um and so this is a continuation of that process uh we learned a lot from that we took a lot of feedback from the uh public in designing this new program and these new funding opportunities and so hopefully as we talk about it today and as you go through the documents you'll see that uh going forward um in this webinar we'll provide just a little bit of an overview again of the program uh the key information particularly of this funding announcement and any next steps or resources associated with that although we are not taking questions today we certainly invite you to share your perspectives and feedback through the email address that will be provided at the end of this presentation uh and so with that outed way I will pass this off to my colleague Regina gayer she is the program manager for ER and she will go through the program and this funding announcement Regina thank you very much Todd and and I also would like to thank all of the participants our great organizers our team thank you all for being with us today so osid this office of clean energy demonstrations that Todd introduced for us was established in December of 2021 that came out of the infrastructure investment and jobs act which most of us know more commonly as the bipartisan infrastructure law or Bill so Bill intended to scale to underscore and support Clean Energy Technologies that are believed that to be needed necessary to tackling our country's most pressing climate challenges and we believe that the support from this program for clean energy Technologies would help us achieve our NetZero missions goal by 2050 so the erra program within osed and managed by osed is intended to help Rural and remote communities demonstrate replicable clean energy projects ultimately encouraging widespread adoption in rural remote us and helping to lower energy costs we hope that we could support Local Economic Development and enhance energy resiliency with these projects that will support this erra program is uniquely designed to address the distinct set of energy challenges that I've referenced distinct to Rural and remote communities the rural and remote communities we know face these challenges due to smaller populations due to frequent isolation from larger Electric Systems the technologies that we support through the ER program are diverse and innovated they have shown replicability and they're scalable so ultimately the drive here is that other rural remote communities could access the benefits that come from these projects and uh replicate them in the future so some important dates on August 22nd of this year we announc the Noti notice of intent to issue this funding opportunity for approximately $400 million on August 3D we announced this notice of funding opportunity for 20 to 50 projects across the United States and our colleague is just about to drop the link for this funding opportunity in the chat thank you very much ER engagement team so in addition to the funding opportunity that's out there there will be a Spanish version of the notice of funding opportunity soon available on the same website so please check our website and exchange for the Spanish version of this funding opportunity Department of energy like many federal agencies is now using the term notice a funding opportunity instead of funding opportunity announcement and we appreciate your patience as we may use those terms interchangeably and funding opportunity announcement still shows up in different places on websit and um in different parts of federal regulations But ultimately we're moving to this notice of funding opportunity per guidance from Office of Management and budget the funding notice of funding opportunity or noo is the acronym that we use that we're talking about today it has the same basic structure and requirements as those prior funding opportunities that the ER program put out there this noo we hope uh was designed to increase accessibility readability and Clarity for applicants based on the requirements outlined in the bipartisan infrastructure law or Bill the projects that we support ultimately under this noo are intended to accelerate clean energy deployment in Rural and remote communities across the United States so this announcement that we're talking about today this noo underscores the administration 's commitment to ensuring that every American ultimately regardless of where they live can unlock the benefits that come with the clean energy this noo is informed by feedback as Todd said and data that were collected by ID from applicants to our prior opportunities directly from rural communities and our public engagements from other stakeholders out there part of energy generation and administration and from previous erra program funding rounds from the solicitations themselves the ra program started awarded funding awarding the funding for the projects we had selected in August of this year and we will cover that in a little more detail later on in the webinar next slide please so the ER program is an important part of what we call ID's overall portfolio in support of delivering clean energy demonstration projects at scale in partnership with the private sector ultimately so that we in Partnership can accelerate deployment market adoption and the Equitable transition to a decarbonized Energy System ID's mandate includes ensuring an equitable transition to a decarbonized Energy System so we want to invest inv in projects in the safest and most transparent way possible Community input not only shapes the specific projects that we fund but also shapes our comprehensive approach to building out we hope this clean energy industry next slide please so this is a transition and I'd like to provide some additional background on the program and our previous funding rounds as context for this noo talking about today next slide please so this is a snapshot of our current projects this new funding opportunity is formed as I said by the feedback and data collected from our prior applicants rural communities and other stakeholders as well as the projects and negotiations that came from our previous funding rounds those rounds included more than 444 million doar of selections and these were what we would say our 36 community-driven projects they span 23 States and territories and more than 40 tribal Nations and communities we also had an additional $15 million invested for prize recipients these projects all of them will utilize 11 different types of Clean Energy Systems and Tech Technologies efficiency upgrades that reduce costs improve access and resilience and mitigate carbon emissions next slide please so our previous funding rounds totaled more than uh in addition the funding opportunities in addition to the prize um totaled more than $450 million in in um investment or selections toward Investments these included that prize I mentioned Cooperative agreements and fixed award grants so the erra prize of $15 million includes $100,000 each to 67 winners in phase one that spanned 31 States and one territory 19 tribal Nations to build what we sought out as essential Partnerships toward clean energy systems or to excellent work and competitive work to secure the capital needed to fund rural remote communities Energy System improvements and clean energy demonstration efforts so those 67 Prize winners received in kind mentorship services and eligibility to compete in phase two of the prize and those Phase 2 Prize winners received an additional $200 ,000 a piece so last month we announced 33 winners in phase two of that prize our colleague has just dropped thank you the link to the prize website so the project Selections in The Cooperative agreement in the middle here were announced in February of this year we included 17 project selections across 20 States and 30 tribal nations with approximately $366 million in funding and anticipated federal cost share that ranged from five to hundred million per project the technology supported by the program are diverse and Innovative as I've said and um they're replicable and scalable the projects include everything from building micro grids for community health centers so that those Health Centers would never lose power that supports life-saving medical equipment during emergencies to projects that construct new hydroelectric facilities on tribal lands that would help offset the need for expensive and polluting diesel fueled generators to date we have announced nine projects nine Awards among the project selected under that Cooperative agreement funding opportunity so uh my colleague has just dropped another Link in the chat and thank you and that is for the Cooperative agreement project web page so in April of 2024 doe announced another 19 projects selected for more than $78 million in funding these were fixed award grants different from The Cooperative agreement these 19 project selections under the fixed award Grant opportunity represented 12 States and 13 tribal Nations and communities we have awarded 14 of those 19 projects to learn more about them you can visit this website uh in the chat and we appreciate your interest we're excited about all of the projects that I've spoken of here and thankful to our partners next slide please so we are very excited uh about this new funding opportunity and we want to provide more information that builds upon the three previous funding rounds from the ER program so funding opportunity signifies the initial step the first step in the application Pro process and an agency in this case Department of energy and osid within the Department of energy has issued this official notice that we are ready to receive your applications your proposals under this funding opportunity next slide please so the noo that we're talking about today anticipates awarding approximately $400 million for between 20 and 50 projects with Federal WS that would range from 2 million to 50 million that's a federal cost share these projects are envisioned to help communities lead in developing tailored clean energy projects best suited for their specific needs so a quick listing of what the projects must support are the following and these are the eligible activities the products must improve overall cost effectiveness of energy generation improve sighting or upgrade of transmission and distribution lines reduce greenhouse gas emissions from generation provide or modernize electric generation facilities develop micro grids and or increase Energy Efficiency those six points come directly from the bill that's what we're charged to do Under the bipartisan infrastructure law so from our funding opportunity that we're talking about today eligible applicants include Indian tribes state and local government entities nonprofit organizations for-profit organizations other tribal organizations Rural Electric cooperatives farming associations and cooperatives labor unions institutions of higher education Incorporated consorti and unincorporated consortia for all of the topic area as in the noo we welcome project aggregators in other words entities that identify and propose several projects or several sites together in one application they act as a hub in a way for multiple multiple sites the project aggregator approach could be used to reduce overall costs and uh to include communities that may not have the capacity to apply for this funding on their own next slide please so our organization osid seeks projects that demonstrate how to address Community perception permitting and sighting and the downstream value chain these are all common uh barriers and challenges to adoption of Clean Energy Technologies without tackling these barriers they will continue to persist in Project projects across the United States and can hinder clean energy projects from going forward from Full implementation some examples include collaborating with community members to build positive perceptions of clean energy projects navigating land and water permitting to expand grid connection and ensuring that local communities will directly benefit from the projects being proposed next slide please so about Community benefits the four pillars of our community benefits plan that we outline in the noo include one community and labor engagement the second category is diversity Equity inclusion and accessibility the third category investing in the American Workforce and the fourth category is the justice sp0 initiative so ID's engagement with communities kicks off during award negotiations at that time we will work with selectees to strengthen their Community benefits and incorporate any input in both sides and more importantly Community benefits commitments are meant to be adaptable so as the projects as proposed as awarded or as negotiated progress lessons will be learned and the community inut input that's received will be very valuable to both sides we at osed will continuously evaluate and update the commitments at each project management phase to accommodate new information and we'll work with our partners to do this next slide please so to best serve rural communities we have created four topic areas uh for which applicants May apply getting into the content of the actual noo now uh next slide so here is our table that summarizes the noo we intend to support a diverse range of clean energy projects and the following topics are included you see on the screen here one through four the open category the Dual use and collocation category the smaller scale Community centered category and a category for isolated microG grids and unel electrified buildings depending on the topic area under which uh you apply applicants should expect to fund at least 20 or 50% of the project please note that tribal state and local governments as well as nonprofit primary applicants may qualify for a waiver to reduce that cost share from 50 that's uh how ID's General sets out to do 50-50 cost share but there you may qualify for a waiver down to 20% or as low as 5% cost share next slide please so the open category we'll start with number one the open category aims to fund clean energy infrastructure for different project types in rural or remote areas that best serve the community's need needs and reduce environmental impacts we've included uh several examples in the funding opportunity and you will see some priority technology and technology types listed here on the slide but for this topic area the open category we aim to fund a variety of Technologies ranging from solar to geothermal to microgrids next slide please on to topic area two so this this is the Dual use and collocation topic area this topic area seeks to fund projects that either use land or water for both energy Supply and other activities or are collocated with other activities resulting in other benefits Beyond energy Supply and reduced pollution these demonstrations could help address potential conflicts between clean energy and other land and water uses maybe manage maximize tangible measurable co-benefits of clean energy projects Beyond supplying energy and reducing pollution or the demonstrations could help increase Equitable access to clean energy through new business models and financing structures applicants in this topic area could propose projects that provide co- benefits to communities Beyond supplying energy and reducing pollution such as as reducing land use conflicts conserving water diversifying incomes or enhancing Partnerships next slide thank you so topic area three is called smaller scale Community centered this topic area aims to fund smaller scale projects that are Community centered to increase long-term capacity local capacity for clean energy projects so we encourage applicants to collaborate with relevant Partners particularly tribal governments and community- based organizations or entities that have experience other entities with experience developing renewable energy projects and similar areas and for this topic area we aim to fund a wide range of Technologies from battery storage systems to water power to converting fossil fuel powered equipment to Electric next slide please and topic area four is called isolated microG grids and unel electrified buildings so this topic area intends to fund clean energy projects for either isolated microG grids that are often located in Ultra remote areas and serve primarily by diesel generators or unel electrified homes or Community build buildings that are not currently served by an electrical grid so a quick reference to projects not of interest and we included a list in the noo intended to help guide applicants we do not intend to fund through this funding opportunity large transmission projects although we note in the noo that if you believe using higher voltage or longer lines is crucial to the success of a project you may justify why you are including those components in the application the second item example not of Interest are single we call single campus projects that serve only regular operation of one facility however another caveat and this is included in the noo is that applicants May propose single campus project projects that include backup power from emission free sources for critical Community serving buildings examples solar plus battery storage for a cultural center that serves as a command center and uh potentially a warming Center during power outages the third type of project not of interest is simply electric vehicles EVS or short connected to that is we would not uh seek to fund projects solely focused on EV charging although and this Nuance is included in the noo EV charging infrastructure may be a component of a broader and otherwise eligible project and lastly we would not seek to fund projects including only weatherization so overall give this guidance truly intended to be helpful about applications and projects not of Interest we do encourage former applicants who have applied to the erra program for the past two uh funding opportunities to apply to this current funding opportunity if you see that you meet eligibility next slide please so thank you for your attention with that and I know that was a lot of information I'm going to pass it to tanu my colleague and the stakeholder engagement specialist for this erra program and she will go over the next step in our process and and uh resources that are available to applicants thank you very much next slide please thanks Regina and thank you all for hanging with us um so I'll walk you a little bit through our uh technical assistance um so the era program is providing resources to assist communities in building successful teams um developing necessary technical analysis tracking metrics and sharing experiences so for this funding opportunity the technical assistance will be available to communities to support the initial development of project Concepts so one option for technical assistance is through uh the national renewable energy laboratory or enro and that includes up to 12 hours of no cost phone conversations with each potential applicant so examples of these technical assistant top topics include describing the technology Andor systems to be developed construction activities infrastructure development describing a preliminary development plan in Timeline detailing the qualifications experience and capabilities of proposed project team and or developing your community benefits plan so please note that while our inra experts will work to assist with project planning all applicants are responsible for authoring their own applications so potential applicants can apply for technical assistance by visiting the website or emailing the address on the slide and one of my colleagues is placing that just placed that in the chat for you there uh the 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 this technical assistance will be available starting October 2024 so uh this month so there are two additional options for technical assistance and they are the environmental justice thriving community's technical assistance centers or EJ tict taac for short and the Federal Energy funding for Rural or remote areas uh that's a guide for communities so through those EJ Tic Tacs potential applicants can receive direct technical assistance trainings and capacity building support and you see that uh add address for that to link over to those Tic Tacs or in the chat so in addition potential applicants can access the guide for communities shown here um through the link on the chat and it's there um for you also in the slide so this guide is intended for people who live or work in Rural and remote areas and who are looking to plan or build clean energy projects in their communities so that guide will provide an overview of many federal programs that offer funding or advice to support these types of of projects and again that is added to the chat for you so I'm going to walk you now through the application process timeline so following this funding opportunity announcement that happened on October 3rd applicants will be required to submit a concept paper by February 27 2025 to be eligible to subm a full application so following the review of concept papers osed will send an encourage or discourage notification to applicants in the spring of 2025 so please note applicants May submit an application regardless of whether they received encourage or discourage but you must submit the concept paper so applicants who have submitted a concept paper paper and are still interested in applying uh must submit that by must submit the full application by August 28 2025 applicants will have about I will have a 100 days to apply to this funding opportunity so we uh osed attends to announce project Selections in Spring of 2026 so I want to be sure that you can reach us regarding any questions or concerns about this new funding opportunity via the email on screen and we're dropping it here in the chat for you we are committed to ensuring your voice is heard in this process and we look forward to receiving all of your perspectives so please sign up if you haven't already to receive osed news and updates you can use the link that's been dropped there that is the best resource to stay uh in the know with All Things o said and with that on behalf of all of our speakers we appreciate you taking the time to join us to learn about the latest air program funding opportunity as I mentioned before please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions and concerns thank you and have a great rest of your day [Music]