Funding Guidance
America’s Federal Funding Opportunities and Resources for Decarbonization
This tool is primarily intended to streamline state, local, non-profit, and community efforts to increase understanding of eligible funding, tax credits, and other incentives relevant to your project, goals, and community. The tool focuses on decarbonization efforts, including electricity, transportation, buildings, and resilient energy systems. It does not exhaustively capture federal resources for other topics. Use the filters below to sort available funding sources automatically and focus on the funding sources relevant to your project, goals, and community. Then use the compare feature to select up to 4 programs most relevant to review side-by-side.
Updates
The AFFORD tool will be updated on a monthly basis until otherwise noted. This version of AFFORD was last updated in January 2024.
Learn More
For more information on the AFFORD tool, check out our Funding Guidance. Contact Matthew Popkin (mpopkin@rmi.org) or Alex Dane (alex.dane@wri.org) with any questions or feedback.
Displaying 3 out of 263 Funding Opportunities
| New or Existing | Program Name | Purpose | Agency | Sub-Department | Eligibility Requirements | Matching | Funding Available | Max Award | Expected Allocations | Average Award | Deadline | Decarbonization Considerations | Equity Considerations | Helpful Tips | Other Notes | Only for Federal Emergency Declaration? | Webpage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New - IIJA |
Grid Innovation Program - Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program
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To coordinate and collaborate with electric sector owners and operators to demonstrate innovative approaches to transmission, storage, and distribution infrastructure to harden and enhance resilience and reliability and demonstrate new approaches to enhance regional grid resilience. | Department of Energy (DOE) | Grid Deployment Office (GDO) & Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) | Eligible entities include states, combinations of states, Indian Tribes, unites of local government, and public utility commissions. | 50% cost share required | $1,820,000,000 | $250 million in general, $1 billion for projects that deploy significant transmission investments | 4-40 | $180,000,000 | January 12, 2024 (Concept Paper); April 17, 2024 (Full Application) | The shift from fossil fuels to electricity hinges on a reliable electric grid, making grids resilient to disaster, and upgrading grids with modern technology to help improve service reliability, reduce costs, and encourage electrification. | Historically marginalized communities are more vulnerable to grid outages. Consider demonstration projects that showcase adaptive microgrids, or reliable and resilient system operations utilizing high levels of distributed renewable generation and energy storage in these communities to minimize disruptions. | N/A | N/A | No | https://www.energy.gov/gdo/grid-innovation-program |
| New - IIJA |
Grid Resilience Utility and Industry Grants - Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program
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To support activities, technologies, equipment, and measures meant to reduce the likelihood and consequences of electric grid damage in the face of extreme weather events. | Department of Energy (DOE) | Grid Deployment Office (GDO) & Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) | Eligible recipients for the competitive program include: electric grid operators, electricity storage operators, electricity generators, transmission owners or operators, distribution providers, and fuel suppliers. | 50% cost share required in general, 1/3 cost share required for small utilities | $918,000,000 in total; 30% of the total funding will be set aside for small utilities. | Either the total of the applicant's last three years of resilience investments or $100 million, whichever is lower | 10-20 | $91,800,000 | Concept paper due 1/12/2024 | Consider activities that are supplemental to existing grid resilience efforts, reduce the risk of power lines causing a wildfire, or reduce the likelihood and consequences of disruptive events. Eligible uses include, but are not limited to, weatherization technologies and equipment, undergrounding of electrical equipment, relocation of power lines, and use or construction of distributed energy resources like microgrids and battery storage. | Historically marginalized communities are often more vulnerable to grid outages. Consider building microgrids, new distribution lines, and/or upgrading existing transmission infrastructure to minimize the disruptions in these communities. | This Program falls under a broader DOE Initiative "Building a Better Grid (which includes multiple federal funding streams). For more information, see: https://www.energy.gov/oe/articles/building-better-grid-initiative | Small utilities are defined as entities that sell no more than 4,000,000 MWh of electricity per year. | No | https://www.energy.gov/gdo/grid-resilience-utility-and-industry-grants |
| Existing - IIJA Increase |
Smart Grid Grants (GRIP)
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To fund grid investments that provide flexibility and help quickly rebalance the electrical system, facilitate the aggregation or integration of distributed energy resources, provide energy storage, provide voltage support, and anticipate and mitigate impacts of extreme weather events or natural disasters on grid resilience. | Department of Energy (DOE) | Office of Electricity (OE) | Eligible applicants include electric utilities, such as investor-owned utilities, municipality-owned utilities; Load serving entities, or load distribution companies, which provide electricity distribution services; Retail distributors or marketers of electricity which sell electricity to consumers; System operators which coordinate, control, and monitor the operation of the electrical power transmission systems within a single state or region; and Manufacturers of appliances and equipment to enable smart grid functionalities. Projects must promote the goal of deployment, including development of component technologies. | 50% cost share required | $1,080,000,000 | $50 million, except (a) Projects that aggregate multiple utility service territories: $100 million (b) Projects that deploy advanced conductors for transmission line capacity improvement at scale: $250 million | 25-40 | $33,750,000 | January 12, 2024 (Concept Paper); April 17, 2024 (Full Application) | This program helps to implement the necessary upgrades to the electric grid enabling it to work more efficiently and be more resilient, as well as making it capable to effectively integrate renewable and energy efficient technologies and demand management practices. Applicants should partner with utilities to identify local and regional needs. | Applicants should consider partnering with utilities to train a next-generation smart grid workforce. | N/A | This program falls under the broader Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program. See more at: https://www.energy.gov/gdo/grid-resilience-and-innovation-partnerships-grip-program | No | https://www.energy.gov/gdo/smart-grid-grants |
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To coordinate and collaborate with electric sector owners and operators to demonstrate innovative approaches to transmission, storage, and distribution infrastructure to harden and enhance resilience and reliability and demonstrate new approaches to enhance regional grid resilience.Compare
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To support activities, technologies, equipment, and measures meant to reduce the likelihood and consequences of electric grid damage in the face of extreme weather events.Compare
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To fund grid investments that provide flexibility and help quickly rebalance the electrical system, facilitate the aggregation or integration of distributed energy resources, provide energy storage, provide voltage support, and anticipate and mitigate impacts of extreme weather events or natural disasters on grid resilience.Compare