Energy Future Grants (EFG)
Federal Agency
Sub-Department
Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP)
Purpose
To provide financial and technical assistance to support innovative – novel or early action – clean energy planning to benefit disadvantaged communities.
Applicant and/or Project Eligibility Requirements
Eligible applicants are local governments, states, territories, and tribes. Example topic areas include transportation, power sector, and buildings.
Decarbonization Considerations
Example projects include those 1) support the reduction of the energy intensity or greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector, 2) scale innovations in the power sector through distributed energy delivery models that emphasize demand flexibility and expand the use of zero-carbon fuels, clean energy siting, or procurement strategies, and 3) develop innovative solutions for building retrofit programs or performance standards to drive resilience, electrification, and decarbonization in the building sector.
Equity Considerations
All selected projects need to benefit disadvantaged communities. Communities are considered disadvantaged if they are in census tracts that meet the thresholds for at least one of the categories of burden (climate change, energy, workforce, water and wastewater, transportation, health, housing, legacy pollution) and are low-income, or are located on land belonging to Federally Recognized Tribes.
Helpful Tips
It is suggested that applicants include at least 3-4 or more of these governmental partners (e.g., a state and three cities in the states, several cities in a region, and a city and multiple tribes, etc.) in their applications. Applicants are encouraged to partner to form multijurisdictional teams and with community-based organizations (CBOs), academia, utilities, and/or non-profit entities.
Other Notes
DOE will award $37 million in funding in two phases. Phase 1: $27 million over 12-18 months in this funding opportunity. Phase 2: $10M over 2 years in a future funding opportunity (Successful Phase 1 awardees will compete for awards of up to $1 million).