The Department of Energy’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) manages the DOE’s Mentor-Protégé Program (MPP). The MPP helps increase participation and maximize opportunities for small businesses to work with the Department. The DOE’s MPP seeks to foster long-term business relationships between small businesses and DOE prime contractors and to increase the overall number of small businesses that receive DOE prime contracts and subcontracts.

This program encourages DOE prime contractors to assist small disadvantaged businesses (SDB) certified by SBA under section 8(a) of the Small Business Act (8(a)), other small disadvantaged businesses, women-owned small businesses (WOSB), service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses (SDVOSB), veteran-owned small businesses (VOSB), historically underutilized business zone (HUBZone) small businesses, historically black colleges and universities (HCBUs), and other minority institutions of higher learning to enhance their capabilities and improve their abilities to perform contracts and subcontracts for the DOE and other federal agencies.

For more information about the DOE’s Mentor-Protégé Program, contact the OSDBU office at 202-586-7377 or by email at SmallBusiness@hq.doe.gov

All of the funding available can make identifying and applying for the proper funding streams daunting. This tool helps eligible recipients sort through available federal funds for transportation electrification and helps recipients understand how investments can be matched. It can also help users identify where technical assistance is available.

The Clean Energy to Communities (C2C) program connects local governments, electric utilities, community-based groups, and others with experts from across the DOE national laboratory complex and their customized, cutting-edge analysis. Through unbiased technical support to communities across the country, C2C accelerates the deployment of clean energy systems that are reflective of local and regional priorities. C2C provides three levels of engagement: In-depth technical partnerships; Peer-learning cohorts; Expert match.

Expert Match is intended to help meet that need by providing up to 60 hours of technical assistance (TA) to community stakeholders who have decision-making power and/or influence in their community but need access to additional clean energy expertise to inform upcoming plans, policies, or projects.

Eligible state, local, and Tribal governments can now apply for $430M in funding from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grants (EECBG) Program. Pre-Award Information Sheets are due April 28, with final applications due in July 2023 or January 2024 depending on applicant. The EECBG Program assists eligible government entities in implementing strategies to:

• Reduce fossil fuel emissions in a manner that is environmentally sustainable and, to the maximum extent practicable, maximizes benefits for local and regional communities;
• Reduce the total energy use of the eligible entities; and
• Improve energy efficiency in the transportation sector, the building sector, and other appropriate sectors.
• Build a clean and equitable energy economy that prioritizes disadvantaged communities and promotes equity and inclusion in workforce opportunities and deployment activities, consistent with the Justice40 Initiative.

Buildings UP aims to build capacity to rapidly and equitably transform U.S. buildings. Teams will submit innovative concepts to leverage funding to equitably transform a wide variety of buildings across diverse geographies. As teams progress through the prize, they will receive cash prizes and technical assistance to help bring their ideas to life.

In Phase 1: “Concept”, teams may apply to one of two pathways: Equity-Centered Innovation or Open Innovation. Winners of both pathways will be eligible to advance to Phase 2 and access technical assistance.

Equity-Centered Innovation Pathway: Concepts to deliver scalable and replicable upgrades to buildings in disadvantaged communities, low- and moderate-income households, and underserved commercial, nonprofit, and public buildings. Phase 1 Equity-Centered Innovation winners will each receive a $400,000 cash prize.

Open Innovation Pathway: Concepts for replicable and scalable solutions that addresses a geographic area or building type. Phase 1 Open Innovation winners will each receive a $200,000 cash prize.

There is also an Application Support Prize, where up to 50 winning teams will be awarded $5,000 and up to 10 hours of technical support. Applicants are intended to be those who might not otherwise have the staff capacity, time, or expertise to submit a full Phase 1 submission — such as first-time applicants for BTO funding and community-based organizations (CBOs) representing or serving areas with equity-eligible buildings.

The American-Made Community Power Accelerator Prize is designed to fast-track the efforts of new, emerging, and expanding solar developers and co-developers to learn, participate, and grow their operations to support multiple successful community solar projects.  The goal of this prize is to grow a robust ecosystem of community solar project developers that incorporate meaningful benefits into projects across the United States.

This prize has three phases: Ready! Set! and Grow! By the end of the prize, competitors will be ready to engage with the Community Power Accelerator online platform, which provides a place for competitors to shop their credit-ready projects around to verified project developers, investors, and philanthropic organizations.

The Community Power Accelerator Prize is open to U.S. community solar developers, including new developers, co-developers (organizations who are partnering with a project developer), or developers who are expanding their community solar operations.

The American-Made Community Power Accelerator Prize is designed to fast-track the efforts of new, emerging, and expanding solar developers and co-developers to learn, participate, and grow their operations to support multiple successful community solar projects.  The goal of this prize is to grow a robust ecosystem of community solar project developers that incorporate meaningful benefits into projects across the United States.

This prize has three phases: Ready! Set! and Grow! By the end of the prize, competitors will be ready to engage with the Community Power Accelerator online platform, which provides a place for competitors to shop their credit-ready projects around to verified project developers, investors, and philanthropic organizations.

The Community Power Accelerator Prize is open to U.S. community solar developers, including new developers, co-developers (organizations who are partnering with a project developer), or developers who are expanding their community solar operations.

The American-Made Community Power Accelerator Prize is designed to fast-track the efforts of new, emerging, and expanding solar developers and co-developers to learn, participate, and grow their operations to support multiple successful community solar projects.  The goal of this prize is to grow a robust ecosystem of community solar project developers that incorporate meaningful benefits into projects across the United States.

This prize has three phases: Ready! Set! and Grow! By the end of the prize, competitors will be ready to engage with the Community Power Accelerator online platform, which provides a place for competitors to shop their credit-ready projects around to verified project developers, investors, and philanthropic organizations.

The Community Power Accelerator Prize is open to U.S. community solar developers, including new developers, co-developers (organizations who are partnering with a project developer), or developers who are expanding their community solar operations.

The Department of Defense (DoD) seeks to prototype on-site geothermal solution(s) to address its energy resilience needs through geothermal electricity generation and distribution. Currently the DoD is reliant on off-site electricity providers to obtain energy in support of its critical mission to ensure our nation’s security. DoD is also dependent on off-site electricity to conduct its globe-spanning missions in air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace. This energy dependence creates mission risks due to disruptions from extreme weather and cybersecurity attacks. Therefore, the DoD is seeking a novel approach using the power of the earth through geothermal energy which is carbon-free and can provide continuous/reliable power regardless of weather conditions to 1) maintain military mission continuity and 2) comply with Congressional mandate under the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act to provide its critical missions with 99.9 percent reliable energy by 2030.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) today announced an opportunity for hydropower developers and other stakeholders to receive technical assistance from the DOE national laboratories to advance hydropower’s role on the electricity grid. This technical assistance opportunity is open to hydropower developers, system operators, utilities, energy co-ops, manufacturers, regulators, policymakers, nonprofits, and others. Both for-profit and nonprofit companies or entities that are incorporated (or otherwise formed) under the laws of a particular state or territory of the United States are eligible to apply.

Formerly known as EPA’s State Environmental Justice Cooperative Agreement Program (SEJCA), this program has been renamed to better reflect the multiple entities eligible for the funding as well as the purpose of the program. The EJG2G program provides funding to governmental entities at the state, local, territorial and tribal level to support and/or create model government activities that lead to measurable environmental or public health results in communities disproportionately burdened by environmental harms and risks. These models should leverage or utilize existing resources or assets of state agencies to develop key tools and processes that integrate environmental justice considerations into governments and government programs at all levels.

EPA’s EJ Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program provides funding for eligible applicants for projects that address local environmental and public health issues within an affected community. The EJCPS Program assists recipients in building collaborative partnerships to help them understand and address environmental and public health concerns in their communities.