The Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) intends to issue a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) entitled “Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas FY24.” The goals of this investment area are to:

1. Deliver measurable and sustained benefits to people who live in rural or remote areas by funding replicable clean energy projects that lower energy costs, improve energy access and resilience, increase economic opportunity, and/or reduce environmental harm.
2. Demonstrate rural or remote energy system approaches using climate-resilient technologies, business structures that promote economic resilience, accessible and appropriate financing mechanisms, and/or best practices in community leadership and engagement, and workforce development.
3. Build clean energy knowledge, capacity, and self-reliance in rural and remote parts of America.

Funding will support materials, equipment, time, labor, and other resources to build clean energy projects in rural or remote communities and run other allowable activities as proposed (e.g., collaboration, outreach, and engagement with Tribes and stakeholders, or workforce development programs).

Key Objectives:

• Provide cleaner, more resilient, more reliable, and/or cheaper local energy sources for rural and remote communities.
• Increase community capacity to plan, build, and operate clean energy systems, e.g., by developing available technical expertise locally and with partners, and/or increasing community support for those projects.
• Demonstrate models of approaches, visions, and paths to share with and support similar communities pursuing clean energy planning and projects.
• Identify and publish further needs and opportunities for supporting rural and remote clean energy projects, to share with interested parties.

Requirements:

This program serves rural and remote communities, namely those with 10,000 people or fewer. Projects must support at least one of these eligible activities:

• Improving overall cost-effectiveness of energy generation, transmission, or distribution systems;
• Siting or upgrading transmission and distribution lines;
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy generation in rural or remote areas;
• Providing or modernizing electric generation facilities;
• Developing microgrids;
• and Increasing energy efficiency.