The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) partners with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP) to help remote and island communities transform their energy systems and increase energy resilience.

ETIPP defines "energy resilience" as the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to changing conditions and withstand, respond to, and recover rapidly from energy disruptions.

ETIPP employs a community-driven approach to identify and plan resilient clean energy solutions that address a community's specific challenges. This approach combines the experience and expertise of local community leaders, residents, and organizations with the ETIPP partner network. The ETIPP partner network connects selected communities with regional nonprofit or academic organizations ("regional partners"), energy experts at DOE research institutions (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, NREL, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories), and DOE clean energy technology offices to navigate options for addressing local energy resilience challenges.

By participating in ETIPP, communities receive substantial support from ETIPP experts in the form of technical assistance in energy analysis and planning (learn more in the Technical Assistance section below). Each community is also supported by an ETIPP regional partner that can assist with identifying a community's needs and options and developing their goals.

Following the application evaluation process, selected communities will embark on a project scoping phase (lasting approximately 2 to 6 months) to discuss community priorities and finalize project details with technical assistance providers and regional partners. Selected communities and technical assistance providers will then execute the scoped project over a period of 12 to 18 months.

Please be aware that ETIPP is not a grant program and does not provide direct funding to selected communities. The purchase and deployment of energy infrastructure is also not available through ETIPP, though the program will support the community in identifying funding and finance options to realize their plan.

For additional background information on ETIPP, visit DOE's ETIPP website or contact an ETIPP regional partner.

You are encouraged to apply to ETIPP if you meet the following criteria:

• You are a community or organization in the United States.
• Your community is in a remote location or is on an island.
• You experience energy resilience challenges (for example, frequent energy disruptions or threats to energy infrastructure from natural hazards).