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DOE PRESS RELEASE: DOE Launches New $50 Million Program To Help Communities Meet Their Clean Energy Goals

Press Release

For Immediate Release
January 18, 2023

News Media Contact
(202) 586-4940, doenews@hq.doe.gov

 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY LAUNCHES NEW $50 MILLION PROGRAM TO HELP COMMUNITIES MEET THEIR CLEAN ENERGY GOALS 

‘Clean Energy to Communities’ Program Will Connect Local Leaders with DOE’s National Laboratories to Help Communities Transition to a Clean Energy Future

C2C: Clean Energy To Communities Stakeholder Toolkit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today launched a new up to $50 million program to help communities across the country transition to clean energy systems that are reliable, affordable, equitable, and reflective of local priorities. The Clean Energy to Communities program (C2C) will connect local governments, electric utilities, community-based groups, and others with the innovative modeling and testing tools developed at DOE’s world-class national laboratories to transform their clean energy goals and ambitions into reality. By helping communities reach their clean energy targets, this new program reflects President Biden’s continued commitment to ensuring that every community unlocks the public health and cost-saving benefits of a clean energy future and support President Biden’s goals to decarbonize the electric grid by 2035 and achieve a net-zero emissions economy by 2050.

“With C2C, we’re helping all kinds of communities — from small rural communities to sprawling urban areas — access the tools and scientific and technological expertise they need to bring their energy systems into the 21st Century” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “This exciting program will help communities make informed decisions about their own energy needs and ensure reliable and affordable clean energy is available to Americans everywhere.”

C2C provides integrated technical support to communities across renewable power, grid, mobility, and buildings sectors. The program seeks to provide the type and amount of support communities require to meet their unique interests and needs in transitioning to a clean energy economy. For C2C’s in-depth partnerships, this includes funding to support program participation.

C2C offers three levels of technical assistance:

  • In-depth technical partnerships: Multi-year partnerships that provide cross-sector modeling, analysis, and validation, paired with direct funding to help four to five selected teams of local governments, electric utilities, and community-based organizations each their goals and/or overcome specific challenges.
  • Peer-learning cohorts: Small groups of local governments, electric utilities, or community-based organizations that meet regularly for approximately six months to learn from each other and lab experts in a collaborative environment to develop program proposals, action plans, strategies, and/or best practices on a pre-determined clean energy topic. Cohorts will include approximately 100 communities in total.
  • Expert match: Short-term assistance (40-60 hours) with one or more technical experts to help address near-term clean energy questions or challenges for up to 200 communities.

C2C is led and managed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), with additional support from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It leverages expertise and capabilities from across these labs, including NREL’s Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems platform, on which local leaders can see how a virtual model of their community interacts with actual and emulated clean energy infrastructure and devices, such as wind turbines, controllers, and electric charging stations—helping to de-risk future investments. C2C is funded by DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

C2C builds upon NREL’s Los Angeles 100% Renewable Energy Study, which evaluated a wide range of scenarios to help stakeholders understand possible pathways to the city’s goal of 100% renewable energy by 2045, and the implications of these pathways for people who live and work in the city. The study found that meeting Los Angeles’ goal of reliable, 100% renewable electricity by 2045 is achievable and will provide significant health and climate benefits.

Learn more about EERE, NREL, and C2C, including how to apply for technical assistance.

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U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave SW, Washington, DC 20585, USA
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Recently Released: A Joint Strategy to Transform Transportation

Recently Announced

THE U.S. NATIONAL BLUEPRINT FOR TRANSPORTATION DECARBONIZATION

A Joint Strategy to Transform Transportation

 

In September of 2022, the leaders of the departments of Energy, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency signed a historic memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enable the four federal agencies to accelerate the nation’s affordable and equitable clean transportation future. That MOU called for the agencies to release a comprehensive strategy for decarbonizing the transportation sector that will help guide future policy decisions, as well as research, development, demonstration, and deployment in the public and private sectors.

In January, the agencies released the U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization, the landmark interagency framework of strategies and actions to remove all emissions from the transportation sector by 2050. Jointly announced by U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge, and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael S. Regan, the Blueprint offers a whole-of-government approach to addressing the climate crisis and meeting President Biden’s goals of a 100% clean electrical grid by 2035 and net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The transportation sector—which includes all modes of travel through land, air, and sea to move people and goods—accounts for a third of all domestic greenhouse gas emissions, negatively affecting the health and wellbeing of millions of Americans, particularly those in disadvantaged communities. Transportation costs are the second largest annual household expense in our country and for the poorest Americans, the financial burden of transportation is disproportionately and unsustainably high.

A well-planned transition to a decarbonized transportation system can address these and other inequities and provide equitable, affordable, and accessible options for moving people and goods. Further developing and deploying clean-energy technologies such as electric vehicles and hydrogen and sustainable fuels, while also building out the supporting infrastructure for clean transportation will create good-paying jobs across all segments of the transportation sector and strengthening America’s energy independence.

The Blueprint is a critical step in the ongoing partnership between DOE, DOT, EPA, HUD, and stakeholders and is a significant milestone on the path to realizing an improved and sustainable transportation future.

Full Report Here                                                                                                                                                        Fact-Sheet Here

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DOE Announces Upcoming Funding (est. February 2023)

 

DOE Funding Announcement!

 

Interested partners — Please reach out to UCC for partnership and project opportunities. 

Funding Posting Date: TBD (est. February 2023)
Funding #: DE-FOA-0002892

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)‘s Vehicle Technology Office has announced a notice of intent to issue the Fiscal Year 2023 Vehicle Technologies Office Program Wide Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA).

“This FOA will advance research, development, demonstration, and deployment (RDD&D) in several areas critical to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, including: reduction of weight and cost of batteries, reduction in life cycle emissions of advanced lightweight materials, reduced costs and advanced technologies for both on- and off-road vehicle charging and infrastructure, innovative public transit solutions, and training to increase deployment of these technologies among diverse communities.”

Areas of Interest Include: 

  • Area of Interest 1: High-Capacity, Long Cycle Life Lithium-Sulfur (Li-S) Batteries
  • Area of Interest 2: Advanced Integrated Charging System
  • Area of Interest 3: Charging Concepts for Off-Road
  • Area of Interest 4: Circularity and Sustainability of Polymer Composites for Vehicle Lightweighting and Decarbonization
  • Area of Interest 5: Low Cost, Low Carbon Magnesium Production
  • Area of Interest 6: Novel Lightweight Materials
  • Area of Interest 7: Modeling, Analyzing, and Addressing Knowledge Gaps in the Workforce Supporting Electric Vehicles and the Related Supply Chain
  • Area of Interest 8: Mobility System Approaches Supporting Public Transportation
  • Area of Interest 9: Reducing Soft Costs of Electric Vehicle Infrastructure to Enable Widespread Deployment
  • Area of Interest 10: Addressing Critical Workforce Training Needs for Transportation Electrification
  • Area of Interest 11: Consumer Education for Electric Vehicle Charging
  • Area of Interest 12: Demonstration and Deployment – Open Topic

Learn more about the notice of intent for this FOA Here

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For partners who may be interested in partnering with Utah Clean Cities, please contact Kelly Barrett, Sr. Project Manager or Tammie Bostick, Executive Director.

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