NOAA has launched a grant program to invest in holistic and collaborative approaches to coastal resilience at regional scales.  The program will support collaborative approaches to achieving resilience in coastal regions with an emphasis on risk reduction, regional collaboration, equity, and building enduring capacity.

The program has two funding tracks: Regional Collaborative Building and Strategy Development, and Implementation of Resilience and Adaptation Actions.  Track One supports building capacity for, development of, and collaboration on transformational resilience and adaptation strategies for coastal communities. Track Two supports implementation of transformational resilience and adaptation strategies and associated actions for coastal communities anchored in previous planning efforts.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs (Office of Indian Energy) is soliciting applications from Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) to install clean energy technologies at TCUs.  The DOE Office of Indian Energy is soliciting applications for: (1) clean energy project and curriculum planning (Topic Area 1); and (2) clean energy technology and curriculum deployment (Topic Area 2).

The GRRP Comprehensive cohort provides funding to properties with a high need for investment in utility efficiency and climate resilience. Property owners need no prior experience with recapitalization transactions or green construction, as support will be provided to commission assessments and develop the property’s recapitalization plan. GRRP will provide up to $20 million per property or $80k per unit to cover:

• Added cost of a greener or more resilient alternative to a rehab
  component (for example, heat exchangers instead of a standard
  boiler)
• 50% of the GRRP Award is reserved for the cost of high impact utility efficiency, carbon reduction, renewable energy generation, and
  climate resilient investments (for example, solar or wind power)
• Transaction costs necessary to complete retrofit (up to 30% of the
  GRRP award)

The Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program (WOSB Program) is to help provide a level playing field for women business owners. The federal government limits competition for certain contracts to businesses that participate in the WOSB Program. These contracts are specific industries where WOSBs are underrepresented. Some contracts are restricted further to economically disadvantaged women-owned small businesses (EDWOSBs). SBA maintains a list of those eligible industries and their NAICS codes.

The Solar Prize encourages the rapid development of innovative solar energy solutions capable of addressing the tough challenges facing the solar industry. Solar Prize competitors participate in three contests—the Ready!, Set!, and Go! Contests—to transform their ideas into reality in months, rather than years. Competitors have the chance to win part of $4.1 million in prizes to help them advance in the competition and accelerate the development of their solution.

Round 7 includes an optional additional challenge that focuses on advancing solar in underserved communities. Participants who choose to incorporate this initiative into their solutions have the chance to be considered for a new Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Contest and a bonus cash prize!

New energy technologies are reshaping the national and global energy landscape. Increased deployment of solar technology will require flexible and dispatchable generation and energy storage technologies, like concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) with thermal energy storage, to ensure reliability of the grid. Achieving these targets will depend heavily on reducing the cost of heliostats – which track the sun and reflect light, concentrating it on a receiver – to $50/m2, while improving technical performance, from an existing baseline of approximately $96-$127/m2. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) is seeking to reduce the cost of heliostats, in this prize, by specifically focusing on reducing the cost, or validating the performance of novel components. This prize is designed to accelerate heliostat component technology innovation through the design, development, demonstration, and eventual commercialization of selected heliostat components.

The SCALEUP 2023 FOA seeks to scale the most promising technologies previously funded by ARPA-E. The stranding of promising ARPA-E-funded technologies in their development pathways leaves substantial intellectual property developed with American taxpayer dollars vulnerable to adoption by foreign competitors, who can and do capture it for continued development – and economic benefit – overseas. This harms national competitiveness, as U.S. industries often lose the lead on the development, scaling, and manufacturing of technologies necessary to compete in rapidly evolving global energy markets. Thus, projects selected for SCALEUP 2023 will meet ARPA-E’s statutory direction to achieve the above goals by “accelerating transformational technological advances in areas that industry by itself is not likely to undertake because of technical and financial uncertainty”.

NYSERDA’s various programs (such as residential, commercial, transportation, environmental) outline broad energy and environmental challenges, and then publicly request proposals, from any private or institutional entity, to submit project plans addressing those issues.

NYSERDA is seeking applications from organizations who wish to host a full-time Climate Justice Fellow for 1 year. NYSERDA will fund the fellow’s salary as well as professional development training/mentoring and/or wrap-around services. Fellows must be members of a priority population. Host organizations must be working to advance climate justice and clean energy priorities for disadvantaged communities. It is anticipated that fellows will work in community-based organizations, universities, municipalities, climate tech innovators/start-ups, venture development organizations and clean energy businesses. NYSERDA anticipates funding approximately 150 fellowships through 2024. For eligible host employers, the total award amount is capped at $40k per fellow. A total of $6 Million in funding is available for this program. Applications from eligible host employers will be accepted on a continuous first-come, first-served basis until funds are expended. Funding may be adjusted based on demand and availability of additional funds.

Local governments are critical partners in achieving a new energy vision for New York State. Municipal leaders play a critical role in affecting energy choices in their communities, both in terms of government operations, and also across homes, businesses, and community institutions. The Clean Energy Communities Program provides clean guidance, grants, direct technical support to communities, and recognition to local governments that demonstrate leadership in the area of clean energy.