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U.S. Department of Energy Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Competitive Grants

Up to $454 million is available in EECBG competitive grants. The competitive grants Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) was first issued on October 19, 2009 and was revisedPDF on November 20, 2009. View a summaryPDF of the changes made to the original FOA. Applications were accepted through Grants.gov until December 14, 2009.

DOE released this FOA seeking innovative state, local government and Indian tribe programs funded under the Recovery Act. This FOA will use up to $454 million in Recovery Act EECBG funds for these competitive grants awarded in two topic areas — (1) the Retrofit Ramp-up Program and (2) the General Innovation Fund.

The goal of this competitive FOA is to stimulate activities that move beyond traditional public awareness campaigns, program maintenance, demonstration projects, and other "one-time" strategies and projects. DOE seeks to stimulate activities and investments which can:

  1. Fundamentally and permanently transform energy markets in a way that make energy efficiency and renewable energy the options of first choice; and
  2. Sustain themselves beyond the grant monies and the grant period by designing a viable strategy for program sustainability into the overall program plan.

In this FOA, DOE was seeking applications which:

  • Leverage the participation and support of multiple local jurisdictions, regional planning agencies, and state energy offices;
  • Prioritize energy efficiency and/or energy conservation as first in the loading order before investments are made in new generation; however, DOE is interested in applications that integrate cost-effective renewables with efficiency.
  • Move beyond the planning stage and ready for implementation;
  • Clearly articulate and demonstrate the ability to achieve measurable stretch goals and that have the potential to make an impact at the regional or national level; and
  • Maximize the creation and/or retention of jobs in the United States.

The first topic area, the "Retrofit Ramp-Up" program, awards up to $390 million for innovative programs that are structured to provide whole-neighborhood building energy retrofits. These are projects that demonstrate a sustainable business model for providing cost-effective energy upgrades for a large percentage of the residential, commercial, and/or public buildings in a specific community. Possible approaches include innovative partnerships between the public and private sector, utility retrofit and audit programs, alternative financing, retail partnerships, and others. DOE expects to make 8 to 20 awards under this topic area, with award size ranging from $5-75 million.

The second topic area, the "General Innovation Fund," awards up to $64 million to cities, counties and State-recognized Indian Tribes that were not eligible to receive population-based formula grant allocations from DOE under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program. These funds are intended to help expand local energy efficiency efforts and reduce energy use in the commercial, residential, transportation, manufacturing, or industrial sectors. DOE expects to make 15 to 60 awards, with award size ranging from $1-5 million.

DOE issued this FOA in conjunction with the Recovery through Retrofit Report issued by White House Middle Class Task Force and the Council on Environmental Quality. Applicants were encouraged to be aware of guidance and other information in this report.

For complete details on the availability of funds, please see the revised FOAPDF, or view the frequently asked questions regarding the competitive grants.

Additional Resources

How to Apply

For complete application details, please see the revised FOAPDF. Or view a summary of the key application stepsPDF.