United States: Energy & Sustainability Washington Update — August 2023 – Mintz

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law & Inflation Reduction Act
Opportunities

Visit our Energy Funding Matrix for a roundup of all of
the various clean energy opportunities. We update the matrix on a
biweekly basis and welcome any inquiries about how the
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction
Act, along with other relevant federal opportunities, may
impact your business or organization.

IRA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Opens Two Funding
Opportunities

The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), a $27
billion program created by the Inflation Reduction Act, recently
announced two funding opportunities totaling $20 billion. The
deadline to apply to these grant competitions is October 12, 2023.
These two opportunities are in addition to the $7 billion Solar for All Competition announced
in June. From the Environmental Protection Agency:

• The $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund
  will provide grants to support two-to-three national clean
  financing institutions, enabling them to partner with the private
  sector to provide accessible, affordable financing for tens of
  thousands of clean technology projects nationwide. These national
  nonprofits will enable individuals, families, nonprofits,
  governments, small businesses, and others to access the capital
  they need to deploy a diverse suite of clean technology projects in
  their homes, businesses, and communities, which will reduce
  pollution while creating jobs, accelerating progress toward energy
  security, and lowering energy costs. And by mobilizing significant
  amounts of private capital, these national nonprofits will ensure
  that every dollar of public funds generates several times more in
  private investment. At least 40% of the funds from the National
  Clean Investment Fund will be dedicated to low-income and
  disadvantaged communities, including those that are rural
  communities, Tribal communities, communities with environmental
  justice concerns, energy communities, and persistent poverty
  counties. The deadline to apply to this grant competition is
  October 12, 2023.




• The $6 billion Clean Communities Investment
  Accelerator will provide grants to support two-to-seven hub
  nonprofit organizations, enabling them to provide funding and
  technical assistance to public, quasi-public, not-for-profit, and
  non-profit community lenders working in low-income and
  disadvantaged communities—supporting the goal that every
  community in the country has access to the capital they need to
  deploy clean technology projects. These hub nonprofits will enable
  hundreds of community lenders—such as community development
  financial institutions (including Native CDFIs), credit unions,
  green banks, housing finance agencies, and minority depository
  institutions—to finance clean technology projects in
  low-income and disadvantaged communities while also mobilizing
  private capital and building the enduring capacity of community
  lenders to finance these projects for years to come. 100% of the
  funds from the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator will be
  dedicated to low-income and disadvantaged communities.

DOE Proposal for Energy Efficient Water Heaters

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has proposed new energy efficiency standards for
water heaters that, when finalized, will take effect in 2029.
Reflecting input from industry stakeholders, the proposed standards
would require the most common-sized electric water heaters to
achieve efficiency gains with heat pump technology and gas-fired
instantaneous water heaters to achieve efficiency gains through
condensing technology. According to DOE, the proposed standards
would save consumers $11.4 billion on their energy and water bills
every year.

State-Based Home Energy Efficiency Contractor Training
Program

Funding for states to train residential energy contractors was
announced by the DOE to provide $150 million in grants for states
to reduce the cost of training, testing, and certifying residential
energy efficiency and electrification contractors. Also referred to
as Contractor Training Grants, the program will provide states with
funds to develop and implement workforce training programs for
residential efficiency and electrification projects to help
consumers save money on their energy bills. The Administrative and Legal Requirements Document
provides details on this funding opportunity.

New DOE Voucher Program to Bring Innovative Technologies to
Market

The DOE Office of Technology Transitions (OTT), in collaboration
with the Offices of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) and Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), announced a new Voucher
Program, which will provide $27.5 million in in-kind
commercialization support to organizations that have a role in
bringing innovative energy technologies to market nation-wide. This
new program is funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as part
of the Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF). The
Voucher Program leverages DOE’s recent partnership intermediary agreement with
ENERGYWERX, which will work directly with program participants and
facilitate the third-party support needed to accelerate
commercialization of their clean energy technology. The Voucher
Program currently offers four kinds of support: 1)
Pre-Demonstration Commercialization Support; 2) Performance
Validation, Modeling, and Certification Support; 3) Clean Energy
Demonstration Project Siting/Permitting Support; and 4) EERE
Commercialization Support. DOE intends to open the program for
submissions later in summer 2023.

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guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.