Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project now accepting applications

Eligible remote, island, and islanded communities are encouraged to apply

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, is currently accepting applications for the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP). Eligible remote, island, and islanded communities facing energy system resilience challenges are encouraged to apply for technical assistance by April 15, 2022.

Successful applicants will gain access to ETIPP regional partners to assist in planning and prioritizing their communities’ energy goals and challenges, and energy experts from national laboratories to plan and analyze the energy resilience solutions defined in the project.

Community-driven project proposals may plan energy technologies that can provide resilience and other community benefits, including, but not limited to, energy efficiency in buildings, hydropower, microgrids, solar, wind, geothermal, storage, tidal or wave energy, and grid infrastructure needed to support electric transportation, among other industries.

The process will include input from applicants’ community leaders, residents, and organizations, to help them define their energy resilience goals and proposed technical assistance project. Based on those goals, communities will create an energy planning or analysis project that they will refine and work on over approximately 20 months: 1 to 2 months to plan, and 12 to 18 months to work on the project.

Remote, islanded, and islanded communities are defined as:

• Remote communities are isolated from a reliable electrical grid by geographical impediments or from large population centers, and as a result have limited access to centralized energy systems.
• Island communities are isolated from the mainland by waterways.
• Islanded communities are not grid-tied to large transmission-scale power systems, and as a result experience frequent issues with electric reliability and/or power quality. These communities may or may not be categorized as “remote” or “island.”

Eligibility criteria includes:

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

To learn more, visit the ETIPP application page, register for the upcoming ETIPP Webinar,  and contact ETIPP staff with any questions.