For the reason that passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation (BIL) in 2021 and the Inflation Discount Act (IRA) 14 months in the past, the Division of Vitality’s (DOE) Workplace of the Below Secretary for Infrastructure division has handed out $67 billion in clear power funding. A plethora of grant alternatives for firms, startups and nonprofits can be found inside a number of departments of the DOE — from grid reliability upgrades to renewable power expertise manufacturing amenities. To safe a number of the $97 billion funding out there, candidates should courageous a bureaucratic system. 

Step one to use? Earlier than filling out any particulars in regards to the particular grants you’re focusing on, you will need to full a brand new part of the grant utility known as the Neighborhood Advantages Plans (CBP). This supporting documentation is necessary for requesting funding from BIL or IRA packages. 

Let’s check out the specifics of the CBP, in addition to useful tricks to contemplate when embarking on a federal grant utility tied to BIL or the IRA funding. 

Keep up-to-date with the DOE

First, join any and all newsletters throughout the DOE that you simply assume could also be relevant. Every workplace inside its Workplace of the Below Secretary for Infrastructure has a number of particular newsletters that handle its particular subject material and considerations. These embody the places of work of Grid Deployment, Cybersecurity, Vitality Safety and Emergency Response, Clear Vitality Demonstrations, Mortgage Packages Workplace, Manufacturing and Vitality Provide Chains, and State and Neighborhood Vitality Program. The newsletters announce grant utility alternatives and related timelines; enroll right here.

The newsletters additionally announce time durations throughout which you’ll be able to present suggestions that finally shapes a grant’s program design earlier than it goes stay. The DOE dubs this the “Request for Info (RFI)” stage of the grant course of, so look ahead to that window of time to train your voice.

Neighborhood Advantages Plans: The what and why

The DOE says it created the newly required CBP supporting doc for each BIL or IRA program funding utility to make sure “broadly shared prosperity within the clear power transition.” The CBP holds lots of weight throughout the utility course of — about 20 p.c of a challenge’s general rating, which performs a big function in figuring out a funding award. The rating facilities round how your utility will implement the next 4 sections required for the funding:

Justice40 Initiative

In January 2021, the Biden administration launched the Justice40 Initiative, inside an government order, to confront and handle the nation’s underinvestment in deprived communities. To that finish, throughout the CBP’s Justice40 part you will need to clearly reveal how funds will movement to particular deprived communities; create a timeline of when and the way anticipated advantages will movement to them; handle clearly observe the advantages as soon as they’ve been obtained; and handle anticipated unfavourable environmental impacts for the communities in query. 

Range, Fairness, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA)

The CBP’s DEIA part requires that you simply clearly clarify how the challenge will incorporate range, fairness, inclusion and accessibility goals. This a part of the appliance ought to lay out how your challenge might associate with companies that both serve or are run by underrepresented populations, in addition to instructional establishments and coaching organizations that serve individuals who face limitations to jobs.  

Good jobs

For the “Good Jobs” part, reveal how you propose to draw, prepare and retain the expert labor obligatory to finish the challenge. Moreover, you will need to make clear commitments to employee unionization, pathways to development and above common wages and advantages.

Workforce and neighborhood agreements

Lastly, workforce and neighborhood agreements require candidates to explain native stakeholder engagement plans, guaranteeing that each one native staff concerned within the challenge are accounted for and guarded. Native stakeholders embody labor unions, tribal governments and community-based organizations. 

If the DOE finally selects your utility, it would submit a abstract of the CBP on-line publicly for transparency and accountability. A DOE-hosted webinar offering extra detailed info might be discovered right here. I’ll dive into the particular grant alternatives in upcoming protection.