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 Power’s (DOE) Workplace of the Underneath Secretary for Infrastructure division has handed out $67 billion in clear vitality funding. A plethora of grant alternatives for companies, startups and nonprofits can be found inside a number of departments of the DOE — from grid reliability upgrades to renewable vitality know-how manufacturing amenities. To safe a number of the $97 billion funding obtainable, 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 need to full a brand new part of the grant utility known as the Group Advantages Plans (CBP). This supporting documentation is obligatory for requesting funding from BIL or IRA applications.
Let’s check out the specifics of the CBP, in addition to useful tricks to take into account 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 inside the DOE that you just suppose could also be relevant. Every workplace inside its Workplace of the Underneath Secretary for Infrastructure has a bunch of particular newsletters that handle its particular subject material and issues. These embrace the places of work of Grid Deployment, Cybersecurity, Power Safety and Emergency Response, Clear Power Demonstrations, Mortgage Applications Workplace, Manufacturing and Power Provide Chains, and State and Group Power Program. The newsletters announce grant utility alternatives and related timelines; enroll right here.
The newsletters additionally announce time intervals throughout which you’ll be able to present suggestions that finally shapes a grant’s program design earlier than it goes dwell. The DOE dubs this the “Request for Data (RFI)” stage of the grant course of, so look ahead to that window of time to train your voice.
Group 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 vitality transition.” The CBP holds a variety of weight inside the utility course of — about 20 % of a undertaking’s total rating, which performs a big position 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 govt order, to confront and handle the nation’s underinvestment in deprived communities. To that finish, inside the CBP’s Justice40 part you need to clearly display how funds will circulation to particular deprived communities; create a timeline of when and the way anticipated advantages will circulation to them; handle methods to clearly observe the advantages as soon as they’ve been obtained; and handle anticipated unfavourable environmental impacts for the communities in query.
Variety, Fairness, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA)
The CBP’s DEIA part requires that you just clearly clarify how the undertaking will incorporate range, fairness, inclusion and accessibility targets. This a part of the appliance ought to lay out how your undertaking might companion with companies that both serve or are run by underrepresented populations, in addition to academic establishments and coaching organizations that serve individuals who face limitations to jobs.
Good jobs
For the “Good Jobs” part, display how you propose to draw, practice and retain the expert labor obligatory to finish the undertaking. Moreover, you need to make clear commitments to employee unionization, pathways to development and above common wages and advantages.
Workforce and group agreements
Lastly, workforce and group agreements require candidates to explain native stakeholder engagement plans, making certain that every one native staff concerned within the undertaking are accounted for and guarded. Native stakeholders embrace labor unions, tribal governments and community-based organizations.
If the DOE finally selects your utility, it’s going to put up a abstract of the CBP on-line publicly for transparency and accountability. A DOE-hosted webinar offering extra detailed info will be discovered right here. I’ll dive into the precise grant alternatives in upcoming protection.
