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August 28, 2024
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and other state and federal funding announcements
The Minnesota Department of Commerce seeks to work with and facilitate connections with local and Tribal governments, utilities, businesses, communities and other entities interested in energy-related partnerships. The opportunities outlined below are funded by the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (IIJA), the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and other state and federal programs.
Announcements: Department of Commerce Energy Programs
Solar on Public Buildings Grant Program Round 2
Join the webinar on September 5 to learn about the Solar on Public Buildings Program, hear about the proposed updates from Round 1, provide input, and prepare for the upcoming Round 2 grant application (opening Monday, October 21, 2024).
The Solar on Public Buildings Grant Program will equip cities, townships, counties, other local governments, and Tribal Nations to lower utilities costs, increase energy independence, expand the clean energy workforce, and take essential action to address climate change.
There is $4.3 million in state funding to be distributed to local governments to build solar arrays (system size up to 40 kilowatts) across Xcel Energy territory in Minnesota. These grants can be paired with federal clean energy tax credits now available to local governments.
Energy-related Funding Awards to Minnesota Entities
Read on to learn more about the most recent innovative Minnesota energy projects (listed by Funding Opportunity Program), and the funding they have been awarded. Congratulations to all the recipients!
2024 Renew America’s Schools Prize and Grant
The 2024 Renew America's Schools Prize and Grant is the second round of funding from the Renew America’s Schools Program. This opportunity helps K – 12 public schools to make energy upgrades, decrease energy use and costs, improve indoor air quality, and create healthier learning environments. DOE has named 21 Winners who earned a $300,000 cash prize for their accomplishments in Phase 1. DOE then identified 16 of those Winners to advance to Phases 2 and 3, inviting them to enter cooperative agreements as Selectees for awards ranging from $7.5 million to $15 million.
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Raza Development Fund Inc & 11 Local Education Agencies – Phase 1 Prize: $300,000 Phase 2 - 3 Award: $7,500,000. Raza Development Fund seeks to identify and implement energy improvements in 12 cost-constrained, community-led charter schools serving disadvantaged communities mainly located in the Southwestern and Western United States. Minnesota Schools funded by this proposal: Academia Cesar Chavez Charter School (St. Paul) and El Colegio Charter School (Minneapolis).
Solar for All – EPA Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund
Under the $7 billion Solar for All program, 60 grant recipients will create new or expand existing low-income solar programs, which will enable over 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from distributed solar energy.
Collectively, these programs will deliver on the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund’s objectives by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollution, delivering cost savings on electric bills for over-burdened households, and unlocking new markets for distributed solar in states and territories that have never had statewide low-income solar program before.
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MN Department of Commerce - $62,450,000
The Minnesota Commerce Department’s Division of Energy Resources will support residential-serving solar for low-income and disadvantaged households in communities across Minnesota, including the federally recognized Tribal communities that share the same geography. Commerce will use Solar for All funds to provide financial assistance (grants, loans, and credit enhancements), workforce development, interconnection, and pre-development technical assistance, energy navigators, community engagement and education, and administration.
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Midwest Tribal Energy Resources Association, Inc. - $62,330,000
The Midwest Tribal Energy Resources Association, Inc. (MTERA) and coalition partners GRID Alternatives (GRID), the Alliance for Tribal Clean Energy (ATCE), and the Native CDFI Network (NCN) will deploy Tribally owned residential solar, along with storage and necessary upgrades, for the benefit of the 35 Tribes located in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The coalition, headquartered in Wisconsin, will leverage the deep expertise and experience of its members to build a program that empowers Tribes and tribal energy champions, provides project-deployment technical assistance necessary to plan and build residentially benefiting solar projects on Tribal Lands in the Midwest, and includes workforce development to enhance Tribal self-determination and self-sufficiency.
Waste-to-Energy Technical Assistance Program
The DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office and National Renewable Energy Laboratory has announced the 2024 community partners for the Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Technical Assistance for State, Local and Tribal Governments Program. The program will provide technical assistance to twenty communities in 14 states. The WTE Technical Assistance program provides quantification of local waste resources, strategic planning support, and evaluation of sustainable WTE pathways, among other high priority matters.
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Ramsey/Washington County Recycling and Energy Board, Stillwater
University Turbine Systems Research
The DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management has announced $8.8 million in funding for 11 university-based research and development projects to improve the performance of hydrogen-fueled turbines. The selected projects will develop advanced materials and components that can better manage and withstand the extreme environment generated during hydrogen combustion to enable the use of up to 100% clean hydrogen in gas turbines for low-carbon power generation.
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Regents of the University of Minnesota - Minneapolis – DOE Funding: $800,000 Non-DOE Funding: $200,000 - Improved Alloys and Performance Prediction Capabilities for Enhanced High Temperature Corrosion Resistance in Hydrogen-Fueled Turbines — The University of Minnesota intends to strengthen the understanding of how material temperature, steam concentration in combustion gas, and the nature of corrosive deposits impact component durability.
DOE Clean Energy Innovator Fellows
DOE announced the 2024 class of the Clean Energy Innovator Fellowship (CEIF), placing fellows at 68 critical energy organizations across 38 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. CEIF recruits recent graduates and energy professionals from diverse backgrounds to spend up to two years supporting Host Institutions' clean energy projects under the guidance of a designated mentor. Fellows receive hands-on experience advancing solutions that will help decarbonize the power system, electrify transportation and industry, and make the U.S. power system more resilient, equitable, and inclusive. DOE provides fellows with a competitive stipend to support their full-time participation in the CEIF program and an allowance for education and professional development opportunities.
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Andrew Peterson - Minnesota Department of Commerce - Advancing Clean Energy: Exploring Energy Storage Solutions for Grid Modernization
Recent and Expected Federal Funding Activity
The federal government issues a variety of announcements related to federal funding opportunities: Requests for Information (RFI), Notices of Intent (NOI) and energy Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA). More information can be found on the Commerce Federal Funding Opportunities web page or by clicking the links below.
To facilitate a quick review of this newsletter, the subject matter of included items is previewed here; full details can be found in the body of the newsletter.
Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA), Administrative and Legal Requirements Document (ALRD), Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), Requests for Applications (RFA)
- Carbon Management – Round 6
- Wood Heater Phase 2 Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA)
- Innovative Queue Management Solutions (iQMS) for Clean Energy Interconnection and Energization Program
- Solicitation 4.0 – Innovations in Floating Offshore Wind
- Carbon Capture, Removal, and Conversion Test Centers
Tribal Governments Funding Opportunities & Items of Interest
- 2024 Office of Indian Energy Program Review
Request for Information (RFI)
- FY 25 Request for Emerging Technologies: GSA Green Proving Ground
- Energy Efficiency Scaling for Two Decades (EES2) and EES2 Research and Development Roadmap
- Interregional and Offshore Wind Transmission
Student Scholarships/Competitions/Fellowships
- Power Your Future Challenge
Webinars
- US Hydropower Supply Chain: Gaps and Potential Remedies
- What’s in the Latest Residential Model Energy Code: Preparing for the 2024 IECC
- An Introduction to Solar+Storage
- Beyond Zero Energy: Balancing Embodied Carbon and Operational Energy Solutions to Achieve Zero Emission Buildings
Workshops, Meetings, Conferences
- Minnesota Cleantech Innovation Summit
- Gateway to Solar Conference
- Electrify Minnesota 2024
- 2024 Minnesota Energy Expo
- Demonstrate Deploy Decarbonize 2024 (Deploy24)
Publications/Videos/Webpages
- Transmission in Minnesota Needs an Upgrade (Video)
- Energy Class Trainings
- Buyers Guide to Carbon Credit Data Quality: Data Driven Tools and Tactics to Find High Quality Carbon Credits
- Foundations of Community Solar Development
- Distributed Wind Market Report: 2024 Edition
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Other Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA)
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Carbon Management – Round 6
The DOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) is re-opening this $54.4 million FOA to solicit applications that reduce carbon dioxide pollution in new Areas of Interest. The funding will support the development of technologies that capture CO2 from industrial and power generation sources or directly from the atmosphere and transport it either for permanent geologic storage or conversion into valuable products such as fuels and chemicals.
Area of Interest - 1F. Reactive Carbon Capture Approaches for Point Source Capture or Atmospheric Capture with Integrated Conversion to Useful Products
Area of Interest - 3F. Engineering-Scale Testing of Transformational Carbon Capture Technologies for Natural Gas Combined Cycle (NGCC) Power Plants
Area of Interest - 3G. Engineering-Scale Testing of Transformational Carbon Capture Technologies in Portable Systems at Industrial Plants
Area of Interest - 3H-a. Preliminary Front-End Engineering and Design Studies (Pre-FEED) for Carbon Capture Systems at Existing (Retrofit) Domestic NGCC Plants
Area of Interest - 3H-b. Preliminary Front-End Engineering Design Studies (Pre-FEED) for Carbon Capture Systems at Hydrogen Production Facilities Using Coal, Mixed Coal/Biomass, or Natural Gas Feedstock
Area of Interest - 4A. Enhancing CO2 Transport Infrastructure (ECO2Transport): Pre-FEED Studies for Multimodal CO2 Transfer Facilities
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Wood Heater Phase 2 Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA)
DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office will fund a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to accelerate wood heater innovation, reduce wood heater pollutants and develop the next generation of efficient and clean wood heaters. Applicants will work with DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley and Brookhaven National Laboratories to develop a scope of work and budget and leverage their unique expertise to develop and validate the performance of innovative wood heater technologies. Up to four projects will be selected with a project duration of 12–24 months, and applicants are expected to provide 20% cost share of the requested funding.
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Innovative Queue Management Solutions (iQMS) for Clean Energy Interconnection and Energization Program
The DOE Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange (i2X) program and Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, through a Partnership Intermediary Agreement with ENERGYWERX, announced the Innovative Queue Management Solutions (iQMS) for Clean Energy Interconnection and Energization program. This program will award $11.2 million to no more than 25 distribution utilities to pilot innovative solutions for managing renewable energy and electric vehicle (EV) charging interconnection and energization queues.
The iQMS program will fund pilot projects to demonstrate new interconnection queue management solutions on actual interconnection, service load request, and energization queues. Applicants may apply to either or both tracks.
Track 1: Generator Interconnection
This track will provide $9.2 million to utilities to pilot distribution-level queue management solutions for interconnection of mid-scale solar PV, wind, storage, small hydropower, and other clean energy projects.
Track 2: Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment Load Requests
This track will provide $2 million to utilities to pilot distribution-level queue management solutions for EV supply equipment load requests and energization queues.
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Solicitation 4.0 – Innovations in Floating Offshore Wind
The National Offshore Wind Research & Development Consortium (NOWRDC), et. al. has released a $10.6 million Request for Proposals for projects that address major areas of need for floating offshore wind. NOWRDC is a nationally focused, independent, not-for-profit consortium of key offshore wind industry stakeholders. NOWRDC is dedicated to managing industry-prioritized offshore wind research and development to maximize economic benefits for the United States. Additionally, successful projects will contribute to the United States’ wind energy and broader climate goals, including the goals of the Floating Offshore Wind Shot. This solicitation has three Topic Areas:
Topic Area 1: Innovations in Ports and Vessels to Support Floating Offshore Wind Deployment
Topic Area 2: Floating Offshore Wind Transmission Technology Advancement
Topic Area 3: Evaluating Uncrewed Underwater Vehicles for Environmental Monitoring Around Floating Offshore Wind Development Infrastructure
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Carbon Capture, Removal, and Conversion Test Centers
DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management announced up to $127.5 million in federal funding to support the development of carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, removal, and conversion test centers for cement manufacturing facilities and power plants. The energy and capital cost associated with state-of-the-art carbon capture systems is a barrier to wide deployment. This FOA supports the establishment of test centers to cost-effectively research and evaluate carbon capture, removal, and conversion technologies in an industrial/utility environment. This FOA has three Areas of Interest:
Area of Interest 1: Carbon Capture, Removal, and Conversion Test Center at an Electric Generating Unit
Area of Interest 2: Enabling Capital Improvements at Existing Carbon Capture Test Facilities
Area of Interest 3: Carbon Capture, Removal, and Conversion Test Center at a Cement Manufacturing Facility
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Tribal Governments Funding Opportunities & Items of Interest
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2024 Office of Indian Energy Program Review
The 2024 DOE of Indian Energy Program Review will be held November 18-22 at the Renaissance Denver Central Park Hotel. This annual event is an opportunity for Tribal Leaders and staff to meet, learn from other Tribes who are pursuing clean energy projects and share in each other's successes. The Program Review will feature project status updates from Tribes across the nation who are leveraging Office of Indian Energy grant funding to deploy clean energy technology. Due to widespread interest in energy development, the Review is also open to all Indian Country.
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Request for Information (RFI)
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FY 25 Request for Emerging Technologies: GSA Green Proving Ground
The General Services Administration’s (GSA) Green Proving Ground program, in collaboration with the DOE’s Building Technologies Office has announced a request for information focused on enabling energy efficiency and decarbonization in commercial buildings, contributing to a more efficient electric infrastructure, and improving resiliency and occupant health. GSA’s Green Proving Ground program makes private and public sector commercial buildings available to building science practitioners to validate promising building technologies in real-world buildings.
The FY 25 RFI is seeking emerging and sustainable technologies that support:
~ Deep energy retrofits
~ All-electric buildings and all-electric vehicle fleets
~ Healthy and resilient buildings
~ Building materials with low embodied carbon
~ Net-zero emission operations
~ Packages of emerging and sustainable technology solutions
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Energy Efficiency Scaling for Two Decades (EES2) and EES2 Research and Development Roadmap
The DOE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office seeks input on the Energy Efficiency Scaling for Two Decades (EES2) Initiative and the draft EES2 Research and Development Roadmap. The purpose of this RFI is to solicit feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on issues related to energy efficiency in microelectronics and its applications, particularly computing applications. DOE is specifically interested in feedback on the initial version (1.0) of the EES2 technology roadmap that accompanies this RFI. Feedback on other aspects of EES2 also are invited.
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Interregional and Offshore Wind Transmission
The DOE Grid Deployment Office is issuing this RFI to seek input from parties regarding issues related to the planning and development of electric transmission facilities to service offshore wind power generating stations on the U.S. West Coast. DOE is primarily interested in feedback on the transmission infrastructure associated with offshore wind and not the offshore wind generation turbines themselves. Transmission infrastructure includes electrical cables, cable corridors, substations, transformers, converters, and other associated equipment located both offshore and onshore. See the Request for Information document for the six questions related to this RFI and response guidelines.
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Scholarships/Student Competitions/Fellowships
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Power Your Future Challenge
- Information
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Virtual Information Session | September 10,2024 | Register
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Deadline: November 19, 2024
The Power Your Future Challenge is a nationwide challenge for high school students to envision clean energy careers. The U.S. Department of Education invites teams to submit innovative action plans that will advance the use of clean energy in their schools and communities.
To get started on the challenge, teachers and community partners can explore the available resources to learn more about clean energy and how teams can develop action plans to impact their communities. Up to 10 winning teams will receive an equal share of the $50,000 prize pool.
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Webinars
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US Hydropower Supply Chain: Gaps and Potential Remedies
- September 5, 2024 | 9:30 AM CT | Register
The DOE’s Water Power Technologies Office welcomes Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm and experts from other government agencies, and the hydropower industry to explore gaps facing the U.S. hydropower supply chain along with potential remedies.
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What’s in the Latest Residential Model; Energy Code: Preparing for the 2024 IECC
- September 19, 2024 | 12:00 PM CT | Register
In this webinar the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy will highlight major differences between the 2024 IECC-R and the 2021 IECC-R and help practitioners understand new and updated requirements throughout the code, including the building thermal envelope, energy credits, compliance paths, and more. This session will also unpack the many new appendices introduced and describe how jurisdictions can support their adoption.
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An Introduction to Solar+Storage
- September 19, 2024 | 12:00 PM CT | Register
Solar combined with energy storage (solar+storage) can provide cost savings and keep essential services powered during grid outages. In this webinar, speakers from Clean Energy Group will answer some of the most commonly asked questions about the design, installation, and economics of solar and battery storage for homes, businesses, and community facilities.
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Beyond Zero Energy: Balancing Embodied Carbon and Operational Energy Solutions to Achieve Zero Emission Buildings
- October 17, 2024 | 12:00 PM CT | Register
The DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy will present the difference between operational energy and embodied carbon and explore integrating a lifecycle approach to achieving zero energy and emission buildings. Learn about the current landscape of embodied carbon and common barriers and potential solutions to balancing both embodied and operational energy in buildings.
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Workshops/Meetings/Conferences
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Minnesota Cleantech Innovation Summit
- September 24, 2024 | Coffman Theater- University of Minnesota | Registration
Registration is open for the 2nd Annual Minnesota Cleantech Innovation Summit. Join hundreds of industry experts, innovators, investors, and other regional partners to explore trends and opportunities in cleantech, with a unique opportunity to hear from the startups in the 2024 Energy Startup Demonstration Cohort.
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Gateway to Solar Conference
- October 8 – 9, 2024 | InterContinental Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport Hotel |Register
The Gateway to Solar Conference, hosted by the Minnesota Solar Energy Industries Association (MnSEIA), is the Midwest's largest solar + storage conference. Each year solar installers and developers, manufacturers, distributors, financiers, engineers, utilities, job trainers, trade unions, non-profits, government agencies, and more gather for quality networking, education, and fun off-site events.
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Electrify Minnesota 2024
- October 21, 2024 | Humphrey School Conference Center, Minneapolis | Register
- Agenda
Co-Hosted by the Beneficial Electrification League, this event will bring together Minnesota leaders to discuss opportunities and challenges around electrification Minnesota’s economy.
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2024 Minnesota Energy Expo
Sponsored by the Minnesota Chapter of ASHRAE, Great River Energy, Xcel Energy and Clean Energy Economy MN - attendees to this Expo will engage in educational sessions on project financing, decarbonization, time of use rates, MN codes, emerging technologies, and data center loads, as well as an exhibitor area, networking, breakfast and lunch.
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Demonstrate Deploy Decarbonize 2024 (Deploy24)
Deploy24 is hosted by the DOE as a gathering of decision-makers, leaders, and experts from various sectors who are focused on accelerating clean energy, decarbonization technologies, and building supply chains in the U.S.
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Publications/Videos/Webpages
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Transmission in Minnesota Needs an Upgrade (Video)
This 1:23 minute YouTube video, produced by Clean Energy Economy Minnesota, discusses the role of transmission line upgrades as a component of Minnesota’s approach to reaching 100% clean energy by 2040.
The DOE Office of State and Community Energy Programs has released Energy Class Trainings to build capacity within local educational agencies (LEAs). This library of free, on-demand content can train staff within LEAs on operations and maintenance, strategic energy management, project development, funding strategies, and related topics to identify pathways to fund and implement energy and health improvements in their facilities and classrooms. Over 35 hours of trainings are available across the following topics:
~ Fundamental Building Science
~ Benchmarking and Energy Management
~ Indoor Air Quality
~ Procurement Strategies for K-12 Facilities and Energy Managers
~ Resilience
~ Stakeholder Engagement
~ Business and Communication Skills
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Buyers Guide to Carbon Credit Data Quality: Data Driven Tools and Tactics to Find High Quality Carbon Credits
Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCM) provide methods for private parties to buy, sell, and invest in carbon credits which help avoid, reduce, or remove greenhouse gas emissions. A successful VCM can finance actions, such as scaling decarbonization technologies, protecting ecosystems, and enabling a just energy transition for communities. This guide, published by RMI and Climate Collective, provides a data-driven, analytical, and actionable framework to help VCM buyers find, compile, analyze, and test the data behind each carbon credit.
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Foundations of Community Solar Development
DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, along with the University of New Hampshire Carsey School of Public Policy’s Center for Impact Finance have developed the Foundations of Community Solar Development, a free, asynchronous, online course designed to support the accelerated development of community solar. This course supports the accelerated development of equitable community solar and is modeled after the Community Power Accelerator’s Learning Lab.
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Distributed Wind Market Report: 2024 Edition
DOE’s Wind Energy Technology Office has published the annual Distributed Wind Market Report provides statistics and analysis of the distributed wind market— which includes power from wind turbines installed near where the power will be used—along with insight into U.S. trends and characteristics. The 2024 edition of the report analyzes distributed wind projects of all sizes and details the U.S. small wind market for the 2023 calendar year.
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Energy-specific funding opportunities, Commerce is here for you
The Minnesota Department of Commerce seeks to work with and facilitate connections with local and Tribal governments, utilities, businesses, communities and other entities interested in energy-related partnerships. The opportunities outlined here are funded by the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act (IIJA), the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and other federal and state energy programs. Interested in partnering with Commerce on funding opportunities or have questions? Stay updated by clicking subscribe below and e-mail us at [email protected].
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