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September 13, 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.
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!
Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Grant Program
DOE has announced $521 million in grants, made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to continue building out electric vehicle (EV) charging and alternative-fueling infrastructure across 29 states, two Federally Recognized Tribes, and the District of Columbia, including the deployment of more than 9,200 EV charging ports.
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Greater Minnesota EV Infrastructure Community Program – Minnesota Department of Transportation - $6.4 million to install 42 electric vehicle charging stations for use in rural, tribal, and historically underserved communities in Greater Minnesota. The project will prioritize electrification of shared mobility charging projects like car share, van pools, ride hail and taxis.
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Ready, Set, Charge: Boosting Hennepin County’s EV Network – Hennepin County - $815,760 to install 19 EV charging ports at four county-owned buildings in areas with the highest climate vulnerability and lack of clean transportation options. The project will help close key infrastructure gaps in the county's EV network, increase equitable access to charging stations, promote multimodal transportation hubs, and reduce greenhouse gas and vehicle-related emissions that contribute to climate change.
Community Energy Innovation Prize Winners
Twenty-one teams in the Manufacturing Ecosystem and Clean Energy Ecosystem tracks of the DOE’s Community Energy Innovation Prize each received $100,000 for showing progress with their community-based projects. These PROGRESS Phase winners will move on to the final IMPACT Phase of the prize with a chance to win a portion of the $1.5 million Grand Prize. The Clean Energy Ecosystem Track PROGRESS Phase winners from Minnesota include:
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Convivencia Hispana Energy Navigators - St. James – Are creating a community energy navigator program to provide 200 free energy audits to Latino residents and increase awareness of energy efficiency and clean energy.
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East Phillips Neighborhood Institute and Cooperative Energy Futures – Minneapolis – Are using a former superfund site to build the largest solar array closest to a city center in the U.S. that is member-owned by neighbor residents.
Inflation Reduction Act – Round 1 Building Energy Codes and Innovation Codes
DOE has announced nineteen State and local governments will receive over $240 million to adopt and implement the latest energy efficient or innovative building codes. The 19 selectees funded by the IRA will receive direct technical assistance to support the adoption and implementation of traditional energy codes, zero energy codes, and building performance standards.
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Minnesota Department of Commerce – $8.5 million – A program to build on an existing data-drive building analysis policy by adopting, implementing, and enforcing a building performance standard to reduce emissions from existing buildings by 50% by 2035.
Energy Efficiency Revolving Loan Fund Capitalization Grant Program
The DOE’s Energy Efficiency Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Capitalization Grant Program provides capitalization grants to state energy offices to establish revolving loan funds that provide loans and grants to businesses and homeowners for energy efficiency audits, upgrades, and retrofits to increase energy efficiency.
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Minnesota Department of Commerce – $1.9 million - for a commercial loan program.
Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Awards
The DOE has announced selections of 123 small business projects, totaling $142 million, for research in multiple areas including clean energy and decarbonization. The selections are for Phase II research and development under DOE’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.
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Carbon Solutions LLC. - St Paul - $1,149,997 - SCO2TPRO: Unlocking the Nation’s Subsurface to Support the Energy Transition. Carbon Solutions LLC. is developing the Professional version of the Sequestration of CO2 Tool (SCO2TPRO), a novel database-and-tool approach to screen CO2 sequestration sites rapidly and accurately.
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Carbon Solutions, LLC. - St Paul - $1,649,998 – LOCAETA: Local Climate and Air Quality Emissions Tracking Atlas. The Local Climate and Air Emissions Tracking Atlas is a novel approach to quantifying how industrial emitters affect communities, and which decarbonization technologies can be used to reduce both CO2 and harmful pollutant emissions.
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Terracity LLC. – Waconia – $1,150,000 - Joint Topic: Decarbonization of Agriculture, Buildings, Transport, Industry and their Communities - Shared Mobility Optimizer. Terracity's Shared Mobility Optimizer (SMO) is a groundbreaking tool for transportation planning, leveraging advanced artificial intelligence to evaluate and optimize shared mobility projects like buses and bike share systems. SMO provides faster, cheaper, and more comprehensive planning, leading to increased adoption of shared mobility, decarbonizing transportation, and benefiting communities nationwide.
Section 247: Maintaining and Enhancing Hydroelectricity Incentives – Selections
DOE’s Grid Deployment Office has announced the selection of 293 hydroelectric projects across 33 states to receive over $430 million in Maintaining and Enhancing Hydroelectricity Incentive payments.
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Allete, Inc. - St. Louis River, Scanlon - $1,216,200 to replace Scanlon Tainter Gates 1-7
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Allete, Inc. - Mississippi River, Royalton - $1,920,000 to overhaul the Blanchard Unit 1
Empowering Rural America (New ERA) Program
The USDA has announced more than $7.3 billion in Inflation Reduction Act financing for 16 selectees for rural electric cooperatives to build clean energy for rural communities across the country.
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Dairyland Power Cooperative - This New ERA investment will be used by Dairyland to procure 1,080 megawatts of renewable energy through four solar installations and four wind power installations across rural portions of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois. This nearly $573 million investment is the first New ERA award.
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Great River Energy - This New ERA investment will be used by Great River Energy and its member-owners to procure 1,275 megawatts of renewable energy across rural portions of Minnesota and North Dakota.
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Minnkota Power Cooperative - This New ERA investment will support a carbon capture and storage project (Project Tundra) as well as the procurement of 370 megawatts of wind energy in North Dakota. These projects will create hundreds of short- and long-term jobs, while providing environmental benefits to rural member-consumers in Minnesota and North Dakota.
National Wind Energy Art Challenge
KidWind, along with support of DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office, recruited Kindergarten through 8th grade students from across the country to create artwork about the theme Beautiful Wind Energy. Eighteen winners (two from each grade) have been chosen, along with honorable mentions.
A Beautiful Breeze – Murielle P. Minnesota, 6th Grade Honorable Mention
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)
- Industrial Training & Assessment Centers (ITAC) Implementation Grants
- Energy Storage Pilot Demonstrations
- Feedstock-Conversion Interface Consortium Industrial Partnership Call
- 2024-2025 Energy Class
Notice of Intent (NOI)
- Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas
Request for Information (RFI)
- Enabling and Transformative Technologies for Superhot Geothermal Power
- Engineering Solutions to Harvest Biomass Carbon for Durable Removal and Storage
- Distributed Energy Resource Interconnection Roadmap Draft
Guidance on IRA Tax Credit Programs
- Notice for Proposed Rulemaking – 48E(h) Clean Electricity Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program
Prizes/Awards
- Commercial Direct Air Capture Pilot Prize
Student Scholarships/Competitions/Fellowships
Technical Assistance
Webinars
- SolSmart: Solar PV Permitting and Inspection Best Practices
- Tribal-State Collaboration on Sustainability and Solar Development: A Case Study of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
- Opportunities for Renewable Energy on Contaminated Sites under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund
- Funding Strategies for Nonprofits and Schools: Incentives and Rebates and How to Find Them
Workshops, Meetings, Conferences
- NAWEA/Wind Tech 2024 Conference
Publications/Videos/Webpages
- 2024 U.S. Energy and Employment Report
- Bioenergy Knowledge Discovery Framework
- US Treasury Solar Consumer Protection Resources
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IIJA Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA)
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Industrial Training & Assessment Centers (ITAC) Implementation Grants - § 40521
- Information
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Deadline: Applications reviewed quarterly (October 1, 2024) on a rolling basis
The DOE’s Industrial Training & Assessment Centers Program has re-opened applications for small and medium-sized manufacturing firms (SMMs) to receive grants of up to $300,000 with a 50% cost share. These grants will assist American manufacturing by supporting projects to improve energy and material efficiency, to increase productivity, and to reduce emissions at SMMs.
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Energy Storage Pilot Demonstrations §41001
- DE-FOA-0003399
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Deadlines: Concept Papers: October 16, 2024 | Application: February 13, 2025
DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations has issued this NOFO with $100 million in expected funding for 5 – 15 awards that will advance non-lithium technologies, long-duration (10+ hour discharge) systems, and stationary storage applications.
DOE seeks to directly address challenges in both Technology and Adoption Readiness Level (TRL and ARL), primarily through increasing confidence in performance and cost characteristics, planning for manufacturability and supply chain maturation, and engagement with investors and end users. Specifically, this program seeks to:
- Advance a diverse set of non-lithium long-duration energy storage technologies towards commercial viability and utility-scale deployment.
- Generate high-quality operational datasets and techno-economic models.
- Build investor, utility, and other end user confidence in the real performance and adoptability of the proposed solutions.
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Other Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOA)
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Feedstock-Conversion Interface Consortium Industrial Partnership Call
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Deadlines: Letter of Intent: November 1, 2024| Proposals: December 6, 2024
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Webinar: September 16, 2024 | 12:00 PM CT | Register
- Information
DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office is overseeing a call for industry partnerships to connect industry stakeholders with the capabilities of the Feedstock-Conversion Interface Consortium (FCIC). This FOA will provide resources that allow partners to collaborate with FCIC researchers to address the cost and risk impacts of feedstock and process variability across the bioenergy and bioproducts value chain. Research areas may include biomass supply, handling, transport, storage, preprocessing, and initial conversion. There are three topic areas in this opportunity:
Topic Area 1: Is intended to partner industry stakeholders with one or more FCIC partner national laboratories via a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA).
Topic Area 2: Will provide rapid technical assistance to an industry stakeholder from one FCIC partner national laboratory with relevant capabilities.
Topic Area 3: Focuses on supporting current pilot, demonstration, or commercial scale biorefineries with process design or operational troubleshooting support from one or more FCIC partner national laboratories.
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Notice of Intent (NOI)
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Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas - IIJA
DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations intends to issue a Notice of Funding Opportunity entitled “Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas FY24.” Topic Areas include:
Topic Area 1: Open Category
Topic Area 2: Dual Use and Co-location
Topic Area 3: Smaller-scale Community Centered Projects
Topic Area 4: Isolated Microgrids and Unelectrified Buildings
The NOFO is anticipated to be released in September 2024.
Request for Information (RFI)
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Enabling and Transformative Technologies for Superhot Geothermal Power
DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy seeks input from researchers and technologists of various backgrounds, representing a broad range of fields and disciplines, with the goal of evaluating novel approaches to develop superhot (defined as greater than or equal to 375°C and associated pressures of roughly 22 megapascals (MPa)) enhanced geothermal power for generating electricity and other uses. These approaches should accelerate the construction of high-temperature geothermal wells that may include water in a supercritical state, or “superhot”.
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Engineering Solutions to Harvest Biomass Carbon for Durable Removal and Storage
DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy seeks input for a potential program focused on leveraging the zero-energy carbon dioxide capture process provided by photosynthesis to develop novel, transformational technologies that improve the energy efficiency of the carbon dioxide removal sector. This RFI focuses on:
- Increasing the quantity and efficiency of carbon harvested from above-ground biomass per unit of land, energy, and other inputs, especially for low-productivity, low-input biomass west of the 100th Meridian (i.e., non-farmland areas);
- Processing post-harvest biomass for maximized carbon storage durability and carbon efficiency;
- Improving the management of nutrient cycles within this CDR approach; and
- Understanding the potential economic and environmental underpinnings of sequestering purpose-grown biomass on rangelands.
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Distributed Energy Resource Interconnection Roadmap Draft
This request for information solicits public feedback on the draft Distributed Energy Resource Interconnection Roadmap prepared by the DOE’s Interconnection Innovation e-Xchange (i2X) program. This roadmap covers interconnection solutions for distributed energy resources (DERs) that interconnect with the distribution and sub-transmission systems only.
To address varying needs, the roadmap assigns a deployment level and a timeframe for which each interconnection solution is most appropriate. The roadmap is intended to serve as a guide to DER interconnection stakeholders and Tribes to evaluate and implement solutions for current and emerging interconnection challenges.
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Guidance on IRA Tax Credit Programs
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Notice for Proposed Rulemaking – 48E(h) Clean Electricity Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program
Applicants investing in certain clean electricity generation facilities that produce electricity without combustion and gasification may apply for an allocation of environmental justice capacity limitation to increase the amount of the clean electricity investment credit for the taxable year in which the facility is placed in service. This document describes proposed definitions and requirements that would be applicable for the program.
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Prizes/Awards
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Commercial Direct Air Capture Pilot Prize – BIL § 41005(b)
DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management announced up to $52.5 million to advance carbon dioxide removal technologies that reduce legacy carbon dioxide pollution by removing it directly from the atmosphere to counter-balance emissions from hard-to-abate sectors, such as aviation and shipping.
The Commercial Direct Air Capture Pilot Prize will provide capital to support Direct Air Capture pilots that have exceeded the technology readiness levels eligible for Pre-Commercial DAC Prizes but are not sufficiently demonstrated or commercially de-risked enough to be deployed in the Regional Direct Air Capture Hubs program. This Prize has four phases:
Phase 1: Concept Requirements
Phase 2: Engineering Requirements
Phase 3: Permit Requirements
Phase 4: Operate Requirements
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Scholarships/Student Competitions/Fellowships
Geared towards undergraduate and graduate college students, teams with the most promising building science ideas win paid summer internships at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), or Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to develop their solutions further with top building scientists and industry leaders. This year’s challenge categories include:
~ Building Affordability
~ No Peaking! Managing Peak Power Demand in Buildings
~ Taking Comfort to the Extreme
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Technical Assistance
The DOE’s Energy CLASS Program promotes building and energy management in school districts across America by offering trainings, resources, and a peer-to-peer learning network of schools seeking energy improvements. Energy Class is an opportunity for school staff to receive coaching and 1:1 expert advice on strategic energy management, project development, funding pathways, and related topics to advance their district’s sustainability goals. Energy CLASS will accept an estimated 50 school districts. Energy champions from selected districts will work together to achieve self-identified energy project goals through an outcome-based peer learning model.
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Webinars
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SolSmart: Solar PV Permitting and Inspection Best Practices
- September 17, 2024 | 11:00 AM CT | Register
This free training will provide communities with strategies for streamlining permitting processes and improving solar inspections. The permitting and inspection process is one of the most important tools local governments can use to encourage more rooftop solar installations. This webinar will provide an overview of the program basics and new updates for the solar energy transition.
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Using Community Solar to Cut Energy Burdens in Manufactured Mobile Home Communities
- September 18, 2024 | 1:00 PM CT | Register
In this Clean Energy States Alliance webinar, you will hear about research from the DOE Berkeley Lab, the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, and Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy on connecting community solar with manufactured home communities.
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Tribal-State Collaboration on Sustainability and Solar Development: A Case Study of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
- September 23, 2024 | 12:00 PM CT | Register
The Clean Energy States Alliance presents an exploration of Tribal-State relationships through the experiences of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, which began developing its Sustainability Program in 2014. Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe’s Environmental Director Brandy Toft and Sustainability Coordinator Eugene Strowbridge will provide an overview of their work and make recommendations for how other Tribes and States can work together collaboratively and effectively.
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Opportunities for Renewable Energy on Contaminated Sites under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund
- September 25, 2024 | 12:00 PM CT | Register
The EPA-administered Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) will be investing $27 billion in federal resources and mobilizing significant additional private capital over the next five to seven years to address the climate crisis. Among GGRF-eligible clean energy investments are renewable energy projects on contaminated sites such as brownfields, landfills, and former mine lands. This webinar will discuss creative renewable energy strategies for contaminated sites under GGRF.
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Funding Strategies for Nonprofits and Schools: Incentives and Rebates and How to Find Them
- September 25, 2024 | 1:00 PM CT | Register
The DOE’s Office of State and Community Energy Programs is hosting this webinar on leveraging rebates and incentives. Speakers will highlight resources available to identify local rebate and incentive programs and demonstrate the tangible first step to accessing this funding.
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Workshops/Meetings/Conferences
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NAWEA/Wind Tech 2024 Conference
Sponsored by DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, hosted by Rutgers University and co-organized by the New Jersey Academic Alliance for Offshore Wind, the event will feature technical sessions, software workshops, and a graduate student symposium. Funding is available for student travel support.
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Publications/Videos/Webpages
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2024 U.S. Energy and Employment Report
The DOE has released a comprehensive report on employment trends across the energy sector. The U.S. Energy and Employment report shows that the energy workforce overall added over 250,000 jobs in 2023; 56% of those were in clean energy. Jobs in clean energy grew in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Idaho had the fastest rate of clean energy job growth, increasing at 7.7%, followed by Texas at 6.0%, and New Mexico at 5.9%. For these and other clean energy employment statistics, download the report.
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Bioenergy Knowledge Discovery Framework (BioenergyKDF)
The BioenergyKDF portal, stewarded by Oak Ridge National Laboratory for DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO), is the nation’s premier source of information on biomass potential, providing high-quality data that can guide investments in support of a robust bioeconomy for sustainable, low-carbon energy sources.
BioenergyKDF’s easy-to-use tools include maps for every county in the nation, providing detailed potential biomass opportunities, with modeled resources reflecting local conditions and evolving technologies. The site also provides reports on state-of-technology assessments, technology design pathway analyses, life-cycle assessments, techno-economic analyses, a supply-chain analysis, and the latest on DOE-sponsored bioenergy research across the country.
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US Treasury Solar Consumer Protection Resources
The US Treasury, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Federal Trade Commission have published consumer protection resources for the residential solar power sector to help protect communities from predatory behavior.
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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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