Applications for funding through a U.S. Department of Energy program that supports community-based clean energy will open in January 2023.
The Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Program has $550 million available for communities to develop programming and “deploy clean energy technologies to cut emissions, reduce consumers’ energy costs and help meet President Biden’s goal of a net-zero economy by 2050,” a Nov. 22 DOE news release said.
“This funding is a streamlined and flexible tool for local governments to build their clean energy future,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in the release. “State, local and Tribal communities nationwide will be able to leverage this funding to drive greater energy efficiency and conservation practices to lower utility bills and create healthier environments for American families.”
The $550 million in funding is designed to support state, Tribal and local governments’ efforts to serve clean energy options for more than 250 million Americans, the release reported. The funding for the block grant program is from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The program will provide funding to 1,878 local governments, 774 tribes, 50 states, five U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.
“The total sum, made available through the recent bipartisan infrastructure law, is expected to serve more than 250 million Americans while helping achieve a net-zero economy by 2050,” the U.S. Department of Energy posted on Twitter Nov. 25.
