This Interest Form is designed to provide information about and solicit interest for an Evaluation Committee to help review applications for the Oregon Department of Energy’s Community Renewable Energy Grant Program.
The Community Renewable Energy Grant Program is open to Oregon Tribes, public bodies, and consumer-owned utilities. Public bodies include counties, municipalities, and special government bodies such as ports and irrigation districts. Grants are awarded on a competitive basis and priority will be given to projects that support program equity goals, demonstrate community energy resilience, and include energy efficiency and demand response.
At least half of the grant funds will be awarded for projects that serve environmental justice communities, including communities of color, lower-income communities, rural communities, and others. Similarly, at least half of the grant funds will be awarded to projects that support community energy resilience.
The program rules were designed with the help of the Community Renewable Energy Grant Program Advisory Committee, which continues to provide feedback on program implementation and reporting.
ODOE is offering an additional $12 million in funding through four opportunity announcements. Grants of up to $1,000,000 will be available for constructing community renewable and community energy resilience projects. Grants of up to $100,000 will be awarded for planning community renewable energy and community energy resilience projects. ODOE offered the first $12 million in the summer of 2022 and will make additional grant funding available through 2024, so there may also be future opportunities to serve on the evaluation committee.
Past applicants who submitted an Interest Form are encouraged to reapply.
The Grant Evaluation Committee will review project applications submitted during the opportunity announcement using previously established criteria to make recommendations to ODOE’s director about which projects should be funded.
The Community Renewable Energy Grant Program provides grants to:
- Support offsetting the cost of planning and developing community renewable energy projects;
- Make community renewable energy projects economically feasible for qualifying communities;
- Promote small-scale renewable energy projects; and
- Provide direct benefits to communities across this state in the form of increased community energy resilience, local jobs, economic development, or direct energy cost savings to families and small businesses.
The next Grant Evaluation Committee Process is anticipated to begin later in 2023.
In line with the department’s strategic plan and the state’s racial equity goals, the Department aims to form an evaluation committee that reflects Oregon’s demographics, including race, ethnicity, income, ability, gender, and geographic diversity. Sharing this information will help us understand who may be missing from this conversation.
