Energy Efficiency and Solar Grants

Eligible Applicants are:

- Local agencies: Includes city and any town, county, special district, municipal corporation, agency, port district or authority, tribal government, or political subdivision of any type, or any other entity or authority of local government in corporate form or otherwise.
- Public higher education institutions
- School districts
- State agencies

Commerce will be using the list of small cities and towns determined annually by the Office of Financial Management (OFM) Applicants should reference the official April 1, 2018 Population Determination. (See the Population list in Supporting Documents below.)
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Applicants must have current registration with the State’s Department of Revenue and Secretary of State, as applicable.

The legislation mandates that for the Energy Efficiency Funding:

- At least twenty percent (20%) be awarded to small cities or towns with a population of five thousand or fewer residents.
- The higher the leverage ratio of non-state funding sources to state grant, the higher the project ranking.
- The higher the energy savings, the higher the ranking.
- For school district applicants: Priority consideration must be given to school districts that demonstrate improve health and safety through reduced exposure to polychlorinated biphenyl, and replacing outstated heating systems that use oil or propane as fuel sources. Priority consideration must be given to applicants that have not received grant awards for this purpose in prior biennia.

State agencies may not submit applications for leased facilities. Local agencies and higher educational facilities may submit applications for leased facilities as long as there is a minimum 10-year lease from the time of the final Commerce grant payment.

This program is does not include new construction projects.

Community solar projects are not eligible.

Applications must be received by 5:00 PM (PST) on Monday, December 31, 2018.

Successful Applicants will be notified by close of business March 1, 2019.

The Final Q&A will be published on 12/28/2018. No questions will be accepted after 5:00PM on 12/26/2018.

Estimated Timeline:

- 9/13/2018 Application Opens
- 9/18/2018 Recorded webinar on the application process – 10:00AM – 12:00PM
- 9/21/2018 Frequently asked questions document updated/posted weekly
- 12/26/2018 Question Deadline (Questions submitted after 5PM on 12/26/2018 will not be answered.)
- 12/28/2018 Last FAQ Update (The Final FAQ will be published the morning of 12/28/2018)
- 12/31/2018 Application Closes
- 3/1/2019 Awardees and non-awardees notified
- March 2019 Debriefing Conferences

COMMERCE reserves the right to revise the above schedule.

Applicants may submit one project per application. They must submit Solar Projects and Energy Efficiency Projects separately on the appropriate application. Solar and energy efficiency grant applications will be scored separately.

If an Energy Efficiency project includes a solar installation, the solar costs and data must be deducted from the Energy Efficiency application and submitted as a solar application.

Appicants may submit applications under other Notices of Funding Opportunity; however, The Energy Division at the Department of Commerce will not make multiple awards for the same project.

For funds awarded from federal sources (ARRA), the following federal requirements will apply to your project. If the requirements are contradictory to the state requirements, the most stringent requirements apply. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure understanding and compliance, with all utility, local, state and federal requirements. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that all subcontractors and consultants understand and comply with all requirements including, but not limited to:

- Active Registration through SAM.gov
- Buy American Provisions of the Recovery Act
- Presidential Executive Order on Buy American and Hire American
- Davis Bacon
- Historic Preservation
- National Environmental Policy Act

All contracts will be performance based, with payment made upon successful completion and commercial operation of the project.

Minimum Match Requirements:

- Small Cities and Towns, 33% of the total project cost (leverage ratio of 1:2)
- All others, 50% of the total project cost (leverage ratio of 1:1)

Energy Efficiency Leverage Goals:

Energy Efficiency projects will be scored on the leverage ratio of non-state funding sources to state grant. Projects will be scored based on a goal of 75% (leverage ratio of 3:1).

The NOFO Coordinator is the sole point of contact in COMMERCE for this grant application process. All communication between the Applicant and COMMERCE upon receipt of this NOFO shall be with the NOFO Coordinator, Dever Haffner-Ratliffe.

Webinar recording: https://vimeo.com/292025061/61e3f40d62