| Memphis-Shelby County Schools Receives Over $9.5 Million in Funding Under Renew America’s Schools Program |
U.S. DOE recently announced recipients of the 2022-2023 Renew America’s Schools Program to promote the implementation of clean energy improvements at K-12 public schools across the country to decrease energy use and costs, improve indoor air quality, and foster healthier learning environments. Memphis-Shelby County Schools was one of the twenty-four schools selected and will receive over $9.5 million for Riverview Elementary and Middle School. The school, which serves over 400 K-8 grade students and is a community shelter for the surrounding neighborhood, will utilize the funding toward improvements, including energy-efficient lighting and HVAC upgrades, boiler plant electrification, new exterior windows, and a solar array.
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Metro Nashville Building Efficiency Upgrades |
Metro Nashville Government’s Department of General Services was awarded over $640,000 from U.S. DOE last fall to complete energy efficiency upgrades at Nashville’s Historic Courthouse. Since then, Metro has worked on converting all lights to LED and is looking to tighten the building envelope and/or upgrade the HVAC system to conserve energy and improve thermal comfort for building occupants. These measures are expected to reduce the building’s electricity consumption by more than 15%.
Additionally, using its Energy Savings Revolving Fund, Metro has converted just under two thousand lights in the Howard Office Building to LEDs, recycling all the bulbs removed. On average, the new LEDs are 60% more energy efficient and are expected to reduce electricity use by 134,000 kWh annually. The upgrades at the Howard Office Building mark Metro’s 36th building upgraded using the Energy Savings Revolving Fund.
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Veracity Nuclear, LLC Receives U.S. DOE Small Business Research and Development Grant |
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| Tennessee Nuclear Energy Advisory Council Business and Regulatory Survey |
The Tennessee Nuclear Energy Advisory Council’s (TNEAC) Business and Regulatory group seeks input regarding economic opportunities and regulatory barriers in the nuclear industry. The survey seeks to delve into these critical dimensions, aiming to identify economic solutions and regulatory challenges that affect the creation and expansion of nuclear facilities and businesses in Tennessee. Complete the TNEAC Business and Regulatory Survey here.
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Congress Passes ADVANCE Act to Support Nuclear Deployment |
Recently enacted legislation known as the ADVANCE Act will support new nuclear reactor deployment in the U.S. The Act directs the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to reduce certain licensing application fees and authorizes increased staffing for NRC reviews to expedite the process. It also introduces prize competitions that U.S. DOE can award to incentivize deployment. Additionally, the Act directs NRC to develop guidance to license and regulate nuclear microreactor designs within 18 months. Furthermore, the Act enables the cleanup and reuse of brownfield sites, including retired or retiring coal plants, for nuclear power plants.
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U.S. DOE Announces $14 Million to Increase Domestic Battery Recycling Nationwide |
U.S. DOE recently announced $14 million to increase consumer battery recycling and create a more sustainable domestic battery supply chain. Staples and battery retailer Batteries Plus were selected to receive over $7 million each to install portable consumer battery recycling drop-offs at their stores. The two companies will create over 1,000 new drop-off locations across the nation for spent batteries from consumer products, allowing consumers easy and free access to turn in old batteries and battery-containing devices and to reduce e-waste. Consumer products, including rechargeable batteries, cell phones, laptops, vacuums, and smartwatches, contain critical minerals and materials such as nickel, lithium, and graphite that can be reused across the clean energy sector.
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Elective Pay – Blueprints for Communities |
U.S. DOE recently announced the Elective Pay – Blueprints for Communities funding opportunity to address knowledge gaps for organizations interested in the Elective Pay provision created by the Inflation Reduction Act, which allows tax-exempt and governmental entities to benefit from clean energy tax credits. The funding will support the development and distribution of blueprints or other guiding reference materials to serve as a resource to communities, including U.S. DOE grantees, as they plan and develop projects eligible for clean energy tax credits through Elective Pay.
The opportunity envisions blueprints as documents that will help guide interested entities through all stages of a sample project, identifying important considerations, opportunities, and restrictions along the road to claiming Elective Pay. A total of $915,000 in funding will be awarded to 3-10 selectees through this opportunity. Applicants can request up to $305,000 to execute proposed activities over the course of 6 months.
Both individual and joint applications are eligible from organizations working to increase community capacity to implement clean energy projects, including energy efficiency and/or access to federal funding. A webinar recording and slides on the funding opportunity are available here. Applications are due August 8.
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Connected Communities 2.0 |
U.S. DOE recently announced $65 million in funding for Connected Communities 2.0 to drive innovation to manage growing building, transportation, and industrial electric loads on the grid. The funding opportunity seeks to validate grid-edge technology innovations in real-world situations and provide tools for utilities; grid planners and operators; automakers and smart charge management service providers; and the communities they serve.
The funding opportunity has two major topical areas:
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- Connected Communities, focused on grid edge technical measures in buildings, industry, and transportation to prepare the electric grid for these new loads and improve the customer benefits and grid resilience.
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Smart Charge Management, focused on various unique urban, suburban, and rural use cases to build confidence in it as an effective approach for electric vehicles to provide flexibility and value to the electric grid.
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Eligible applicants must be domestic entities and include institutions of higher education, for-profit entities, nonprofit entities, and state and local governmental entities. A Teaming Partner List is available here. Concept papers are due August 20, and full applications are due October 10.
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Vouchers for Technical Assistance with Long-Duration Energy Storage |
The U.S. DOE Office of Electricity recently announced two voucher opportunities totaling $1 million in technical assistance for long-duration energy storage (LDES) technologies. One voucher opportunity will aid technology developers of LDES, and the other will aid communities or other entities interested in deploying storage for the first time.
Voucher Opportunity 7 focuses on U.S. for-profit companies developing innovative LDES technologies, excluding hydrogen-based solutions. Eligible technology areas include lithium-ion batteries, flow batteries, lead-acid batteries, zinc batteries, pumped storage hydropower, compressed-air energy storage, and bidirectional thermal energy storage. Recipients will receive in-kind support for services including:
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- Market assessment support
- Business plan formulation
- Technical modeling or analysis
- Testing and performance validation
- Commercialization strategy support
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Voucher Opportunity 8 focuses on LDES community development and targets municipalities, tribes, state or local governments, community development organizations, and utilities interested in first-time LDES deployments. The initiative will provide in-kind support for services including:
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- Siting and permitting support
- Storage project road mapping
- Regional modeling
- Energy use analysis
- Technical feasibility studies
- Community engagement
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Applications for both voucher opportunities are due August 28.
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U.S. DOE recently launched the Science Synthesis Prize under the new Grid Resource Integration Technologies (GRIT) Prize Series. The Science Synthesis Prize aims to address opportunities and challenges as renewable technologies are integrated into the electric grid. U.S. DOE invites students, researchers, industry partners, and key stakeholders to form multidisciplinary teams to develop an in-depth and cohesive research paper that highlights state-of-the-art renewable technologies, addresses the current and projected challenges associated with such technologies, and identifies the renewable integration gaps present throughout the industry that could be addressed with greater investment, research, development and/or awareness.
The $125,000 prize will provide $10,000 for as many as ten teams with five additional $5,000 cash prizes for exceptional submissions. Teaming lists are available here. Applications are due August 30.
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American-Made Solar Prize Round 8 |
The U.S. DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office recently announced $4 million in funding for the American-Made Solar Prize Round 8, designed to spur innovations in solar hardware and software technologies and to address challenges to rapid, equitable solar energy deployment. U.S. DOE is interested in both solar hardware and software technologies. Hardware innovations should be able to be manufactured in the U.S., and software innovations should help address the non-hardware costs of solar, like customer acquisition, financing, and grid integration.
Eligible entities include anyone based in the U.S. with a potentially marketable solar technology solution. The competition will consist of three escalating challenges: Ready!, Set!, and Go!. Applications are due September 26.
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| Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) |
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) REAP provides guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural producers and rural small businesses for renewable energy systems or to improve energy efficiency. Through funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, REAP has increased its grant size to $500,000 for energy efficiency projects and $1 million for renewable energy systems. The current application window closes September 30.
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Technology Commercialization Fund Open Voucher Call |
The U.S. DOE Office of Technology Transitions and the Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF) recently announced the TCF Open Voucher Call program to connect the public with researchers from U.S. DOE National Labs, including Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The program will award up to 21 vouchers for $100,000 in technical assistance redeemable at one of eight U.S. DOE national labs.
Awardees will be selected based on innovative ideas and concepts for advancing energy, sustainability, or other lab-supported initiatives. Participating national labs will provide awardees with expertise and lab validation capabilities to help them advance their concept closer to commercialization. Applications are due October 3.
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EPA Community Change Grants Program |
EPA announced $2 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act for the Community Change Grants Program. Funding is available for projects that deploy clean energy, reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to address environmental and climate justice challenges. These place-based investments will be focused on community-driven initiatives to be responsive to community and stakeholder input.
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There are two separate tracks available:
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Track I: Community-Driven Investments for Change, which is expected to award approximately $1.96 billion for 150 projects at $10-20 million each;
- Track II: Meaningful Engagement for Equitable Governance, which is expected to award approximately $40 million for 20 projects at $1-3 million each.
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Eligible applicants include partnerships between two community-based non-profit organizations and partnerships between a community-based non-profit organization and a local government, institution of higher education, or federally recognized tribe. View the Notice of Funding Opportunity and the Grants.gov page for additional information. Applications are due November 21.
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Equitable Solar Communities of Practice Community Convenings |
The U.S. DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office launched the Equitable Solar Communities of Practice program to support the expansion of equitable benefits in solar adoption. The program consists of five communities of practice, or groups of organizations working on a common problem who exchange information and ideas, that work to identify resource gaps, support the development and dissemination of best practices and resources, and identify and propose new resources, tools, and technical assistance offerings needed to scale equitable solar.
Two of the communities of practice are convening in August:
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August 5 at 1:00 PM Eastern: The Resilience, Storage, and Grid Benefits convening will explore household- and community-level resilience, grid strengthening and grid-level resilience, and improved health outcomes through reduced or shortened power outages.
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August 22 at 2:00 PM Eastern: The Access and Consumer convening will explore challenges and best practices for ensuring access to both rooftop and community solar with strong consumer protections for all households.
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| Southeast Energy Policy Forum |
The Center for Energy, Transportation, and Environmental Policy in the University of Tennessee Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs will host the second annual Southeast Energy Policy Forum on August 14-15 in Knoxville. The Forum will provide educational content and networking opportunities for private and public sector leaders as they navigate new energy markets, decarbonization trends, demand-side technologies, and transportation electrification. Register here for the Forum.
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Southern States Energy Board 64th Annual Meeting |
The Southern States Energy Board will host its 64th Annual Meeting in Chattanooga September 22-24. The Annual Meeting will be hosted by Governor Bill Lee and will explore the theme of Powering Prosperity: Driving the South’s Abundant Energy Renaissance. The meeting serves as a platform for networking and collaboration, fostering the exchange of ideas and best practices that drive progress in energy policy and technology, and as an opportunity for individuals and organizations involved in the energy sector to engage with key industry leaders, policymakers, and innovators. Register for the Annual Meeting here.
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TVA Connected Communities Conference |
TVA’s inaugural Connected Communities Conference will take place September 24-25 in Franklin. Highlights of the two-day event include an interactive exhibition to learn about Connected Communities resources and projects, insights from TVA leadership about transformative initiatives underway across the service area, and dynamic panel sessions featuring Connected Communities’ Pilot Project and Community Partnership leaders. To learn more about the event or to request an invitation, contact connectedcommunities@tva.gov.
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Save the Date: Opportunities in Energy |
The Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council will host the Opportunities in Energy event on November 19 in Knoxville. The event brings together members and stakeholders to discuss all new and upcoming “opportunities” in the advanced energy sector, including trends, businesses, technologies, and other exciting developments. During the event, a state or local leader will be presented with the annual Thomas B. Ballard Advanced Energy Leadership Award. The award honors exemplary leadership and success in championing, connecting, and strengthening Tennessee’s advanced energy economy.
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Tennessee Valley Solar + Storage Conference |
The Tennessee Solar Energy Industries Association (TenneSEIA) will host the 2024 Tennessee Valley Solar + Storage Conference in Huntsville, AL, from November 20-21. The focus of the Conference is to bring together people interested in growing solar business opportunities in the Tennessee Valley and to discuss strategies, market trends, and policies that impact the solar industry. Attendees will participate in in-depth and forward-looking discussions on TVA policy and processes and the evolving technical opportunities facing the industry in the Tennessee Valley region. Register for the Conference here.
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The Preparedness Payoff: The Economic Benefits of Investing in Climate Resilience |
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce recently released a 2024 Climate Resilience Report, The Preparedness Payoff: The Economic Benefits of Investing in Climate Resilience. The report shows that investment in resilience and preparedness can substantially reduce the economic costs associated with disasters. The study revealed that each $1 of investment in resilience and disaster preparedness reduces a community’s economic costs after an event by $7. Each scenario in the report highlights the jobs saved, workforce preserved, and economic savings that would come from investing up-front in resilience and disaster preparedness programs and resources. One of the scenarios included addresses a tornado hitting Nashville. View the full report and overview here.
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Siting of Large-Scale Renewable Energy Projects |
The U.S. DOE Office of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, in collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Regulatory Assistance Project, the Clean Air Task Force, and others, recently released a report, Laws in Order: An Inventory of State Renewable Energy Siting Policies. The report examines the diversity of siting and permitting regulations, authorities, and processes for renewable energy across all 50 states and Puerto Rico. For example, in Tennessee, siting decisions are made at the local level, but State-level certification is required for wind facilities of at least 1 MW or taller than 200 feet. View the report overview page and the interactive map for additional information.
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For more information or to submit an idea for a future Monthly Energy Edition, contact:
Audrey Jackson, Communications Officer
TDEC Office of Energy Programs
615-917-6683 or audrey.jackson@tn.gov
OR
Alexa Voytek, Deputy Director, OEP Programs
U.S. DOE State Energy Program / Innovation & Transportation / Communications
TDEC Office of Energy Programs
615-613-1096 or alexa.voytek@tn.gov
OR
Mark Finlay, Senior Energy Analyst, TDEC Office of Energy Programs
615-772-6011 or mark.finlay@tn.gov
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Acknowledgement: This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the State Energy Program Award Number DE-EE0009487
Disclaimer: This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.
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