The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) contains over $18 billion in energy efficiency funding that qualifying entities (primarily states, cities, and counties) can pursue. The primary objectives of this funding are to build jobs, save energy, and build energy efficiency infrastructure for the longer-term. To accomplish these objectives, the Administration and Congress have placed heavy emphasis on transparency and accountability in the use of ARRA funds.
At the same time, funds must be obligated and expended rapidly, to have a significant effect on economic recovery in the near future. The Rapid Deployment Energy Efficiency (RDEE) Toolkit is being provided to help recipients of ARRA funding meet these objectives and challenges. The RDEE Toolkit provides detailed program design and implementation guides for 10 broadly applicable energy efficiency programs.
We here at CERTs have been posting as often as possible with updates on recovery news and opportunities in Minnesota to try to assist folks—you can click here to see all blog posts related to the recovery. We have the Rapid Deployment Energy Efficiency Toolkit as one of the posts there, and a good first step for folks to take. To go directly to the EPA’s site, click here.
If you are concerned with the allocation of dollars for larger cities and counties in Minnesota, who will deal directly with the Department Of Energy, you can find that information by clicking here. These larger cities and counties will need to be signed up via grants.gov or fed.connect by June 25th.
If you have questions regarding the EECBG program, please contact the EERE Information Center via toll-free phone at 1-877-EERE-INFO (1-877-337-3463). These two links will also prove helpful for larger cities and counties, here and here.
We called the number above to confirm that the smaller towns and counties do not have to sign up—they will deal directly with Minnesota Department Of Commerce, Office of Energy Security through a competitive grant process. Click here to learn more >>.
If you start digging into the RDEET information now and identifying some decent projects using those guidelines, that may be the best way to get ready for the competitive grants coming soon. And keep watching the Department of Commerce, Office of Energy Security website for further updates at http://www.energy.mn.gov.
