2024-2025 Grassroots Arts Program Grants

The Washington State Department of Commerce is initiating a Request for Applications (RFA) to fund clean energy projects across Washington State. This grant program aims to support the planning, design, and construction of various clean energy initiatives. Approximately $34 million will be available in a general round, open to all eligible project types and applicants. The overall mission aligns with advancing clean energy infrastructure and decarbonization efforts within the state. Target beneficiaries for this program include a broad range of entities such as associate development organizations, federally recognized tribal governments, for-profit entities, utilities (investor-owned, cooperative, or public retail electric), K-12 school districts, local governments, non-profit organizations, private and public educational institutions, other academic or research institutions, state agencies, and tribes’ contracted service providers. The impact goals are to reduce emissions in hard-to-decarbonize sectors, bring private investment and federal funding to the state, improve grid integration, advance community resilience, and accelerate beneficial load integration and demand management. The program prioritizes several key areas. These include electric grid modernization and innovation, innovative large-scale and dual-use solar projects, solar energy retrofits for public buildings, clean energy project siting and permitting, and building, industry, aviation, and maritime decarbonization. Additionally, projects that leverage private and federal funding are highly encouraged. Specific project categories outline more detailed focuses, such as large-scale solar innovation (over 100 kW AC at a single site or 1 MW across multiple sites, without displacing critical habitat or productive farmland), dual-use commercial solar, and grid integration and innovation focusing on distributed energy resources and non-wire alternatives. Expected outcomes and measurable results include the development and demonstration of distributed energy resources, improved integration of renewable energy and energy storage, and the implementation of sustainable microgrids. For planning projects, the expectation is that they will lead to a capital asset or support pre-development work, land use studies, or planning efforts to improve permit timeliness and certainty. Construction projects are expected to result in installed solar PV on public buildings or contribute to the reduction of emissions and economic development in hard-to-decarbonize sectors. The minimum award amount is $50,000, with a maximum of $3,000,000, indicating a focus on funding a diverse range of project scales.