Grants for Individuals - Energy

ROGRAM DESCRIPTIONThe U.S. Embassy Nairobi, Public Diplomacy Section (PDS) of the U.S. Department of State is pleased to announce that funding is available through its Public Diplomacy Small Grants Program. This is an Annual Program Statement, outlining funding priorities, focus themes, and the procedures for submitting requests for funding. Please carefully follow all instructions below.Purpose of Small Grants: PDS Nairobi invites proposals for programs that strengthen ties between the United States and Kenya and promote bilateral cooperation. All programs must advance a U.S. linkage including for example a connection with American expert/s, organization/s, or institution/s in a specific field that will promote increased understanding of U.S. policies, economic models, and perspectives on U.S.-Kenya partnership.Priority Program Areas: Proposals must address one of the following key program areas:1. Economic Prosperity Advances the prosperity of the United States and Kenya through a fair and reciprocal economic partnership, the strengthening of Kenyas business climate, support for its startup ecosystem, clean energy solutions and climate change resiliency, and education that skills the next generation of workers. 2. Democracy and Governance Deepens the bilateral relationship on a broad range of common interests including the respect for human rights, safeguarding civic space, rule of law, public accountability, anti-corruption efforts, shared democratic values, and protection of fundamental freedoms.3. Celebrating 60 Years of U.S.-Kenya Partnership 2024 is the 60th anniversary of U.S.-Kenya ties, a milestone to celebrate as well as build upon. Amplify what the United States and Kenya are accomplishing together across various fields, including but not limited to the trade and investment partnership, climate action and renewable energy, public health advancements, education, shared values, and security cooperation. Participants and Audiences:Kenyans who may be in any of the following categories; Kenyans between the ages of 16 and 35, including students, civil society leaders and social influencers; Business leaders and rising entrepreneurs; Established opinion leaders, including cultural influencers and academic institution leadership.

The Energy CLASS (Champions Leading the Advancement of Sustainable Schools) Prize is a grant opportunity offered by the U.S. Department of Energy State and Community Energy Program Office (SCEP). The prize aims to support local education agencies in establishing and training energy managers to identify, plan, and implement efficiency and health upgrades in schools. With $80 million available, the grant will help schools across the country lower utility costs, improve indoor environmental quality, and reduce carbon emissions. The Energy CLASS Prize consists of two phases. In Phase 1, up to 25 selected LEAs will receive $100,000 in cash prizes to support participation in a 12-month training program. In Phase 2, participants will undergo 80-160 hours of online educational courses and receive one-on-one support and coaching related to building upgrades. At the end of Phase 2, participants can submit a progress report and a plan for future building upgrades for a chance to win a $50,000 bonus prize. To apply, LEAs need to submit a statement of need, letters of support, and demonstrate their commitment to making building energy upgrades. Interested applicants should review the official rules for complete application instructions. For updates or questions, applicants can subscribe on the HeroX platform or contact the Energy CLASS Prize team directly at [email protected].

The James City County Stormwater and Resource Protection has initiated the Clean Water Heritage Grant program, aiming to promote the proper maintenance of privately owned neighborhood drainage systems and private stormwater management facilities, also known as Best Management Practices (BMPs). This program is designed to support the safety and general welfare of all County residents by ensuring these systems are well-maintained. The grant is open to a range of applicants, including Non-HOA Neighborhoods, HOAs with Public Roads, and HOAs with Private Roads within James City County, Virginia. The core mission of the Clean Water Heritage Grant aligns with safeguarding both citizens and property from the negative impacts of runoff. By focusing on drainage systems that move runoff safely through residential areas and stormwater management facilities that reduce runoff quantity and improve water quality, the program directly addresses critical environmental and public safety concerns. The target beneficiaries are residents and property owners within James City County, with the overarching impact goal of fostering a healthier and safer community through improved water management and infrastructure maintenance. The program prioritizes addressing non-routine maintenance and repairs for both drainage systems and BMPs. It offers several types of grants: Inspection Grants, which support inventorying, mapping, and inspecting existing drainage structures for operational condition; Repair & Maintenance Grants for general drainage system upkeep; and BMP Repair & Maintenance Grants specifically for stormwater management facilities. This structured approach ensures that both preventive and corrective measures are supported, allowing for comprehensive care of these vital systems. Expected outcomes include a more resilient local infrastructure capable of effectively managing stormwater, leading to reduced flooding and improved water quality across the county. Measurable results will be seen through the number of inspected and repaired drainage systems and BMPs, the documented improvements in their operating conditions, and the extent to which these efforts contribute to overall community safety and environmental health. The funding structure, with varying award limits and cost-sharing percentages (e.g., up to $6,000 for inspections with a 75%-25% JCC-Owner split, and up to $50,000 for maintenance and repairs with a 50%-50% split), further encourages shared responsibility and investment in these critical infrastructure improvements.

This funding opportunity supports projects that promote inclusive economic growth and human development in Equatorial Guinea, encouraging collaboration between local and U.S. organizations, individuals, and educational institutions.

The City of Flagstaff Sustainability Office and Sustainability Commission are offering the Neighborhood Sustainability Grants (NSG) Program. This program aims to provide funding for innovative projects that improve community sustainability and promote healthy lifestyles through collaborative community partnerships. While specific foundation mission alignment, strategic priorities, or theory of change are not explicitly stated as coming from a "foundation," the program's goals directly align with the broader mission of urban sustainability and community well-being as typically pursued by municipal sustainability offices and commissions. The NSG Program targets a broad range of beneficiaries including individuals, groups of individuals, community groups, educational groups, nonprofit organizations, churches, and locally owned businesses. These applicants must be undertaking projects within the Flagstaff city limits. The impact goals are to enhance community sustainability, promote healthy lifestyles, meaningfully involve underserved communities, diverse groups, or vulnerable populations, build community partnerships, and facilitate volunteer engagement or management. The program prioritizes projects that align with at least one of its three core goals: involving underserved communities, building partnerships, or facilitating volunteer engagement. Additionally, projects must fall into one of the following categories: Building Energy, Climate Action, Food, Public Health, Resilience, Transportation, or Waste. These categories represent the key focuses for achieving Flagstaff's sustainability objectives. Expected outcomes include the successful implementation of creative community projects that address sustainability challenges. Measurable results would be evidenced by the number of projects funded, the reach of those projects within the community, the level of community engagement and partnerships fostered, and tangible improvements in the designated sustainability categories. The program anticipates awarding a total of $75,000 in 2024, with individual grants capped at $7,500, indicating a focus on supporting multiple, smaller-scale community-led initiatives rather than a few large projects.

This competition provides funding for individuals and organizations to develop innovative energy storage technologies that address unique challenges in underserved communities and extreme climates.

This grant provides financial assistance to small businesses in Dubuque, Iowa, to help cover operating costs and support long-term success for income-qualified owners.

This funding opportunity supports non-profit organizations in developing workforce programs that engage diverse groups in STEM fields to promote careers in clean energy and facilitate the transition to a sustainable energy economy.

This grant provides funding for interdisciplinary teams of graduate students, researchers, and industry professionals to explore and propose solutions for integrating renewable energy into the U.S. electric grid.

The American-Made Electronics Scrap Recycling Advancement Prize (E-SCRAP) is a $3.95 million challenge sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office (AMMTO). This three-phase prize aims to stimulate innovative approaches that reduce the costs and environmental impact of critical material recovery from electronic scrap (e-scrap). The program aligns with the DOE's mission to advance energy technology and reduce environmental impact, specifically targeting the challenges within the e-scrap recycling value chain. The target beneficiaries of the E-SCRAP prize are individuals, private entities (for-profits and nonprofits), nonfederal government entities (states, counties, tribes, and municipalities), and academic institutions working in waste collection and management, dismantling and sorting, separation, refining, validation, and material supply. The impact goals are to increase the domestic supply of critical materials from e-scrap, enhance material circularity, and reduce the environmental footprint associated with current recycling processes. The program prioritizes innovative approaches, processes, or technologies that optimize and implement critical material separation and recovery from e-scrap. This includes building partnerships across the recycling value chain, developing and demonstrating innovations, addressing technical, supply chain, or logistical hurdles, and enhancing supply chains to accelerate connectivity between various stages of recycling. Areas of interest include innovations for electronic scrap (communication devices, home appliances, medical/office equipment) and the recovery of critical materials such as aluminum, cobalt, copper, lithium, nickel, and rare earth elements. Expected outcomes include the development and demonstration of new technologies that lead to more efficient and environmentally friendly e-scrap recycling processes. Measurable results will be seen in increased rates of critical material recovery, reduced costs, and a decrease in environmental impact. Competitor teams can win up to $800,000 in cash prizes and $150,000 in national laboratory analysis support. The prize’s strategic priorities are to act as a catalyst for change, fostering innovation and collaboration to strengthen the domestic supply chain of critical materials, thereby contributing to clean energy initiatives and a more circular economy.

The Youth Climate Action Fund, sponsored by the City of Atlanta in partnership with 21st Century Leaders, aims to activate young people aged 15-24 to develop, implement, and govern climate solutions within their communities. This initiative aligns with the city's broader sustainability, clean energy, and climate resilience goals, emphasizing youth leadership and innovation in addressing urgent environmental challenges. The program seeks to foster a generation of climate-conscious leaders by providing them with the resources and opportunities to create tangible impact. The primary beneficiaries of this grant program are Atlanta youth between 15 and 24 years old, who can apply individually or as groups. The program's impact goals are centered on empowering these young individuals to become active participants in climate action, leading to a more sustainable and resilient city. Through their projects, the fund aims to increase climate awareness, promote adaptation and mitigation efforts, and encourage co-governed climate action plans that integrate youth perspectives into policy and decision-making processes. The program prioritizes projects that demonstrate youth-led innovations in several key areas. These include awareness, education, research, and development initiatives such as climate education programs, hackathons, surveys, and public art campaigns. It also focuses on youth-driven climate mitigation and adaptation projects like community gardening, tree planting, waste reduction programs, and disaster preparedness workshops. Furthermore, the fund supports co-governed youth climate action plans, fostering partnerships between city leaders and youth groups to inform climate-related policy and establish youth climate ambassadors or advisory boards. Expected outcomes include a significant increase in youth engagement in climate solutions, with tens of thousands of young people participating in designing and governing projects. Measurable results will stem from the microgrant program, awarding grants ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 to eligible projects. The success of the program will be evaluated by the demonstrated impact of these youth-led initiatives on local sustainability, clean energy, and climate resilience goals, as well as the development of youth-focused activities like a youth climate action summit. The fund's strategic priority is to integrate youth voice and action into the core of Atlanta's climate strategy, embodying a theory of change where empowered youth are catalysts for meaningful and lasting environmental improvements.

This initiative seeks input from various stakeholders, including businesses, researchers, and government entities, to enhance the recycling and reuse of products and materials, ultimately promoting environmental sustainability and economic resilience.

This initiative provides up to $10 million in prizes to innovators developing advanced LED lighting solutions that improve energy efficiency, quality, and accessibility for commercial use.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to community organizations, individuals, and groups in Massachusetts that work to improve access to clean energy and reduce energy burdens for underserved populations.

This grant aims to fund innovative projects that increase demand flexibility in the Industrial, Agricultural, and Water (IAW) sectors, with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing grid stability, and developing new technologies and strategies for load shifting, in line with California's goal of achieving a 7,000 MW load shift by 2030.

This grant provides funding for innovative projects that enhance energy storage technologies to improve grid reliability and support California's transition to 100% clean energy.

This funding opportunity supports U.S. and Japanese organizations in creating innovative projects that strengthen U.S.-Japan relations through public engagement in areas like security, democracy, and entrepreneurship.

The purpose of this solicitation is to fund demonstrations of community-based virtual power plant (VPP) approaches and demonstrations of innovative energy management systems (EMS) in commercial buildings with the goal of increasing demand flexibility. Demand flexibility refers to comprehensive programs and strategies that align electricity consumption with dynamic grid conditions. These can include both event-based demand response (DR) and load shifting strategies. Accelerating demand flexibility is a key strategy for California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet the state’s climate and clean energy goals reliably and affordably.    VPPs are portfolios of distributed energy resources (DERs) such as smart thermostats, rooftop solar photovoltaics, electric vehicles (EVs), batteries, and smart water heaters that are actively controlled by software to benefit the power system, consumers, and the environment. While these resources have the potential to meet grid needs as reliably as conventional alternatives such as gas-fired generators, their advantages extend further, offering greater affordability and substantial decarbonization benefits.[3] However, research and development of both technologies and business models is needed to fully capitalize on and understand VPPs’ potential, especially the systems that feature predictive controls and require minimal consumer engagement. The examples of predictive controls relevant to this research include, but are not limited to, the use of artificial intelligence or model predictive controls for EV load shifting or building pre-cooling applications.   Projects will be funded in two groups. Group 1: Virtual Power Plants: Demonstrations that showcase community-based demand flexibility programs as a long-term (10 or more years) grid resource. Project teams must partner with local governments or non-profits to facilitate customer participation and smart device installations. Projects must evaluate the benefits and cost-effectiveness of community-based VPP approaches that use state-of-the-art DER management software (DERMS).   ·       Group 2: Commercial Building Energy Management in Low-Income or Disadvantaged Communities: Demonstrations of innovative EMS in commercial buildings focused on specific characteristics such as interoperability and adherence to open-source standards. Demonstrations require participation in electric investor-owned utility (IOU) or third-party DR programs and partnerships with device and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). These projects must showcase the latest advancements in energy management in the commercial sector and ensure technology adaptability, efficiency, and collaboration within the broader energy landscape.       

Hydrogen can serve as a zero-carbon energy carrier and act as a potential replacement for fossil fuels in hard-to-electrify applications, particularly for the transportation, industrial, and electricity generation sectors. For the purposes of this solicitation, clean hydrogen is defined as hydrogen produced from water using eligible renewable energy resources, as defined in Public Utilities Code 399.12, or produced from these eligible renewable energy resources. To achieve sustainable wide-scale deployment, hydrogen must be produced cleanly at increased scale and reduced cost. This solicitation aims to reduce the cost burden of clean hydrogen production through large-scale, centralized production coupled with storage, delivery, and pre-determined offtakers to support a comprehensive hydrogen value chain. Expected outcomes include the development and deployment of low-carbon, cost-competitive hydrogen production from renewable energy sources and reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in hard-to-electrify sectors.   The 2022 California Air Resources Board (CARB) Scoping Plan estimates that by 2045, demand for low-carbon hydrogen increases nearly two-fold the current levels of fossil hydrogen – or a 1,700-fold increase in existing low-carbon hydrogen supply – especially to support emerging end uses such as heavy-duty vehicles, power generation, industrial process heat, and synthetic fuels for aviation. Hydrogen produced from water using renewable energy resources or produced directly from renewable energy resources can provide low-carbon energy and act as an alternative to fossil gas, helping meet California's GHG reduction goals of 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2045.     

This grant provides funding for individuals and organizations to develop innovative energy storage solutions that cater to unique applications in underserved communities and extreme climates, promoting grid modernization and reliability.