Grants for Small businesses - Energy

This funding opportunity provides financial support to businesses and nonprofit organizations in Hennepin County, Minnesota, to implement projects that prevent waste and promote the use of reusable materials.

The 501vc® Investment Fund is seeking to invest $200,000 to $300,000 in early-stage climate tech startups in the Greater Midwest region, focusing on sectors like advanced materials, renewable energy, and agriculture technologies.

The Municipal Service District Grant Program provides financial assistance to commercial property owners and building tenants for enhancements to building facades, landscapes, and parking lots and the installation of new pedestrian elements. Donor Name: City of Salisbury State: County: All Counties Type of Grant: Grant Deadline: (mm/dd/yyyy) 08/30/2024 Size of the Grant: $1000 to $10,000 Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned Details: The MSD Incentive Grant assists property and business owners within the Downtown Municipal Service District with enhancements to building facades, landscapes, driveways, and parking lots. These projects can range from minor repairs and repainting to substantial façade and landscape rehabilitation projects and the installation of new pedestrian amenities such as outdoor seating, planters, awnings, café fences, and lighting. Funding Information Grants are awarded on a 50/50 matching basis with a maximum City participation of $5,000. Eligible Projects Introduction of new pedestrian amenities, including planters, outdoor seating, café fencing, umbrellas, lighting, bicycle racks, and art – including the purchase of Salisbury Sculpture Show sculptures  Installation of new façade elements, including signage, lighting, and awnings  Painting of murals and ghost sign restoration  Restoration and rehabilitation of storefronts  Removal of false façades and metal canopies  Repair and replacement of windows and doors  Repair or reconstruction of architectural details  Repointing brick and masonry repairs  New parking lot amenities, including landscaping and artwork  Paving improvements  Exterior painting  Green building improvements, including solar panels, electric vehicle charging stations, green roofs, and white roofs  Other building and landscape beautification projects that enhance that appearance and pedestrian-friendly environment of the Municipal Service District  Ineligible Projects  Routine maintenance  Painting of unpainted masonry or brick – excluding approved murals  New building construction  Interior rehabilitation Properties with any delinquencies in taxes or City utilities cannot be reviewed  Unapproved alterations to buildings, parking lots, and landscapes within the Local Historic District  Projects that have commenced prior to review by the CAC Grants Subcommittee For more information, visit City of Salisbury.

Applicants are invited to apply for the Resilience Fund. Donor Name: Restaurants Care State: California County: All Counties Type of Grant: Grant Deadline: (mm/dd/yyyy) 06/30/2024 Size of the Grant: $1000 to $10,000 Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned Details: Restaurants Care Resilience Fund is a program of the nonprofit California Restaurant Foundation. In 2024, they will be awarding grants of $5,000 to 278 independent restaurants. This fund is powered by generous gifts from PG&E, SoCalGas, and SDG&E.  Funding Information It anticipates awarding $5,000 grants to 278 small businesses Uses for Grant (select one category): Kitchen equipment: Eligible equipment must be energy efficient and qualify for rebates (Hey! That’s extra money to help pay for your equipment!). Items include steamer, rack oven, conveyor broiler, combination oven, conveyor oven, fryer, underfired broiler, convection oven, griddle, and dishwasher. You can use your $5,000 check to purchase from whichever vendor you would like. To learn more about rebates available. Technology upgrades: tell us how you’ll put this grant to work! Eligible uses include POS system, website, accounting software, HR software, inventory management, and loyalty programs.  Employee training: Been meaning to elevate your employee training and systems? Use this grant to design a training program/handbook, purchase ServSafe trainings, or join the Council of Hotel and Restaurant Trainers. Retention bonuses: Reward your best and brightest employees. You will need to state how many employees will receive grants and which positions they have (front of house, back of house, managers). The number of employees and positions do NOT impact your likelihood of getting a grant, we simply want to know how the funds will be used.  Unforeseen hardship: Within the last 12 months, has your restaurant experienced robbery/theft, vandalism, fire/flood, or natural disaster? This grant can help. Eligibility Requirements Must be an independently owned, for-profit restaurant or commercial caterer (franchises, home businesses, food trucks, and meal prep companies are not eligible) Owned by a CA resident 1-5 units Must earn no more than $3 million in annual gross revenue (combined for all units) Commercial customer of either PG&E, SoCalGas, or SDG&E Must be currently open and active for business. For more information, visit Restaurants Care.

Grid Enhancement Grant Subaward Program Program Description The Grid Enhancement Grant Subaward program allocates funds for utility infrastructure investments in Arkansas. Leveraging federal funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), this program aims to modernize and strengthen America’s power grid, particularly against natural disasters, while fostering economic development within the state. The funding will support projects delivering direct benefits to Arkansans by bolstering grid resilience, mitigating outages during disasters, and promoting investments in the state’s grid workforce. Program Objectives Funds provided through this subaward program are intended to achieve the following objectives: Increase the Reliability of the Arkansas Electric Grid Achieve Whole Community Impact Support the Development of the State’s Grid Workforce For further details on these objectives, refer to the state Program Narrative below. Eligible Entities Eligible applicants encompass Arkansas electric utilities such as investor-owned electric utilities, electric cooperatives, and municipal electric utilities. Additionally, electric grid operators, electricity storage operators, electricity generators, transmission owners or operators, distribution providers, and fuel suppliers are eligible. Timeline Application period opens: April 2, 2024. Deadline for proposal submission and SF-424 form: 5 PM CT, Friday, July 19, 2024. DFA encourages eligible entities to review the application, guidance, and FAQ document promptly. Questions should be directed to [email protected] by April 30, 2024. DFA will respond to broadly applicable questions by updating the FAQ document due to the program's competitive nature. For additional information or inquiries, please contact [email protected].

The "Notice of Intent to Issue Fiscal Year 2025 Solar Module and Solar Hardware (SMASH) Incubator Notice of Funding Opportunity" grant aims to boost private investment in the commercialization of innovative solar photovoltaic technology, focusing on crystalline silicon and cadmium telluride module technologies, and non-module hardware technology, with funding primarily awarded to for-profit entities.

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.       

CAL FIRE's Wood Products and Bioenergy team seeks to maintain and enhance the wood products infrastructure of California to promote healthy resilient forests throughout the state by supporting a diverse set of business development and workforce development projects.  ; Eligible business development projects include facilities, operations, and professional services that support the restoration of healthy, resilient forests.   Eligible workforce development projects include universities, colleges, government and community organizations, and businesses that aim to increase workforce capacity in the fields of logging, fuels treatment, transportation, manufacturing, or other support services that bolster the development of a resilient forest sector workforce.   Research and development projects related to both business and workforce development will also be considered. Check out the Wood Products website and subscribe for updates.     

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 to organizations and institutions to develop a comprehensive maritime strategy for Michigan that promotes sustainability, equity, and environmental justice in the state's shipping and boating sectors.

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.

This program provides funding to Pennsylvania school districts, municipalities, nonprofit organizations, and businesses to help them transition to cleaner transportation through projects like purchasing alternative fuel vehicles and installing refueling equipment.

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is offering the AGRI Value-Added Grant, a reimbursement grant ranging from $100,000 to $500,000, to support value-added businesses such as bioenergy producers and hemp processors in increasing sales of Minnesota agricultural products through investment in equipment, production capacity, market diversification, and market access.

This program provides financial assistance ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 to small businesses in Pennsylvania that have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The purpose of this solicitation is to award grants to fund projects focused on geothermal energy and lithium recovery from geothermal brine that support local jurisdictions and private entities to advance the geothermal sector and related activities per Public Resource Code (PRC) Sections 3800-3827 and California Code of Regulations (CCR) Sections 1660-1665. ; This solicitation aims to support the goals of Senate Bill 100 (SB 100, De Leon, Chapter 312, Statures of 2018), Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32, Nunez, Chapter 488, Statutes of 2006), and SB 32 (Pavley, Chapter 249, Statutes of 2016) to meet the eligible renewable energy, zero-carbon energy, and greenhouse gas emission reduction goals. The proposed projects must not exceed thirty-six (36) months in length – the project term must be in alignment with the proposed project scope and budget, and it is encouraged to explain that alignment in the Project Narrative (Attachment 3). The proposed projects are limited to addressing one of the eligible purposes allowed by the Geothermal Grant and Loan Program, as presented in Section I.C., Project Focus, per PRC Section 3823. This solicitation will be conducted as a two-phase process. Phase one is for local jurisdictions that want to compete for technical assistance funds to develop and prepare the full proposal for this solicitation. Phase one applicants need to complete a 1) Technical Assistance Application Form, 2) Technical Assistance Project Summary, and 3) Technical Assistance Scope of Work. Phase two is for local jurisdictions and private entities to submit the full proposal, as indicated in Section I E. (Key Activities Schedule) of this solicitation. See Part II of this solicitation for applicant and project eligibility requirements. Phase one and Phase two applications will be evaluated as follows: (1) proposal screening and (2) proposal scoring, as fully described in Section IV. Applicants may submit multiple applications, though each application must address only one of the eligible purposes identified in Section 1 C. (Project Focus) of this solicitation. If an applicant submits multiple applications, each application must be for a distinct project (i.e., no overlap with respect to the tasks described in the Scope of Work).

The Santa Rosa Improvement Vitalization Enterprise (StRIVE) Grant is intended to provide commercial property owners and business owners grants for façade improvements and signage. Donor Name: Santa Rosa County Economic Development Office State: Florida County: Santa Rosa County (FL) Type of Grant: Grant Deadline: 07/31/2024 Size of the Grant: $1000 to $10,000 Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned Details: StRIVE provides funding to upgrade the appearance of property, increase property value, and stimulate economic activity within Santa Rosa County. Funding Information Up to $10,000 to be used for improvements to the exterior façade of a building, including signage. A 100% match is required. Matching funds may be used anywhere in the proposed renovation project. Uses of funds Use Grant Funds for: Exterior Painting Exterior Lighting New Windows & Doors New or Replacement Awnings Restoration of Architectural Features Parking Improvements Screening & Fencing Sprinkler System Signage Soft Costs (licenses, permit fees etc.) Eligibility Criteria  Property must be located within Santa Rosa County and zoned for commercial purposes. Property cannot be exempt from ad valorem property tax. ­ Applicants must have all necessary business licenses/permits/inspections. Any outstanding legal issues that could encumber the property or prohibit immediate use as a commercial venture must be resolved or explained. Any proposed business/tenant must document zoning and land-use eligibility at the proposed location as part of this application. Unoccupied properties must have a signed lease to participate. ­ Property owners must sign the program application and other related documents. Tenants may apply only with property owner’s consent. Applicants are limited to one application per funding cycle. ­StRIVE is based on availability of funds. ­Exterior improvements must comply with applicable city/county code and zoning requirements. It is the responsibility of the applicant to contact the appropriate agency to determine required permits, if any. Once the project has been completed, the property must be eligible to obtain, or already have a certificate of occupancy, and have received the final inspection from the appropriate agency. For more information, visit Santa Rosa County Economic Development Office.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to technology incubators in Illinois to improve their facilities and services, ultimately promoting economic growth and innovation in the state.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is seeking applications for its Alternative Fuels Incentive Grants. Donor Name: Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection State: Pennsylvania County: All Counties Type of Grant: Grant Deadline: (mm/dd/yyyy) 06/28/2024 Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000 Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned Details: AFIG has approximately $5 million in funding available to school districts, municipalities, nonprofit organizations, and businesses in Pennsylvania that want to transition to cleaner fuel transportation. Supported alternative fuels include electricity, compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, propane, hydrogen, hythane, biodiesel, ethanol, methanol, and other advanced biofuels. Grant funding covers: Incremental costs related to retrofitting vehicles to operate on alternative fuels; Incremental costs to purchase alternative fuel vehicles; Cost to purchase and install the necessary fleet-refueling or home-refueling equipment for alternative fuel vehicles; Cost to perform research, training, development, and demonstration of new applications or next-phase technology related to alternative fuel vehicles. Priorities Businesses whose headquarters or principal place of business are located in Pennsylvania; Zero emission vehicle projects; Medium-duty and light-duty fleet refueling infrastructure projects; Renewable natural gas vehicle and infrastructure projects; Projects located in or predominantly serving environmental justice areas; Minority-, veteran-, or woman-owned businesses. Funding Information Applicants will be eligible for a maximum grant award across all applications of $500,000. Individual application awards are still capped at $300,000. Eligibility Criteria DEP will award at least 20% of AFIG funding to the following entities, depending on applications received: Counties, townships, municipalities, or municipal authorities; Public school districts, including brick and mortar charter schools; Organizations registered as a 501(c)3 that provide services to seniors, low-income individuals and families, individuals with disabilities, veterans, or medical services of any type; Businesses that are registered with the Commonwealth as a Small Diverse Business or registered with one of the Pennsylvania Department of General Services approved third-party certifications; and Organizations that are county/local government supported or contracted to provide services to seniors, low-income individuals and families, individuals with disabilities, veterans, or medical services of any type. For more information, visit DEP.

This funding opportunity provides financial support for a Chicago-based electric vehicle component manufacturer to invest in machinery and equipment for lithium metal battery production, aligning with state initiatives in renewable energy.

This grant provides funding to organizations and event planners for innovative projects that attract visitors to Snohomish, particularly those that encourage overnight stays and boost the local economy during the off-season.