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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today issued a Request for Information (RFI) to inform the development of nearly $630 million in hydroelectric incentive program investments directed by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. These programs will improve hydroelectric facility efficiency, enhance grid resiliency, maintain dam safety, reduce environmental impacts, and enable generators to continue to provide emission-free electricity.
The Section 243: Hydroelectric Efficiency Improvement Incentives Program provides a total of $75 million in incentive payments to owners or operators of existing hydroelectric facilities who may apply for funding to make capital improvements that can increase efficiency by at least 3%. Additionally, the Section 247: Maintaining and Enhancing Hydroelectricity Incentives Program provides $553.6 million to DOE to administer incentive payments to enhance existing hydropower facilities through capital improvements directly related to three main areas: grid resiliency, dam safety, and environmental improvements.
The goal of the RFI released today is to solicit feedback from a wide range of stakeholders on DOE’s structure of these programs, timing and distribution of funds, definitions of capital improvements, and selection criteria. Comments must be received by 11:59 p.m. EDT on September 6, 2022, and can be submitted to WPTORFI@ee.doe.gov.
Read today’s announcement and view the full RFI.
On June 29, DOE issued an RFI to inform a $500 million program funded by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to place clean energy demonstration projects on current or former mine lands across America. Operated through DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, the Clean Energy Demonstrations on Current and Former Mine Land Program will fund clean energy projects on mine land to benefit communities and their economies, create good-paying jobs, and reduce carbon pollution.
The program will demonstrate innovative mine land conversion to clean energy projects with a goal of replication across the country. It will support projects that demonstrate one or more of the following clean energy technologies on mining sites:
- Solar
- Microgrids
- Geothermal energy
- Direct air capture
- Fossil-fueled generation with carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration
- Energy storage, including pumped storage hydropower and compressed air
- Advanced nuclear.
Responses to this RFI must be submitted no later than 5:00 p.m. EDT on August 15, 2022. View the full RFI and submit feedback on OCED Exchange.
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