Notice of Intent: Energy Infrastructure Deployment on Tribal Lands - 2019 | DE FOA 0002031

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002031

The "Notice of Intent: Energy Infrastructure Deployment on Tribal Lands - 2019" is a preliminary announcement from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), through its Office of Indian Energy, indicating that DOE planned to release a formal Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for grants supporting energy projects on Tribal lands. This notice is not the actual solicitation and does not accept applications; it is meant to give Tribes and other eligible entities advance awareness that funding would soon be available, with the final requirements to be provided only when the FOA is officially issued.

The opportunity is rooted in federal law, specifically the Indian Tribal Energy Development and Self Determination Act of 2005 under Title V of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. DOE cites its congressional mandate to run programs that promote tribal energy development and efficiency, reduce and stabilize energy costs, strengthen tribal energy and economic infrastructure, and expand access to reliable electric power and service for homes and facilities on Indian lands, including those supported by federal funds. In practical terms, the planned funding was designed to help American Indian and Alaska Native communities move from planning and capacity-building into real, on-the-ground deployment of energy solutions, while also strengthening local skills and institutional ability to manage and sustain those projects over time.

DOE signaled that the forthcoming FOA (identified as DE-FOA-0002032 in the notice narrative) would likely solicit grant applications to install or deploy energy infrastructure across three main areas of interest. Area of Interest 1 focused on tribal buildings, supporting the installation of energy efficiency measures and/or on-site energy generation systems that directly serve Tribal Building(s). Area of Interest 2 expanded the scale to community-level projects, supporting community-scale energy generating systems deployed on Tribal lands. Area of Interest 3 emphasized resilience and emergency preparedness, supporting energy systems capable of autonomous operation (for example, systems that can continue powering facilities during outages) to serve one or more essential tribal facilities, either for emergency situations or broader community resilience goals. Across all three areas, the common theme is implementation: funding intended for deployment of tangible energy assets rather than purely conceptual planning.

Eligible applicants were expected to include Indian Tribes, and for the purposes of this FOA DOE explicitly indicated that Alaska Native Regional Corporations and Alaska Native Village Corporations were included within the term "Indian Tribes." Tribal Energy Resource Development Organizations were also identified as potential applicants. The notice also lists the opportunity category as discretionary, the funding instrument type as grant, and the activity category as energy (CFDA 81.087), with the agency listed as the Department of Energy, Golden Field Office.

DOE anticipated making multiple grant awards, with each project generally expected to take about one to two years to complete, and no more than three years total. That maximum timeline included a mandatory 12-month verification period, implying that awardees would not only need to build or install the systems but also document and verify performance after installation. While the notice mentions an "AwardCeiling: 2" in the source data, the notice itself does not clearly explain the unit (for example, whether this refers to two million dollars or another measure), and it should be treated as preliminary until confirmed in the final FOA.

Administratively, the notice emphasized that all details were subject to change and that DOE would not answer questions about the notice itself. Instead, DOE indicated it would provide a formal question process after the FOA was released. DOE expected to publish the FOA around December 2018 or January 2019 and stated it would be posted on the EERE Exchange website, which would also be the only portal through which applications could be submitted. Interested parties were encouraged to register in EERE Exchange and subscribe to the Office of Indian Energy email list to receive notifications when the FOA opened. Most importantly, the notice made clear that no applications would be accepted in response to the Notice of Intent; applicants would need to wait for the official FOA release and then apply through EERE Exchange under the rules and deadlines provided there.

• The Department of Energy, Golden Field Office in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Notice of Intent: Energy Infrastructure Deployment on Tribal Lands - 2019" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.087.
• This funding opportunity was created on Dec 12, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Not Applicable for Notice of Intent. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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