Inactive

General Background: The concept of an “Energyshed” [1] is loosely analogous to that of a watershed. Energyshed considers energy loads, sources of generation, and transmission and distribution networks... General Background: The concept of an “Energyshed” [1] is loosely analogous to that of a watershed. Energyshed considers energy loads, sources of generation, and transmission and distribution networks within a broad footprint. Similar to a watershed, an Energyshed includes multiple closely-coupled, adjacent geographic areas, communities, electric utilities, coordinating bodies, and/or jurisdictions. For example, an urban Energyshed could consist of multiple jurisdictions across a metro area with interconnected energy networks such as electricity, transportation, and heating. A rural Energyshed could consist of neighboring rural communities who host energy clean infrastructure that supports local and/or distant loads. Energyshed represents a valuable framework for considering how to achieve locally-driven clean energy goals while ensuring that communities who are most impacted by clean energy investment decisions benefit in an equitable way. Energyshed allows consideration of both community-specific needs and challenges as well as the broader energy landscape. It can also illustrate and improve how benefits and impacts of energy systems are shared across and between geographical areas, ultimately leading to more resilient, affordable, and equitable decarbonized energy systems. The in-depth technical partnerships with an Energyshed focus leverage the technical assistance structure established by the Clean Energy to Communities (C2C) Initiative. C2C is a collaborative research effort administered by NREL and supported by DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). C2C seeks to help all Americans access the economic and environmental benefits of clean energy by providing tailored support to local governments, electric utilities and community-based organizations to advance their clean energy transitions. In addition to in-depth technical partnerships, C2C offers support to communities through its Expert Match and Peer-Learning Cohorts offerings, providing access to technical experts and facilitating the exchange of ideas between communities. These opportunities and the in-depth technical partnerships are designed to ensure all communities benefit from the significant and growing investments in new clean energy technologies, including disadvantaged communities, as prescribed by President Biden’s Executive Order 13985, Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Under-served Communities Through the Federal Government; Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad; and Executive Order 14017, America’s Supply Chains. The in-depth technical partnerships using an Energyshed focus will provide community team stakeholders with technical guidance to accelerate the design, demonstration, development, and deployment of consensus-based, equitable, and achievable clean energy transition plans. They will also equip communities with world-leading analytical tools, expertise, and access to a state-of-the-art demonstration platform to develop data-driven, validated strategies to achieve community ambitions, and create replicable solutions for community energy transitions across the country. Community teams selected for in-depth technical partnerships will have direct access to national laboratory experts and a dedicated point of contact within the national laboratories, subcontract funding to support hiring staff or consultants, facilitation and community engagement support, extensive technical support from one or more national laboratories, and subcontract funding to support clean energy infrastructure/technology implementation plans informed by the partnership technical support. The effort will be broken into two Phases. Phase 1 includes the development of a Work Plan to define the scope of the technical research, Community Engagement Plan to identify relevant community stakeholders and a structure for engaging with them, regular project meetings and workshops, dissemination materials of technical learnings, and development of a Clean Energy Implementation Plan for deploying and operating clean energy technology and/or infrastructure that is informed by the insights of the Phase 1 technical research. Phase 2 will execute on the Clean Energy Implementation Plan developed in Phase 1. The Work Plan, Community Engagement Plan, and Clean Energy Implementation Plan will all be developed with support from one or more national laboratories and relevant stakeholders, as appropriate. However, each of these plans will be community-led, and it is ultimately the responsibility of the community team to create and complete each plan. The in-depth technical partnerships will establish a flexible analytical and validation[2] workflow to help communities make investment and operational decisions. The financial resources and technical support included within these partnerships will equip communities to make informed choices about where their energy comes from and provide them with data-driven options for de-risking investment decisions, saving money, achieving clean energy goals, supporting social equity, and maintaining reliability and resilience. This effort also aims to inspire action, raise ambitions, and build confidence across the United States on the feasibility of achieving clean energy transitions through sharing success stories. Specific Background: Rural communities face energy challenges that are often distinct from areas of greater population density. Population decline, rapid changes in the energy landscape, and infrastructure miles needed to serve relatively small populations create unique conditions for long-term, regional energy planning. This partnership seeks to better understand and address these issues for a specific rural region. Topics of interest include but are not limited to: • Integrated planning assessment (looking out 10-20 years) with a cross-sectoral approach that jointly considers grid, mobility, and buildings (including electrification of transportation and buildings) across the bulk and distribution systems, as well as hardware validation • Procedural and distributional justice related to energy siting in rural areas, or other elements related to energy equity and energy justice, that are embedded within a technical assessment of future Energyshed systems. [1] See previous Energyshed related initiatives from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE): From Watershed to Energyshed: Determining the Implications of Place-Based Generation Workshop (hyperlink below) Energyshed—Exploring Place-Based Generation Funding Program (hyperlink below) [2] An example is analytical modeling that is then verified through laboratory-based technology and scenario validation exercises. This coupled approach can minimize integration challenges and investment risk. Round 1 Technical questions must be received in writing no later than 03/13/23 Round 2 Technical questions must be received in writing no later than 04/10/23 Round 3 Technical questions must be received in writing no later than 05/01/23 Amendment 1 posted 3/15/23. Amendment 2 posted 4/11/23. Amendment 3 posted 5/4/23.