Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0003428
The Department of Energy is offering a Fiscal Year 2025 funding opportunity called "Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas" (DE-FOA-0003428, CFDA 81.255) aimed at helping small rural and remote communities that often face higher electricity costs, limited clean energy choices, and power systems that are less resilient than those in larger or more urban areas. The program is specifically designed for communities with populations of 10,000 people or fewer, recognizing that smaller places frequently lack the staff time, upfront capital, and technical resources to plan and carry out major energy upgrades on their own.
Funding will be provided through cooperative agreements, which generally means DOE expects an active partnership role during the project (for example, involvement in technical direction, milestones, reporting, and oversight beyond what is typical for a simple grant). The opportunity is categorized as discretionary energy funding, and the agency indicates an award ceiling of up to $50,000,000 per award, with an estimated 50 awards anticipated. While the notice does not list a minimum award amount in the provided details, the very high ceiling suggests the program can support both substantial infrastructure projects and large multi-component efforts, depending on the topic area and project design described in the full announcement.
To be eligible, applicants must propose a project that fits at least one of the program's defined eligible activity types. These include: improving the cost-effectiveness of energy generation, transmission, or distribution systems; siting or upgrading transmission and distribution lines; reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy generation in rural or remote settings; providing new or modernized electric generation facilities; developing microgrids; and increasing energy efficiency. The solicitation is technology-flexible as long as the technology is commercially available, meaning applicants are not required to use a specific fuel or vendor approach, but they do need to stick to solutions that are already proven in the market rather than early-stage R&D concepts.
A key structural requirement is that applicants must select one of four topic areas when submitting their application. The brief summary provided does not name the four topic areas, so applicants will need to review the Full Funding Opportunity Announcement for the topic definitions, eligibility nuances, evaluation criteria, cost-share expectations if any, and the required application components. All application materials must be submitted through the DOE Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) Funding Opportunity Exchange at https://oced-exchange.energy.gov/, and applicants should plan for the typical federal submission process steps there (account setup, document uploads, compliance forms, and any concept paper requirements if specified in the FOA).
Eligible applicant types are broad and include Indian Tribes, state and local governmental entities, nonprofit organizations, and for-profit organizations. The listing also notes "unrestricted" eligible applicants, but eligibility is still functionally constrained by the program purpose and the requirement that the project serve a qualifying rural or remote community of 10,000 people or fewer. The original application closing date shown is August 28, 2025, and the opportunity record indicates it was created on October 3, 2024, which is useful for tracking amendments or updates that may be posted after the initial release. For anyone considering applying, the most important next step is to pull the full FOA on the OCED Exchange to confirm topic area fit, submission deadlines and required attachments, and the specific review criteria DOE will use to score applications.Apply for DE FOA 0003428
- The Headquarters in the energy sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas – Fiscal Year 2025 Release" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.255.
- This funding opportunity was created on 2024-10-03.
- Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-08-28. (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 $50,000,000.00 in funding.
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 50 candidate(s).
- Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.
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| Funding Opportunity |
|---|
| Circularity for Secure and Sustainable Products and Materials: A Draft Strategic Framework RFI Apply for DE FOA 0003455 Funding Number: DE FOA 0003455 Agency: Golden Field Office Category: Energy Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Generation III+ Small Modular Reactor Pathway to Deployment Apply for DE FOA 0003485 Funding Number: DE FOA 0003485 Agency: Headquarters Category: Energy Funding Amount: $800,000,000 |
| REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) - Egypt Energy Sector Activity Apply for 72026325RFI00003 Funding Number: 72026325RFI00003 Agency: Egypt USAID-Cairo Category: Energy Funding Amount: $25,000,000 |
| Carbon Storage Assurance Facility Enterprise (CarbonSAFE): A Mid-Course Evaluation Apply for DE FOA 0003471 Funding Number: DE FOA 0003471 Agency: National Energy Technology Laboratory Category: Energy Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Advanced Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies to Drive National Goals Apply for DE FOA 0003439 Funding Number: DE FOA 0003439 Agency: Golden Field Office Category: Energy Funding Amount: $10,000,000 |
| Quantum Computing for Computational Chemistry (QC3) Apply for DE FOA 0003482 Funding Number: DE FOA 0003482 Agency: Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy Category: Energy Funding Amount: $10,000,000 |
| Rural Energy for America Program Apply for RDBCP REAP RES EEI 2025 Funding Number: RDBCP REAP RES EEI 2025 Agency: Rural Business-Cooperative Service Category: Energy Funding Amount: $1,000,000 |
| FY 2025 University Nuclear Research Infrastructure Revitalization Apply for DE FOA 0003314 Funding Number: DE FOA 0003314 Agency: Idaho Field Office Category: Energy Funding Amount: $6,000,000 |
| Energy Talent Development - West Africa (ETD-WA) Activity Apply for 72067424R00011 Funding Number: 72067424R00011 Agency: South Africa USAID-Pretoria Category: Energy Funding Amount: $8,000,000 |
| HARMONY: Human-Centric Analytics for Resilient & Modernized Power sYstems Apply for DE FOA 0003446 Funding Number: DE FOA 0003446 Agency: National Energy Technology Laboratory Category: Energy Funding Amount: $1,250,000 |
| Office of Electricity (OE) and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office (EERE WETO) Apply for DE FOA 0003396 Funding Number: DE FOA 0003396 Agency: National Energy Technology Laboratory Category: Energy Funding Amount: $3,250,000 |
| NOFO: DE-FOA-0003373, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), Provision 41007 (b)(2), Wind Turbine Technology Recycling Apply for DE FOA 0003373 Funding Number: DE FOA 0003373 Agency: Golden Field Office Category: Energy Funding Amount: $8,000,000 |
| DE-FOA-0003517 Notice of Intent to Issue DE-FOA-0003518 and DE-FOA-0003520 Apply for DE FOA 0003517 Funding Number: DE FOA 0003517 Agency: Golden Field Office Category: Energy Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| DE-FOA-0003535 Request for Information (RFI): Defining Sustainable Maritime Fuels in the United States Apply for DE FOA 0003535 Funding Number: DE FOA 0003535 Agency: Golden Field Office Category: Energy Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) Nuclear Fuel Supply Chain Innovative Technology Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) Apply for DE FOA 0003487 Funding Number: DE FOA 0003487 Agency: Idaho Field Office Category: Energy Funding Amount: $40,000,000 |
| Next Generation of Academia-Based Cyber Research, Development, and Demonstration (RD&D) Apply for DE FOA 0003501 Funding Number: DE FOA 0003501 Agency: National Energy Technology Laboratory Category: Energy Funding Amount: $10,000,000 |
| Carbon Capture Demonstration Projects Program Apply for DE FOA 0003473 Funding Number: DE FOA 0003473 Agency: Headquarters Category: Energy Funding Amount: $400,000,000 |
| Fuel Cycle Research and Development to Assess Options as Technologies and Economics Evolve Apply for DE FOA 0003364 Funding Number: DE FOA 0003364 Agency: Idaho Field Office Category: Energy Funding Amount: $5,000,000 |
| Solar with Wildlife and Ecosystem Benefits 2 (SolWEB2) Apply for DE FOA 0003492 Funding Number: DE FOA 0003492 Agency: Golden Field Office Category: Energy Funding Amount: $3,000,000 |
| Fiscal Year 2025 Solar Module and Solar Hardware (SMASH) Incubator Apply for DE FOA 0003460 Funding Number: DE FOA 0003460 Agency: Golden Field Office Category: Energy Funding Amount: $4,000,000 |
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