Louisiana 40401(d) Grid Resilience Formula Grant Award - Round 2

Overview

The State of Louisiana is releasing its second round of projects solicitation for funding provided by the US Department of Energy under the Grid Resilience Formula Grants Program (Section 40101(d) of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law). The goal of the program is to improve the resilience of the electric grid against disruptive events, such as wildfires, extreme weather, and other natural disasters. These investments will support efforts to ensure all communities will have access to affordable, reliable, and clean electricity.

In Winter 2024, the State of Louisiana released its first Request for Projects with a focus on projects that could be completed within 24 months and benefit disadvantaged communities.

In this second round of funding, the State is making available approximately $18 million under two project solicitations noted below. Louisiana DENR will host two webinars to provide an overview of these solicitations and to allow potential applicants and stakeholders the opportunity to ask questions.

 

QUICK LINKS

Funding Objectives

Request for Projects

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Funding Objectives

In 2022, the State of Louisiana worked to engage stakeholders, share best practices, collaborate to develop objectives, metrics and criteria for Section 40101(d) projects, and align on near-term needs and long-term strategies to invest in power infrastructure improvements that enhance all-hazards resilience. This foundational effort supported the development of the core objectives, metrics, and project criteria, as described below.

The awarded funding will focus on five core objectives: ResilienceEnvironmentEquityAffordability, and Safety.

   1. RESILIENCE: Reduce the frequency, duration, and impact of outages for Louisiana residents, businesses, and critical services.

    2. ENVIRONMENT: Reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, pollutants impacting public health, fuel costs, and energy burden in Louisiana (particularly in disadvantaged communities).

    3. EQUITY: Create new careers, training programs, and apprenticeship opportunities for residents in disadvantaged communities/businesses and enable residents to have safe and efficient homes.

    4. AFFORDABILITY: Reduce energy bills and energy burden for disadvantaged communities, take advantage of new federal and private funding, and reduce the cost of long-duration outages for communities.

    5.  SAFETY: Reduce customer- and grid-side power quality and wires down instances while improving awareness of new safety considerations with distributed energy solutions.

 

Request for Projects

 

RFP#LADENR-40101d2 A Request for Projects for Early-Stage Community-Based Project Partnerships

Release date: October 30, 2024

RFP available here

Pre-applications due: January 7, 2025, by 5pm CDT

Contact for questions: 40101d@la.gov

Informational and Q&A Webinar #1:   November 13, 2024    Register

Informational and Q&A Webinar #2:   December 11, 2024    Register

 

  • Eligible Projects: Community-Based Project Partnerships are collaborative planning efforts to develop grid and community resilience plans for future eligible projects that could be submitted for funding under the future rounds of competitive projects solicitations within this Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants Program. These planning efforts must support projects benefiting disadvantaged communities that can be completed within a 5-year time horizon but need near-term resources and technical assistance to develop a comprehensive and final approach.
  • Eligible activities: community energy and resilience planning, local outreach and coordination, data analysis, engineering and design activities, financial analysis, modeling, and other activities as necessary to develop a grid resilience proposal.
  • Eligible entities: eligible municipal utilities, rural electric cooperatives, local governments, regional planning agencies, non-profits or other utilities (in partnership with local governments).
  • Available funding: $3,432,566 benefiting disadvantaged communities; up to $350,000 per project.
  • Intended number of awards: 5-9.
  • Cost match: 1/3 of federal funding for small utilities; 100% all other.

 

RFP# LADENR-40101d3 A Request for Projects for Distribution Grid Upgrade Projects that Can Support Resilience Hubs and Critical Infrastructure

Release date:  November 13, 2024

RFP available here

Pre-applications due: January 31, 2025, by 5pm CDT

Contact for questions: 40101d@la.gov

Informational and Q&A Webinar #1:   November 13, 2024    Register

Informational and Q&A Webinar #2:   December 11, 2024    Register

 

  • Eligible Projects: This Request for Projects invites project proposals that include activities, technologies, equipment, and hardening measures to support deployment of community resilience hubs, critical infrastructure, and associated microgrids.
  • Eligible activities: related monitoring and control technologies, adaptive protection, weatherization, fire resistance and prevention, DER and microgrid-related grid hardening investments (non-generation), and other related distribution and grid hardening infrastructure investments.
  • Eligible entities: municipal utilities, rural electric cooperatives, or other utilities.
  • Available funding: $14.84 million with at least $4.8 million benefiting disadvantaged communities.
  • Intended number of awards: 5-15.
  • Cost match: 1/3 of federal funding for small utilities; 100% all other.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Q: Are you looking to fund more planning/design or implementation?

A: Both types of projects will be funded. DENR is looking for shovel ready projects that can be finished within 24 months but will also look at projects that need design/planning work that could be completed in a 5-year timeline. For the projects needing design/planning support we are looking for projects with extensive community engagement that need. From feedback they received last fall, there are projects with urgent need and opportunities to get money out the door quickly, but if they only focus on shovel-ready projects then we may not be properly supporting communities that are not as equipped and ready to go. So would want to support earlier stage projects with extensive community engagement that need planning and design work that can position them well to receive funding 2-3 years down the line.

 

Q: Are projects with powerlines eligible and would burying overhead lines be a good fit?

A: Once the RFI is out, that type of project is something DENR would look at and consider. 

 

Q: Do you have examples of Co-op relationships that have been beneficial in the energy space?

A: Louisiana has been very aggressive in supporting needs of cooperative utilities plans with communities and utilities. Louisiana is very happy to continue to support those efforts and projects that require early-stage planning and design and have large scale needs.

 

Q: Will you accept proposals for multi-year projects where the projects will last more than 12 months?

A: There is no 12-month restriction and we anticipate most projects will take longer than 12 months.

 

Q: Are engineering and planning administrations eligible for funding as part of the planning/design/implementation of projects? If yes, what percentage?

A: The details would be finalized in the RFP and questions related to that will be asked in the RFI. Early-stage community-based project partnerships will likely be a lot of early-stage engineering planning work. For other buckets, we won’t be seeking to fund only engineering and planning work. Most competitive projects would likely be ready to go to be built in 24 months. More details on percentages and expectations would be available in the RFP/RFI.

 

Q: Clarify the community match?

A: For small utility providers (under 4 million megawatt hours sold per year) the community match is 1/3 cost share. For all other entities, the cost match is one to one. 

 

Q: Can other grant funds be used as part of cost shares, especially for disadvantaged communities with limited funding/tax base?

A: If they are federal funds, they cannot be used as cost share for these projects. But they could be used to bring down the overall costs of the project. State/local/nonprofit/philanthropic funds could be used as cost share for the program.

 

Q: Who do we reach out to at the State level for assistance?

A: The 40101(d) Coordinator - 40101d@la.gov

 

Q: Where is the Round 1 information?

A: The Round 1 information can be found here.