Frequently Asked Questions

As stated in Section III.F. (page 23) of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), “DOE will not make eligibility determinations for potential Applicants prior to the date on which applications to this FOA must be submitted. The decision of whether to submit an application in response to this FOA lies solely with the Applicant.” 

For your purposes in making that decision, however, we provide the following information:

As stated in Section III.A. Eligible Applicants (page 15), “eligibility for award under this Funding Opportunity Announcement is restricted to: (1) an Indian Tribe; or (2) Tribal Energy Resource Development Organization; and on whose (3) Indian Lands the project(s) will be located.” See Section III.A. or Appendix A of the FOA for definitions. Based on the information provided, it does not appear the described individual meets these requirements.

As stated in Section III. A. Eligible Applicants (page 16 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), for purposes of this FOA, “an eligible “Indian Tribe” (including Alaska Native villages, but not Alaska Native Regional Corporations or Village Corporations), must be federally recognized as listed in Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible to Receive Services from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, published by the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Federal Register on May 4, 2016, 81 FR 26827.”  Unless the state recognized Indian Tribe is also federally recognized (as listed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Federal Register notice), it is not eligible to apply under this FOA.

1. Section III.F. of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) states, “DOE will not make eligibility determinations for potential Applicants prior to the date on which applications to this FOA must be submitted. The decision of whether to submit an application in response to this FOA lies solely with the Applicant.”

For your purposes in making that decision, however, we provide the following information:

Per page 6 of the FOA, ““Tribally-owned or controlled building(s),” for purposes of this FOA, is a building or buildings where the eligible entity has the authority to retrofit the building and where the building is either owned by the eligible entity or tribal members, or the eligible entity has a long-term lease (at least 20 years). Buildings may include, but are not limited to, tribal member homes, schools, community buildings, clinics, tribal government buildings, utility facilities (such as water/waste water systems), tribal casinos, or tribal businesses.”

The definition of “Indian Land” is as provided on pages 17-18 and in appendix A of FOA. Specifically,

““Indian Lands,” for purposes of this Announcement, is defined as:

(a) any land located within the boundaries of an “Indian reservation” (see definition below), pueblo, or rancheria;

(b) any land not located within boundaries of an Indian reservation, pueblo, or rancheria, the title to which is held –

(i) in trust by the United States for the benefit of an Indian Tribe or an individual Indian;

(ii) by an Indian Tribe or an individual Indian, subject to restriction against alienation under laws of the United States; or

(iii) by a dependent Indian community;”

Based on these FOA requirements, it is possible that an Indian-owned home not located on the Tribe’s reservation could meet the definition of Indian Land. With only the limited information provided in your question, and in light of Section III.F. of the FOA, however, DOE will not make a final eligibility determination prior to the date on which applications must be submitted.

2. As stated in #1 above, Section III.F. of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) states, “DOE will not make eligibility determinations for potential Applicants prior to the date on which applications to this FOA must be submitted The decision of whether to submit an application in response to this FOA lies solely with the Applicant.” For your purposes in making that decision, however, we provide the following information:

Based on the limited information included as part of your question, it appears you would be required to submit two separate applications as the geothermal clean energy system in a to-be-constructed Tribal facility, as described, appears to be a facility-scale system rather than community-scale.  Specifically, under “Topic Area 2, DOE is seeking applications for the deployment of community-scale clean energy systems (renewable e nergy power systems or combined heat and power systems) on Indian lands to provide electricity and/or heating or cooling to many buildings or to an entire tribal community.” Please note that per the definition of “Renewable Energy System” under Appendix A of the FOA (page 75), for purposes of this FOA, “ground source heat pumps are considered an energy efficiency measure.” and are therefore not eligible under Topic Area 2.

To be eligible under Topic Area 2 as a community-scale system, “the installation of a geothermal clean energy system in a to-be-constructed Tribal facility”, as described, must meet the requirements on page 11-12 of the FOA, and included below.

(1) Be a minimum of 250 kW rated capacity (or for heating or cooling the Btu equivalent of 170,607 Btu/hr); and

(2) Affect a substantial number of buildings within a tribal community (no less than three buildings); and

(3) Use commercially-proven warrantied technology (see the definition of “commercially-proven” and “warrantied” under Appendix A).

Whereas under Topic Area 1 “tribal buildings may include a single or multiple “Tribally-owned or controlled building(s)” located on Indian Lands. All proposed installations must be for either:

(1) Existing “Tribally-owned or controlled building(s)”; or

(2) “Tribally-owned or controlled building(s)” that are currently being constructed or planned to be constructed during the proposed grant period.”

Also, per Section III.E. “Applicants may submit more than one application to this FOA or under a Topic Area, provided each application is for a distinctively different project and addresses only one Topic Area. Each application must have a distinct title, unique Control Number as assigned by EERE Exchange during the registration process, and be readily distinguishable.”

Per the definition of clean energy system beginning on page 9 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) or under Appendix A, “for purposes of this FOA, ground source heat pumps are considered an energy efficiency measure.” Accordingly, air source heat pumps would also be considered an energy efficiency measure and therefore, only eligible under Topic Area 1 of the FOA (Energy Efficiency Measures and Clean Energy Systems on Tribal Buildings), not under Topic Area 2 (Community-scale Clean Energy Deployment).

Section III.F. of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) states, “DOE will not make eligibility determinations for potential Applicants prior to the date on which applications to this FOA must be submitted. The decision of whether to submit an application in response to this FOA lies solely with the Applicant.”

For your purposes in making that decision, however, we provide the following information:

As stated in Section I.C. Applications Specifically Not of Interest, “Applications proposing studies or development (pre-construction) activities or any other activity which does not result in the generation of electricity and/or heating or cooling, or a reduction in energy use.”

Also note that, for purposes of this announcement, “energy efficiency” is not the same as “energy conservation”, which is not eligible under this FOA.  Specifically, ”energy conservation,” for purposes of this FOA, means decreasing energy consumption by using less of an energy service or going without an energy service to save energy. Energy conservation typically involves a behavioral change and may include meters or other indicators to induce that behavioral change. If “energy conservation” is proposed in response to Topic Area 1.a or Topic Area 1.b., the application will be deemed nonresponsive and will not be reviewed or considered.

Section III.F. of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) states, “DOE will not make eligibility determinations for potential Applicants prior to the date on which applications to this FOA must be submitted. The decision of whether to submit an application in response to this FOA lies solely with the Applicant.”

For your purposes in making that decision, however, we provide the following information:

As stated on page 11 of the FOA, Under Topic Area 2, “DOE is seeking applications for the deployment of community-scale clean energy systems (renewable energy power systems or combined heat and power systems) on Indian lands to provide electricity and/or heating or cooling to many buildings or to an entire tribal community.” Further, as stated on page 10, “NOTE: Clean energy systems will only be considered under Topic Area 1.b. and Topic Area 2.”

Per the definition of clean energy system beginning on page 9 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) or under Appendix A, “direct-use hydrothermal (geothermal) resources for water and space heating“ is an eligible renewable energy system or heating and cooling. However, the definition also states, “for purposes of this FOA, ground source heat pumps are considered an energy efficiency measure.” Therefore, direct-use hydrothermal (geothermal) resources for water and space heating would be considered using a clean energy resource and would be eligible under Topic Area 2 and in combination with energy efficiency measures, Topic Area 1.b. If, however, ground source heat pump(s) or air source heat pump(s) are being proposed, those would only be eligible under Topic Area 1.a and in combination with a clean energy system under Topic Area 1.b.

The FOA does not specify a required vintage for the energy audit(s) and based on the information provided, DOE will not make a sufficiency determination. However, the audit(s) must accurately reflect the building(s) and the building(s) baseline energy use, and must provide credible evidence of the savings to be expected as a result of the proposed energy measures. The adequacy of the audit will be evaluated as part of DOE’s review (see Criterion 2, sub-bullet 2).

1. Co-ownership, such as in a Limited liability Company (LLC), may be an acceptable business arrangement.  However, be aware that because of the investment of tax payer funds in any projects funded, DOE retains a vested interest in any equipment purchased under the grant regardless of whether DOE funds or cost share is used to make the purchase. As a result, if capturing tax incentives is part of the economic model, the equipment can only be temporarily transferred away from the eligible applicant, such as an Indian Tribe, to the LLC or other tax investors. In addition, the LLC agreement would need to include, but may not be limited to, contractual rights or obligations for the eligible applicant, such as an Indian Tribe, to acquire the project equipment and/or property from the LLC or other tax investors after the recapture period for the tax benefits has expired.

Note that during the recapture period, any investors, partners, members, and/or other participants in  the project-specific LLC are considered “subrecipients”, as defined in 2 CFR §200.93, and are subject to all applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

2. As stated on page 13 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), “Only the incremental costs associated with the installation of clean energy system(s) or energy efficiency measures will be considered allocable to the proposed DOE funded project and not the cost of constructing the building(s) or structure(s), unless those structures are integral to the clean energy system(s).” In the case of solar carport(s), the “incremental cost” would be the cost for the clean energy system(s), not the cost of the carport structure.

Section III.F. of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) states, “DOE will not make eligibility determinations for potential Applicants prior to the date on which applications to this FOA must be submitted. The decision of whether to submit an application in response to this FOA lies solely with the Applicant.” For your purposes in making that decision, however, we provide the following information:

Topic Area 2 under the FOA is to “deploy clean energy systems on a community-scale.” In this instance, since the repair of the existing turbines will generate clean energy, it would be considered the deployment of clean energy systems and therefore, eligible under Topic Area 2. However, as described, the nameplate capacity of the two turbines is 180 kW and therefore, would not meet the minimum requirement of 250 kW, unless an additional 70 kW of clean energy system name plate capacity was proposed.

1. The Energy Audits or Assessments are separate and distinct from both the Energy Savings Calculations File and the Energy Use Data File. As stated on page 7 of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for Topic Area 1.a, “[t]o be eligible, deep energy retrofits must: (1) Be based on a prior energy audit(s) or industrial energy assessment(s) and those energy audits or industrial energy assessments must be provided as part of the application” and for Topic Area 1.b on page 9 a similar statement.   And, specifically relative to the Energy Audits and Assessments under Section IV.C.10 Energy Audits or Assessments File (page 41 of the FOA) states, “[f]or applications being submitted under Topic Area 1, energy audits or industrial energy assessments for each building affected are required to support the estimated energy savings and those reports must be provided as part of the application. Save the energy audit(s) or assessment(s) in a single PDF file titled “ControlNumber_LeadOrganization_EnergyAudits”.  

You are correct in that the Energy Savings Calculations File, Energy Use Data File, and Energy Audits or Assessments are all only required for Topic Area 1.  

2. To clarify further between the different assessments and data requirements,

1. Any application under Topic Area 1 must be based on a prior completed energy audit or industrial energy assessment and those energy audits or industrial energy assessments must be provided as part of the application. As stated in Question 8 of the FOA Q&As;, the “FOA does not specify a required vintage for the energy audit(s)” and further states, that “the audit(s) must accurately reflect the building(s) and the building(s) baseline energy use, and must provide credible evidence of the savings to be expected as a result of the proposed energy measures.”
2. The Energy Savings Calculations must be based on the actual annual consumption of all energy and fuel sources used during the prior consecutive 12 month period as evidenced by utility bills (e.g., summary of electric utility consumption and costs as provided by the local utility (preferable), electric utility invoices or bills, fuel purchase invoices, or other comparable documentation for all energy and fuel source used in the building or buildings). Specifically, the actual energy use must be based on the most recent consecutive 12 month period for which you have data.
3. The annual energy consumption and cost data for a prior consecutive 12 month period needs to be provided as the Energy Use Data File (see Section IV.C.7.).
4. If an application is selected for funding, a requirement will be that the actual energy savings be verified for a minimum of 12 months after installation of the energy efficiency measure(s) and clean energy system(s).

A building for purposes of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) would typically be a structure with walls and a roof, such as tribal member homes, schools, community buildings, clinics, tribal government buildings, utility facilities (such as water/waste water systems), tribal casinos, or tribal businesses. A casino, hotel and maintenance building would be considered three buildings, provided each was a standalone structure.

Under this FOA, the clean energy system(s) must provide electricity and/or heating or cooling too many buildings or to an entire tribal community. Although solar lights may reduce the energy consumption of street lighting, they do not reduce energy consumption in a building and therefore, would not meet the intent of this FOA.

In regards to non-contiguous or checkerboard land, under Topic Area 2, the requirements apply to either a single clean energy system or the total of multiple systems, meaning individual systems could be sited on non-contiguous land.

To be eligible under Topic Area 2, any single clean energy system or the total of multiple systems proposed must:

(1) Be a minimum of 250 kW rated capacity (or for heating or cooling the Btu equivalent of 170,607 Btu/hr); and

(2) Affect a substantial number of buildings within a tribal community (no less than three buildings); and

(3) Use commercially-proven warrantied technology (see the definition of “commercially-proven” and “warrantied” under Appendix A).

An explanation and rationale as to how the proposed project meets the community-scale requirement, specifically addressing the “substantial” element, will be required as part of the Technical Volume (see Section IV.C.4). Relative to whether those buildings represent 20% of all energy consumed on the Tribally operated buildings on the reservations meets the requirement of “substantial”, Section III.F. on page 23 of the FOA states, “DOE will not make eligibility determinations for potential Applicants prior to the date on which applications to this FOA must be submitted. The decision of whether to submit an application in response to this FOA lies solely with the Applicant.”

Energy storage is not precluded, provided the addition of the energy storage system is technically and economically justified, the energy storage system is commercially-proven and warrantied, and that the proposed system in its entirety meets the requirements of the FOA.

Per Section I.B., page 5, “[c]osts associated with the construction of a building or buildings or structures such as carports (unless integral to the clean energy system being proposed) will not be considered by DOE for reimbursement or as cost share; only the incremental costs associated with the installation of clean energy systems or energy efficiency measures will be considered allocable to the proposed DOE funded project.”  Regardless of whether funded by DOE or contributed as cost share, all of the projects costs must be allowable, allocable, and reasonable.

Based on the limited information provided, DOE is unable to make a definitive determination. However, the only manner in which the cost of the carport shade structures could conceivably be considered part of an eligible project under this FOA is if the carport shade structures are an integral element of the solar energy system. If the solar panels are being mounted on the roof of a carport, then the structure is not an integral element of the solar energy system. If, however, the panels themselves are being used as a carport roof, then the carport structure costs will need to be justified as part of your application, specifically comparing the incremental cost of the carport shade structure mounted solar system relative to other options (i.e., ground-mounted or roof-mounted).

DOE’s National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review would only consider the proposed DOE funded project, where the proposed DOE funded project consists of only the installation of clean energy system(s) and/or the installation and energy efficiency measures, but not the construction of a building(s) or structure(s) such as a carport if the non-federally funded construction project will proceed without the DOE funded project.  If the non-federally funded construction project cannot or will not proceed without the DOE funded project, the non-federally funded project would be considered a connected action to the DOE funded project and the environmental review process would apply to both projects.

Section III.F. of the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) states, “DOE will not make eligibility determinations for potential Applicants prior to the date on which applications to this FOA must be submitted. The decision of whether to submit an application in response to this FOA lies solely with the Applicant.” For your purposes in making that decision, however, we provide the following information:

Beginning on page 9 of the FOA and as included in Appendix A,

““Renewable energy systems,” for purposes of this announcement, include systems for: (1) electric power generation; and/or (2) heating or cooling systems. Renewable energy systems also include renewable energy fueled combined heat and power systems (see below).

1. Renewable energy systems for electric power generation include, but are not limited to, photovoltaic (solar electric), biomass (including waste to energy), wind power, hydropower (diversion, run-of-river, small impoundment and incremental), or other renewable energy hybrid systems for electricity power generation. Note that for purposes of this FOA, ground source heat pumps are considered an energy efficiency measure.
2. Heating or cooling systems include, but are not limited to, the use of biomass for high efficiency combustion systems (i.e., stoves and boilers), active solar thermal systems for space or water heating, wind energy for heating, direct-use hydrothermal (geothermal) resources for water and space heating, or other renewable energy hybrid systems for heating and/or cooling.

“Combined heat and power systems,” for purposes of this announcement, include, but are not limited to, integrated systems that simultaneously generate heat and power using energy efficient turbines, reciprocating engines, micro-turbines, fuel cells, and waste heat recovery systems (capturing heat discarded by an existing process and using that heat directly or to generate power). Eligible combined heat and power systems may only be fueled by either: (1) renewable energy resources, or (2) natural gas. Combined heat and power systems not fueled by either renewable energy resources or natural gas will not be considered.”

Although the Funding Opportunity Anonuncement (FOA) does not specify the level of detail required for energy audits for Topic Area 1 (both 1.a and 1.b), as stated in Question 8 of the FOA Q&As;, “the audit(s) must accurately reflect the building(s) and the building(s) baseline energy use, and must provide credible evidence of the savings to be expected as a result of the proposed energy measures.” The sufficiency of the energy audits or industrial assessments will be evaluated as part of a comprehensive techncial merit review according to the criteria identified in Section V.A.2 of the FOA (pages 51 – 53 of the FOA document).

The 250 kW nameplate rated capacity requirement under Topic Area 2 relates to the clean energy system or systems (renewable energy power systems or combined heat and power systems) that would provide electricity and/or heating or cooling, not storage capacity.

1)   The Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) does not specify any specific standards or certification requirements for the energy audits and/or industrial energy assessments. The sufficiency of the energy audits or industrial assessments will be evaluated as part of a comprehensive technical merit review according to the criteria identified in Section V.A.2 of the FOA (pages 51 – 53 of the FOA document). Please also see the Answer to question #8 and #17, of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) webpage on EERE Exchange.

2)  Per the FOA, in order to calculate the fuel savings, “all energy and fuel sources used (total of all energy and fuel sources combined, including but not limited to, electricity, propane, heating oil, diesel oil, natural gas, or any other energy or fuel used) in Tribally-owned or controlled building(s)” need to be identified, not just those that can be reasonably tracked/verified. Yes, all energy and fuel sources need to be included in the energy savings calculation including the “example fuel” (e.g. wood used for residential heating) cited in your question. And, the “example fuel” in this instance included on the spreadsheet under “Any Fuel (MMBtu)”.

Additionally, as stated in Section III.F. (page 23 of the FOA), “DOE will not make eligibility determinations for potential Applicants prior to the date on which applications to this FOA must be submitted. The decision of whether to submit an application in response to this FOA lies solely with the Applicant.” For your purposes in making that decision, however, we provide the following information:

Per Section III.A. (page 16), an “eligible “Indian Tribe” (including Alaska Native villages, but not Alaska Native Regional Corporations or Village Corporations), must be federally recognized as listed in Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible to Receive Services from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, published by the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Federal Register on May 4, 2016, 81 FR 26827.”

As stated in Section III.F. (page 23 of the FOA), “DOE will not make eligibility determinations for potential Applicants prior to the date on which applications to this FOA must be submitted. The decision of whether to submit an application in response to this FOA lies solely with the Applicant.”  For your purposes in making that decision, however, we provide the following information:

Based on the limited information provided, DOE is unable to make a definitive determination. However, as stated in Section I.B. Topic Area/Technical Areas of Interest (page 5 of the FOA), under Topic Area 1, “DOE is soliciting applications for the deployment of the following energy efficiency measures and clean energy systems on tribal buildings”.  Further, under Topic Area 2 (page 11 of the FOA), “DOE is seeking applications for the deployment of community-scale clean energy systems (renewable energy power systems or combined heat and power systems) on Indian lands to provide electricity and/or heating or cooling to many buildings or to an entire tribal community.” Therefore, if the proposed project does not reduce the energy used in a Tribally-owned or controlled building or provide electricity and/or heating or cooling to many buildings or to an entire tribal community, then it falls outside the parameters of this FOA and is not of interest.