Authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, managed through the Grid Deployment Office (GDO), and administered by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), the Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants program is designed to strengthen and modernize America’s power grid against wildfires, extreme weather, and other natural disasters that are exacerbated by the climate crisis. 

The program will distribute funding to states, territories, and federally recognized Indian tribes, including Alaska Native Regional Corporations and Alaska Native Village Corporations, over five years based on a formula that includes factors such as population size, land area, probability and severity of disruptive events, and a locality’s historical expenditures on mitigation efforts. The states, territories, and tribes will then award these funds to a diverse set of projects, with priority given to efforts that generate the greatest community benefit providing clean, affordable, and reliable energy.

On January 18, 2024, DOE released the Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grant fiscal year 2024 (FY24) Administrative and Legal Requirements Document (ALRD) to open the allocation request and application period for fiscal year 2024 (FY24) grant funding. An additional $562 million in funding is available through FY24 grants. Applicants have until June 17, 2024 at 11:59 pm ET to apply or request allocations.

The process of requesting FY24 allocations depends on an applicant’s current status in the program.

  • Existing Grant Recipients that have already received grants for FY22/23 will have 90 days from the issuance of the ALRD amendment to request FY24 allocations. 
     
  • Current Grant Applicants that previously submitted a grant application for FY22/23 but have not yet received their grant at the time the ALRD amendment is issued, will have 90 days from the issuance of the ALRD amendment to amend their previously submitted grant application to include the FY24 allocations.
     
  • New Grant Applicants are eligible applicants that did not submit a grant application for FY22/23 will have 90 days from the issuance of the ALRD amendment to submit a grant application for FY24 allocations. Several one-time actions must be completed before an application can be submitted. Applicants are encouraged to address these items as soon as possible, as some may take several weeks to complete.
green line

To learn about technical and other assistance options that GDO provides, please visit Request Grid Resilience Assistance.

The Formula Grant Explained
A formula grant is a non-competitive funding opportunity to a specific group of applicants, in this case to states and Indian tribes. A formula is used to allocate funds to the eligible applicants.  

The Formula and Resulting Allocations
For this program, the formula was based on five factors: population, area, probability of disruptive events, severity of disruptive events, and expenditure on mitigation efforts. The formula allocations resulted in these allocation amounts for each state, U.S. territory, and Federal recognized tribe for FY 2023 and 2024.  Data sources for the formula are publicly available.

Steps to Take Before You Apply
Prior to preparing your application you will need to issue a public notice and conduct a public hearing to receive input on the criteria, strategies, and methods you plan to use when determining and implementing your grid resilience projects. Applicant must also register for SAM.gov, FedConnect and obtain a UEI. 

How to Apply
The application process is outlined in the Administrative & Legal Requirements Document (ALRD) on DOE’s FedConnect. Video tutorials for completing and submitting the application are available, and include what you need to know before applying, registration and pre-application requirements, necessary forms, and steps after submission.

How Long It Takes to Apply
The application process has been streamlined to minimize the number of forms and amount of information that needs to be provided with the application. Templates and sample documents are available. The Program Narrative submitted with your application, which describes the strategy for selecting and implementing resilience projects (estimated to be 5-15 pages), will require the most time to prepare. The Program Narrative also must include a summary of the public notice and hearing that was held to allow public input into these strategies.

Funding Match Requirements States and Indian Tribes, and Sub-awardees
States and Indian tribes will need provide a 15 percent match on the Federal allocation. However, the 15 percent could be met in part by things like the salary paid to the staff that work on the project. Additionally, should the state or Indian tribe issue subawards for resilience projects, the entity receiving those funds must provide a 100 percent match (or 1/3 match for “small utilities”), as explained in the ALRD. Organizations chosen during the state or tribe’s selection process will need to contribute up to a 100 percent match, depending on the type of organization.

Application Due Dates
Applications for states and territories closed on May 31, 2023. Applications for tribal entities closed on August 31, 2023. Applications will be processed on a rolling basis as they are received. Mail-in applications must be postmarked by the respective deadline.  

The Next Steps Once an Award is Made
Depending on how an eligible applicant determines distribution of funds (which is addressed in the application process), sub-awards to eligible entities could be established that addresses specific resilience criteria outlined in the application.   

Further Assistance
Once you have registered in FedConnect, you may submit questions to the administration team for this. 

If you have additional questions, please reach out to us at GDOTribalAssistance@hq.doe.gov and we will get back to you as quickly as possible. 

blue line
green line