The United States Department of Energy (DOE) will provide $66 million from the Energy Efficiency Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Capitalization Grant Program to 17 states and territories to support energy efficiency initiatives.
This funding helps the states and territories establish or expand revolving loan funds for energy efficiency projects. These funds can be used for loans and grants to improve building energy efficiency and comfort through audits, upgrades, and retrofits. The program aims to increase access to capital for energy efficiency projects in public buildings and encourage financial institutions to offer loans and grants to American families and small businesses. This will help them save money and reduce their energy costs.
“Increased opportunities for low-cost financing will help states and territories expand access to the money-saving clean energy tools that will benefit the residential, commercial, and public sectors”, Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm said in a press release by the DOE. “We are excited to see states and territories take advantage of targeted and impactful financing options to transform their communities”.
This is the third round of Revolving Loan Fund Capitalization Grant Program awards. The DOE plans to announce additional awards in the coming months. The program will allocate $242 million to grantees to establish or expand energy efficiency revolving loan funds. Forty percent of the funds will be distributed to all states, territories, and the District of Columbia, while 60 percent will be reserved for priority states as defined in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
In the latest awards, grantees include Arizona with $1.7 million, Georgia with $2.5 million and Iowa with $7 million. Others are Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Colorado, Delaware, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island.
Among the biggest awards, Texas secured $22.4 million to establish a new revolving loan fund that operationally matches its existing Texas LoanSTAR revolving loan program. Texas will also provide a grant opportunity for free ASHRAE Level II energy audit services for Community Centers.
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