Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas

Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas

Funds U.S. rural and remote clean-energy demonstration projects that improve local energy cost, resilience, access, generation, microgrids, or efficiency.

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

The Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas program is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations cooperative-agreement funding opportunity under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The FY2025 release, DE-FOA-0003428, offered $400 million in total federal funding for clean-energy projects serving communities of 10,000 people or fewer. DOE expected 20 to 50 cooperative agreements with a federal share of $2 million to $50 million per project, with cost share varying by applicant type and topic area. Eligible applicants include for-profit organizations, nonprofits, government entities, tribes, institutions of higher education, tribal organizations, and incorporated consortia, either as recipients or subrecipients. Projects must support at least one eligible rural-energy activity such as improving energy generation, transmission, or distribution cost-effectiveness, upgrading transmission or distribution lines, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, modernizing generation facilities, developing microgrids, or increasing energy efficiency. The FY2025 application window is closed: concept papers were due February 27, 2025 and full applications were due August 28, 2025.