The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Indian Energy announced today its intent to issue a
grant funding opportunity for energy infrastructure deployment on tribal lands for 2020.
This annual grant is the only energy infrastructure grant exclusively for tribal entities. While there are
other grants available for energy planning purposes for tribes, this is considered THE grant opportunity
to fund and build actual energy infrastructure projects.
Our grant team was fortunate to win this grant for a tribe in the 2019 round which funded 50% of a $4
million utility scale solar project for a tribally owned utility.
While this annual grant is typically similar year to year – last year the award amount for utility scale
projects was doubled from $1 million to $2 million, and the scoring criteria was changed which made it
more difficult for tribes who have won this grant previously to win again.
Another major change in last year’s grant from previous years is that it was “energy neutral” meaning
any energy source could compete for this grant whether considered renewable or not. However, most
of the awards went to projects that utilized renewable energy.
The specific grant award amounts available through this grant and the scoring criteria for 2020 will be
announced formally through the Federal Register, likely in the first quarter of 2020. Today’s
announcement is to notify tribes and their eligible energy owned entities that this opportunity will be
forthcoming.
Because this grant requires over twenty forms for submission including technical information it is highly
recommend by our grant experts that tribes begin the grant planning process at this time. The short
time window that typically exists between the Federal Registrar grant announcement and the grant
deadline makes it a sprint to complete the grant application. There are many things a tribe can do now
to prepare for this grant opportunity even though the nuances for the 2020 grant round are yet to be
released in the Federal Register.
Our grant team highly recommends that tribes wishing to win this grant utilize the services of a grant
team experienced with this grant. While there are many talented grant writers among the nation’s
tribes, it is best to work in partnership with a grant team like ours who is familiar with this grant and can
dedicate the time needed for the application. Our detailed time estimate to complete all the forms for
this grant is over 170 hours. A busy tribal grant writer will find it challenging to complete this grant
application – alone. Outside grant teams with specialties working with inside grant writers is common
and may help you win this highly competitive technical grant.
If you wish to contact us regarding working together on your grant application you can call or text our
CEO and senior grant writer - Brad Zerbe at 623-332-0506 or by email at zerbebrad@gmail.com Brad has
helped tribes win over $77 million in grants.
This is the link to the grant announcement - https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/#FoaId40a8636d-f36a-
4f74-b675-73fb389f5a3d