The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) partners with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP) to help remote, island, and islanded communities transform their energy systems and increase energy resilience.
ETIPP defines "energy resilience" as the ability to anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to changing conditions and withstand, respond to, and recover rapidly from energy disruptions.
ETIPP employs a community-driven approach to identify and plan strategic clean energy and energy resilience solutions that address a community's specific challenges. This approach leverages the experience and expertise of local community leaders, residents, and organizations with the ETIPP partner network. The ETIPP partner network connects selected communities with regional nonprofit or academic organizations ("regional partners"), energy experts at DOE research institutions (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, NREL, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories), and DOE offices to navigate options for addressing local clean energy and energy resilience challenges.
By participating in ETIPP, communities receive substantial support from ETIPP experts in the form of technical assistance on energy analysis and planning (see Technical Assistance below). Each community is also supported by an ETIPP regional partner that can assist with identifying and developing a community's needs and goals.
Following the application evaluation process, selected communities will embark on a project scoping phase (lasting approximately 1 to 2 months) to discuss community priorities and finalize project proposals with technical assistance providers. Selected communities and technical assistance providers will then execute the project, which will be informed by the scoping phase, over a period of 12 to 18 months.
Please be aware that ETIPP is not a grant program and does not provide direct funding to selected communities. The purchase and deployment of energy infrastructure is also not available through ETIPP.
For additional background information on ETIPP, visit DOE's ETIPP website or contact an ETIPP regional partner from the Contact section.
How To Apply for Technical Assistance
Pre-Application Steps
Interested applicants are encouraged to complete the following steps before applying:
- Review the application process guidelines below.
- Discuss your ETIPP technical assistance goals with relevant decision makers, community leaders, and local energy experts.
- Contact an ETIPP regional partner to discuss your application (see Contact a Regional Partner).
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