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BEL convened meetings around the country with key electric cooperative and municipal utility staff and senior USDA RUS staff. These dialogues in Kansas (picture above), Oklahoma, Nebraska (picture below), Georgia, Florida, Minnesota/Wisconsin, Indiana, and Kentucky will help improve the effectiveness of programs designed to invest in the country's electric infrastructure.

Trivia Question of the Month: Has BEL been working hard or hardly working this summer? (See answer below.)

Note from the President

Summer in the Washington DC area is sometimes known for being a slower time – not this year, not for BEL, or for folks working in federal agencies like USDA and DOE. (I can’t speak for Congress….)

Over the past month, BEL has been on the road with USDA, meeting with cooperatives and munis around the country to try to make sure that the maximum amount of funding from the country is invested in our electric infrastructure.

On top of these efforts, we have helped stakeholders submit over $350 million in PACE letters of interest and many millions more in EECBG and DOE ERA grant proposals that we have helped with past the concept phase. (Apologies for all of the acronyms, I blame the government.)

We are humbled and honored to be helping to secure funding for America's communities.

This summer, we are working with willing stakeholders to be sure that we leave nothing on the field when it comes to securing the funds. We are staffing up and continuing to grow.

For those of you who support us as sponsors, THANK YOU! For those of you who do not but are interested in becoming a member-sponsor, please consider joining us now or budgeting for sponsorship next year. It is an exciting time, and helping you all is our mission and our passion.

Have a great rest of the summer, stay cool, and keep helping others to stay cool too!

Trivia Question Answer: BEL is working hard – so is USDA!

Key BEL Infrastructure Funding Update

BEL's philosophy is to bring stakeholders timely and actionable information about programs in the midst of a firehose of information, filtering where the best opportunities lie. As such, we offer the following updates:

USDA PACE and New ERA

This summer BEL is focused on supporting organizations applying for the USDA RUS program. Please see information on these programs at our USDA funding page.

Key dates for the program are:

• The window for submitting Letters of Interest (LOIs) for PACE opened July 10 and closes September 29. 
• The portal for New ERA funds opens on July 31 and closes on September 15. Of note, USDA just extended the closing date for New ERA Letters of Interest (LOI) to September 15, 2023.

If you are part of an electric cooperative, municipal utility, or tribal energy stakeholder eligible for USDA funding, please email infrastructure@be-league.org or sign up here to receive updates on the program and available resources. 

DOE 40401(d) Grid Resilience State and Tribal Grants

These funds are starting to roll out of DOE. We are assisting small utilities to access these funds, and cooperatives and municipal utilities can contact their state about these programs, as there are often small utility set-asides that are appealing to our stakeholders.

Other Grant / Funding Opportunities that BEL is Monitoring

• BEL has helped stakeholders submit grant applications to DOE's Energy Improvement in Rural or Remote Areas program and Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) competitive program, and they have moved past the concept phase, but there are no new opportunities at the moment for new applications. Note that the EECBG formula program pre-award sheets for local governments that are eligible for formula grants are due July 31.
• The industry awaits notice on DOE's GRIP program, and there are no current opportunities to apply for funding. If you are interested in joining BEL's consortium next year, please email us.
• EPA has announced billions of dollars of funding for programs related to the GHG Reduction Fund – BEL is evaluating these programs but has no actionable advice for stakeholders at the moment.
• EPA has a grant program open for Clean School Buses. Due to the minimum number of buses needed for an application, BEL does not see actionable steps for most of our sponsor/stakeholders on the grant, but we continue to support the rollout of electric buses across the country. We are hopeful that the rebate program prioritizes "rural distant" schools as in the first round of rebates. Please reach out to tracy@be-league.org for more information on the school bus program.

Consider Becoming a BEL Sponsor 

BEL provides a unique platform for collaboration and information-sharing among the diverse sectors engaged in the energy transition. In the last year, BEL has added dozens of new sponsors, including a growing number of municipal utilities. By joining as a sponsor, your organization can:  



• Amplify your voice to help shape state and federal policy priorities 
• Learn from other utility professionals deploying new technologies and programs 
• Access information on policy initiatives and opportunities 
• Access current research on electrification 
• Increase visibility of your utility’s innovation and programs 

For information on sponsorship of BEL, please click below.

BEL is a 501(c)3 organization with Silver status as a charitable organization on Guidestar.