Energizing Rural Communities

Energizing Rural Communities Prize

The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) launched the $15 million Energizing Rural Communities Prize to challenge individuals and organizations to develop partnership plans or innovative financing strategies to help rural or remote communities improve their energy systems and advance clean energy demonstration projects.

This prize is part of OCED's $1 billion Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas (ERA) Program which was created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to demonstrate new ways to improve the resilience, reliability, safety, availability, and environmental performance of energy systems serving our nation's rural or remote areas with populations of no more than 10,000 people. Nearly 50 million Americans live in rural or remote areas where energy costs are often disproportionately high and service can be unreliable.

The competition is open to individuals and organizations that may include entrepreneurs, university faculty and student groups, community organizations, tribal and local governments, financial institutions, and industry professionals.