Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project
NREL manages the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP) to help coastal, remote, and island communities transform their energy systems and increase resilience through technical assistance and cash awards.
![A mosaic of landscape imagery, including photographs of a beach next to green hills, a dirt road with powerlines running alongside it, a snowy field, and a boat on water surrounded by birds in front of a sunset.](/state-local-tribal/assets/images/ta-mosaic.jpg)
![Solar panel arrays on a shoreline](/state-local-tribal/assets/images/technical-assistance-card.jpg)
Learn how to apply for ETIPP technical assistance. The next round of applications will open in the spring of 2025.
![Adult teaches kids how electricity and lights work](/state-local-tribal/assets/images/knowledge-sharing-card.jpg)
Get access to community resources to help you with your energy transition project.
What Is the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project?
ETIPP provides energy planning and technical assistance to bolster energy resilience in coastal, remote, and island communities across the United States and U.S. territories. The program employs a community-driven approach to identify and plan resilient clean energy solutions that address a community's specific challenges and draw on appropriate energy resources. This approach combines the expertise of local community leaders, residents, and groups with regional organizations and energy experts at DOE national laboratories.
Cohort 4 Communities Announced
Check out which communities are involved.Communities selected for ETIPP receive up to 24 months of in-kind technical assistance and up to $50,000 in direct funding to support their energy transitions. After selection, communities engage in project scoping for approximately 2–6 months to discuss community priorities and finalize project details with technical assistance providers and regional partners. Communities and technical assistance providers then execute the project over a period of 12–18 months.
Technical Assistance in Action: Energy Resilience Success Stories
Project Partner Network
ETIPP combines funding and support from DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, technical expertise from national laboratories, and local knowledge from place-based organizations to support communities in building energy resilience.
ETIPP communities receive substantial support from national laboratory researchers, who work with community stakeholders to offer strategic energy analysis and planning. Program administration and technical assistance come from:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory provide ETIPP communities with insights on building technologies, distributed energy resources, electricity policy, geothermal technologies, microgrids, transportation electrification, strategic energy planning, utility ratemaking and programs, and utility regulation.
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
NREL researchers focus on community and energy resilience, energy efficiency, energy storage, geothermal, hydropower, maritime electrification, microgrids analysis, port electrification, power system modeling, solar, sustainable mobility, strategic energy planning, techno-economic modeling, transportation electrification, and wave and tidal energy through ETIPP.
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s ETIPP technical assistance centers on building efficiency, energy storage, geothermal, marine, microgrid analysis, port electrification, resilience, solar, techno-economic modeling, vessel electrification, waste to energy, and wind technology.
Sandia National Laboratories
Through ETIPP, Sandia National Laboratories’ researchers help communities better understand technologies and strategies for building efficiency, community and energy resilience, disaster preparedness, distributed energy resources, microgrids, resilience hubs, and transportation electrification.
ETIPP’s regional partners support communities in their areas before, during, and beyond the scope of their ETIPP projects. These organizations assist with engaging stakeholders, identifying communities’ energy needs, developing their goals, building capacity, and other activities to engage, educate, and prepare communities for their energy transitions. ETIPP’s competitively selected regional partner organizations include:
Alaska Region: Renewable Energy Alaska Project
Caribbean Territories Region: partner to be announced
Great Lakes Region: partner to be announced
Gulf Coast Region: Southeast Sustainability Directors Network
Hawaii/Pacific Territories: partner to be announced
Northeastern Seaboard: Island Institute
Pacific Northwest: Spark Northwest
Southeastern Seaboard: Groundswell
Contact Us
If you have questions about ETIPP, please email ETIPP@nrel.gov.
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