Pacific Gas and Electric Co. recently announced the opening of the application window for the second wave of Microgrid Incentive Program grant funding beginning April 3. To apply for the second application window, interested parties must submit MIP project ideas to PG&E by May 30 through an email to [email protected].
MIP funds the development of community microgrids to support disadvantaged communities most vulnerable to outages, said PG&E. A microgrid consists of a group of interconnected customers and distributed energy resource(s) that can disconnect from and reconnect to the grid to stay energized during an outage.
Community microgrids are typically designed to serve a variety of vulnerable customers and key community resources such as hospitals, police and fire stations, schools, water treatment and telecommunications facilities, gas stations, markets and residences, among others.
PG&E reports it has received approximately 50 inquiries from tribal governments, local governments and community-based organizations since launching MIP in late 2023.
Twenty-two of the roughly 50 project inquiries advanced through initial program screening requirements and technical consultations with PG&E to submit applications. Each of those 22 projects received an application development grant of $25,000 to offset community investments in developing successful project applications.
PG&E subsequently selected nine projects following a rigorous evaluation and scoring process. PG&E’s project scoring framework evaluated customer and community attributes, resilience benefits and environmental benefits along with the requested incentive amounts to determine the projects with the highest benefit-to-cost ratio.
Prior to formally accepting the awards, the nine selected Wave 1 MIP projects will perform due diligence to review the terms of their award; reconfirm their project assumptions, including any changes to projected development costs; and reassess risks associated with other funding sources they may have assumed to be available.
Upwards of $43 million will be awarded to the nine projects, of which approximately $34 million will be dedicated to pay for front-of-the-meter generating resources (such as solar) and batteries, engineering and project management costs, and property purchase or lease costs. Each of the nine projects will also be allocated up to an additional $1 million to cover interconnection costs for the distributed energy resources that will power the microgrids.
Generation resource types for selected MIP projects include a variety of clean energy solutions such as solar, battery energy storage, pumped hydroelectric storage, small hydroelectric and biomass.
More about the Microgrid Incentive Program
The Microgrid Incentive Program is a statewide $200 million competitive grant program to fund clean-energy community microgrids in disadvantaged and vulnerable communities.
Authorized and approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, the new program allocates a total of $79.2 million in project funding for PG&E, $83.3 million for Southern California Edison and $17.5 million for San Diego Gas and Electric. Projects selected under the MIP can receive up to $14 million in award funding each for the design and development of a multicustomer, front-of-the-meter community microgrid.
Customers and communities interested in learning more or applying for grants through the second wave of PG&E MIP grant funding can visit www.pge.com/mip.
Project scoring criteria and information about all the incentives and allowances available, including details on eligibility, how to apply for funding and the process for development of a community microgrid, are provided in PG&E’s MIP Handbook.
Information provided by Pacific Gas and Electric Co.