Section 247 Draft Application Guidance Released
The Department of Energy released draft application guidance for the Maintaining and Enhancing Hydroelectricity Incentives Program (“Section 247”) on February 8, 2023. Section 247 is a new program that has $553.6 million allocated because of the great work that NHA, its member organizations, and the Uncommon Dialogue did in securing funding in the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act passed in 2021. As a reminder, Section 247 provides grant funding for capital investments in grid resilience, dam safety, and environmental improvements. The funding shall not exceed 30% of the costs of the applicable investment and shall not exceed $5 million per calendar year per facility.
Please see DOE’s release here with the guidance found here.
February 16 DOE Webinar
The draft guidance has a 20-calendar day public comment period (ending February 28, 2023). DOE has also announced a public webinar on February 16th at 1:00 pm ET. Registration for the webinar can be found here.
Preparing NHA’s Response NHA is currently reviewing the guidance and is preparing its response. NHA is hosting a call on Monday, February 13th from 3:30-5:00 ET to discuss the guidance document and themes that NHA will want to respond to. If your organization wants to be involved in the work of drafting NHA’s response, please let Michael Purdie at [email protected].