Grant Funding Available for Clean Energy Land Use Planning

On April 11^th, the California Energy Commission posted a grant opportunity allocating up to $500,000 total to local governments to develop new or updated clean energy land use planning documents to support the development of clean energy projects. The California Clean Energy Planning Program will provide up to $100,000 per city or county applicant and will be awarded on a first come, first-served basis. Costs eligible for reimbursement include: direct labor costs; subject matter experts used in preparing documents (e.g. new or updates to general plan elements, potential studies); and for outreach and community engagement. A pre-application virtual workshop will be held on Tuesday, April 23^rd from 1:30pm to 3:30pm (see here) and applications will be accepted May 7^th through June 3^rd.

Last August, RCRC co-hosted a Local Government Renewable Energy Permitting Webinar to discuss the SB 100 renewable energy infrastructure needs and included a panel with county permitting departments and energy developers to share best practices and opportunities to improve permitting processes.

More information can be found here. For funding assistance, please contact RCRC Policy and Local Assistance Manager Eric Will.