The Clean Energy to Communities (C2C) program connects local governments, electric utilities, community-based groups, and others with experts from across the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) national laboratory complex and their customized, cutting-edge analysis. Through unbiased technical support to communities across the country, C2C accelerates the deployment of clean energy systems that are reflective of local and regional priorities.
Meeting Communities Where They Are
Communities lie at the heart of C2C, and DOE recognizes that each community has different needs and interests. C2C fosters community-led innovation with tailored assistance across the renewable power, grid, mobility, and buildings sectors.
C2C provides three levels of engagement:
- In-depth technical partnerships: Multi-year partnerships that provide cross-sector modeling, analysis, and validation, paired with direct funding to help teams of local governments, electric utilities, and community-based organizations reach their goals and/or overcome specific challenges. Learn about the selected partnerships.
- Peer-learning cohorts: Small groups of local governments, electric utilities, or community-based organizations that meet regularly for approximately 6 months to learn from each other and lab experts in a collaborative environment to develop program proposals, action plans, strategies, and/or best practices on a pre-determined clean energy topic. View participating communities.
- Expert match: Short-term assistance (40-60 hours) with one or more technical experts to help address near-term clean energy questions or challenges for up to 200* communities.
Overview Video
Success Stories
Harsh winter conditions in Alaska affect energy reliance and cost.
Clean Energy Program Supports Alaska Utility Amid Coal Plant Retirement
The C2C in-depth technical partnership pilot helped an Alaska utility make a plan to keep the lights on ahead of a coal plant retirement:
C2C Partnership Plans Solar Panels for Florida Farms and Churches
Researchers helped The Black Farmers' Collaborative explore agrivoltaics and lay the foundation for installing solar panels on houses of worship.
CEO of Lucky Shoals Community Association and Georgia State Representative Marvin Lim (front left) meets with Team Georgia HD 98. Members include representatives from the Georgia Hispanic Construction Association, the Gwinnett Housing Corporation, and the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance.
C2C Helps Boost Building Efficiency in Unincorporated Norcross, Georgia
C2C's Expert Match team focused on finding opportunities for building efficiency improvements that could improve affordability for business owners and tenants while reducing the greenhouse gas emissions associated with building operations.
Read the blog.
Retrofitting a historic library to be more energy efficient with help from C2C Expert Match is one way the city of Cohoes is following its motto: Honor the past, Explore the present, Inspire the future.
C2C Helps Working-Class Community with Floating Solar System and Historic Building Retrofits
The C2C expert match pilot helped Cohoes, NY investigate the first municipally owned and operated floating solar installation and retrofits to historic buildings:
Cutting Edge Tools and Analysis
C2C leverages expertise and capabilities from across DOE’s immense national laboratory complex.
This includes the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems platform, on which local leaders can see how a virtual model of their community interacts with actual and emulated clean energy infrastructure and devices, such as wind turbines, controllers, and electric charging stations—helping de-risk future investments.
C2C is funded by DOE and managed by NREL. It is supported by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Learn more about C2C, including how to apply.
*Number of communities is subject to change depending on Congressional appropriations.