The Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) was awarded $1.6 million through the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program authorized through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to establish the Renewable Energy Village Energy Efficiency Program (RE-VEEP). Through RE-VEEP, the AEA will distribute funds to qualified local governments to support renewable energy, energy efficiency, and conservation projects in public buildings and facilities situated in rural areas of Alaska, enabling communities to lower their energy costs and participate in the clean energy transition. The AEA will combine $1.6 million in EECBG funding with an additional $1.4 million from State Energy Program funds, making a total of $3 million available for RE-VEEP initiatives aimed at reducing carbon emissions throughout the state.
Alaska is one of the initial recipients among more than 2,700 eligible states, territories, local governments, and Tribes of the EECBG Program funding, administered by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of State and Community Energy Programs. All states are required to allocate at least 60 percent of their funds to local governments that were ineligible for formula-based grants. The RE-VEEP program will be accessible to local governments that were not eligible for direct formula grant funding under the EECBG Program. RE-VEEP will open for applications in early 2024. A formal press release can be found here.