Hi Buildings UP community, 

We wanted to send along some information about another American-Made prize challenge which may be of interest to you: The Energizing Rural Communities Prize. Please see below for more information and if interested, please submit an application by May 24th! This is a separate prize from Buildings UP. 

The Energizing Rural Communities Prize is part of the $1 billion Energy Improvements in Rural or Remote Areas (ERA) Program, created by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED). The ERA Program supports projects that improve the resilience, reliability, safety, availability, and environmental performance of energy systems in rural or remote areas of the U.S. with populations of no more than 10,000 people.

 

The Energizing Rural Communities Prize has two tracks:

  • The PARTNER track—with a $10 million cash prize pool—will support plans to connect rural or remote communities to government funding, technical assistance, or a network of partners that can help implement clean energy demonstration projects.
  • The FINANCE track—with a $5 million cash prize pool—will support plans to access capital or to develop community ownership models to help finance clean energy demonstration projects in rural or remote areas.

To apply for this prize:

  • Go to the HeroX website [https://www.herox.com/rural-energy] and select ‘Solve this challenge’.
  • Note: selecting ‘Solve This Challenge’ does not mean you must submit your application at this time.
  • Create a free account and accept the terms of use.
  • Note: it is recommended that you use your legal name when registering your account.
  • Confirm your email.
  • Accept the prize specific agreement/terms.
  • Indicate whether you’ll be competing as a team.
  • This is a great way to identify your collective group or organization.

Be sure to check out the available resources:

• To review the Official Rules Document: https://www.herox.com/rural-energy/resource/1205

• To read the FAQ: https://www.herox.com/rural-energy/faq

• To ask questions on the forum: https://www.herox.com/rural-energy/forum

• To checkout the prize timeline: https://www.herox.com/rural-energy/timeline

• To register for upcoming webinars: https://www.herox.com/rural-energy/233-webinars-recordings

 

Be sure to submit your submission by May 24, 2023.