Clean Energy Group’s (CEG) partnerships with mission-aligned engineering firms are vital to the success of the Technical Assistance Fund (TAF).

The first steps to acquiring a resilient solar+storage system can be resource intensive, requiring organizations to commit time and money to try to determine the costs and benefits. The TAF seeks to reduce the barriers to accessing preliminary information about resilient power. Through the TAF, CEG provides funding for community service providers to engage a third-party engineer to conduct a solar+storage feasibility assessment at a specific community-serving facility.

Community service providers may choose to work with any engineer experienced in solar and battery storage. If the community service provider does not have an existing relationship with an engineer, CEG will share its list of trusted engineering partners that have conducted previous TAF assessments. Community service providers learn about the TAF in a variety of ways, including from CEG’s publications, press coverage, or word-of-mouth recommendations. CEG’s engineering partners can refer communities to the TAF, further expanding the reach of the TAF. In these cases, the community will typically work with the engineer that referred them and that they have an existing relationship with, although this is not a requirement.

Through the Technical Assistance Fund process, engineers provide the following support and information:

• Consultation to identify the organization’s resilience goals, such as continuing services during power outages, saving money on electric bills, or acting as an emergency shelter during outages.
• At least two estimated solar and battery storage sizing options that can meet those resilience goals.
• Anticipated resiliency benefits, such as the duration of backup power a system of that size can provide.
• Anticipated environmental benefits, such as emissions reduction potential.
• Financial modeling for the 20-year lifespan of the system, including upfront installation costs, yearly maintenance, and potential incentives and demand response programs that can reduce costs.

The TAF-supported feasibility assessment results in a comprehensive report of how solar+storage could serve a facility and provides the community service provider with the site-specific information they need to pursue next steps in project development, such as leveraging this information to obtain funding and/or financing for project implementation. The TAF provides pre-development support. Once the TAF assessment is complete, CEG’s engineering partners can offer additional support to help the project through to installation; however, these services are not required and are not funded by the TAF. The community service provider can decide its next steps.

To inquire about becoming an engineering partner for CEG's Technical Assistance Fund, please email Anna Adamsson.