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This study documents the work that was done to explore near-term opportunities for Eastern Kentucky to participate in the nuclear energy industry.
This report was prepared as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Communities Local Energy Action Program (Communities LEAP) pilot competitive technical assistance for the Lawrence Massachusetts Stakeholder Coalition (LSC). In accordance with Technical Assistance Area 1 (Community Solar Analysis) and in coordination with the LSC, the UMass Clean Energy Extension (CEE) research team conducted a high-level geographic information system (GIS) evaluation of potential community solar (CS) development sites within Lawrence, and its three bordering towns of Andover, North Andover, and Methuen.
This report was prepared as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's Communities Local Energy Action Program (Communities LEAP) pilot competitive technical assistance for the Lawrence Massachusetts Stakeholder Coalition (LSC) composed of The City of Lawrence, All In Energy, MassDevelopment, Mill City Community Investments, BlocPower and Groundwork Lawrence, and led by Browning the Green Space. The LSC identified rooftop solar photovoltaics as a top priority for this technical assistance opportunity. Lawrence faces high energy burden and electricity prices, thus rooftop solar can be a tool to help lower those costs. However, the coalition received feedback that some solar companies were using deceptive and unfair practices when marketing, selling, or financing solar energy, costing residents more money than utility rates and increasing the energy burden. This project sought to address rooftop solar community priorities through two pathways: 1. facilitating community engagement to understand community perspectives and experiences with rooftop solar development; and 2. conducting a financial cash-flow analysis highlighting the varying fiscal outcomes for rooftop solar adopters based off rooftop solar leasing, ownership, or buying electricity from the utility (National Grid).
This fact sheet identifies opportunities for integration of alternative fuel vehicles in public and private fleets in rural areas, and was developed through the U.S. Department of Energy's Communities Local Energy Action Program (Communities LEAP). The project engaged community stakeholders, fleet operators, and local officials across ten rural counties in western Alabama to explore opportunities for expanding access to alternative transportation fuels. Guided by a regional coalition and supported by the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), the effort emphasized challenges and related potential technical solutions. The fact sheet highlights different applications of alternative fuel vehicles and provides a framework for selecting the vehicle technology that meets a given stakeholder's needs.
This fact sheet presents key findings and challenges identified by stakeholders through an initiative supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Communities Local Energy Action Program (Communities LEAP). The project engaged community stakeholders, fleet operators, and local officials across ten rural counties in western Alabama to explore opportunities for expanding access to alternative transportation fuels. Guided by a regional coalition and supported by the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), the effort emphasized challenges and related potential technical solutions. The fact sheet highlights transportation priorities identified by participants, outlines barriers unique to rural contexts, and summarizes resources developed by NLR subject matter experts to help local entities address these challenges.
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Communities Local Energy Action Program (Communities LEAP) provided customized technical assistance to the Northwest Colorado region to assist in developing strategies that facilitate long-term economic benefits through locally driven energy planning and development. The region sought technical assistance to model alternatives energy projects in response to the expected retirement of coal-fired powers plant and associated coal mines by 2030. Northwest Colorado faces a potential economic gap due to the loss of tax revenue, labor income, and jobs within the region due to the impending closure of the Craig and Hayden Power Stations and related mining operations at Trapper and Colowyo mines.
The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of State and Community Energy Programs engaged the National Laboratory of the Rockies to assess the return on investment (ROI) of technical assistance (TA) programs that support state, local, and Tribal energy planning. Although TA delivers value through capacity building, stakeholder engagement, and knowledge transfer, these benefits are often intangible and challenging to monetize. This study reviews existing ROI frameworks and synthesizes the most relevant elements into a hybrid approach tailored to energy TA programs. The proposed framework integrates monetary and non-monetary outcomes through early logic model development, baseline data collection, and the use of proxies for intangible benefits. As a case study, this paper applies this approach to the Communities Local Energy Action Program (Communities LEAP), demonstrating how ROI can inform program design, data strategy, and performance assessment. Findings underscore that ROI should be applied selectively and planned from the outset to ensure data alignment and attribution accuracy. The framework offers TA practitioners a structured approach that can be leveraged for future programs to evaluate and communicate the multifaceted value of TA investments.
This report is a comprehensive summary of the related workstreams pursued through the Communities Local Energy Action Program (Communities LEAP) pilot Technical Assistance (TA) program in Louisville, Kentucky. It begins with an analysis around energy efficiency technologies, focused on building envelope improvements, that explores the impact to individual residents as well as the impact to the community at-large if the upgrades were adopted city-wide. Community benchmarking ordinances and complementary policies are considered next, including comparisons of programs with peer communities. A workforce development section then covers the state of Louisville's workforce today and identifies programs in peer communities that Louisville could consider emulating to achieve a "right-sized" workforce. The document closes out with an overview of policies around energy efficiency in peer communities that Louisville could explore, with considerations for the City's unique policy context.
Falls City is a small community in Nebraska interested in understanding how energy from local energy systems could support the community's economic development planning. To address the current community needs and address the future energy demand technical assistance conducted through the Communities Local Energy Action Program (Communities LEAP) assessed the technical and economic opportunities of adding energy technologies to Falls City's municipally owned and operated electric utility system. The modeling performed considered the technical and economic feasibility of technologies using the System Advisor Model (SAM). The modeling explored three technology configurations using multiple years of historical weather and wholesale cost data (2015-2022 & a typical meteorological year), and two different wholesale escalation rates (0.3% and 2.5%). Wholesale energy prices were based on the Southwest Power Pool's (SPP) real-time energy market and the annual escalation rates of these rates based on historical SPP wholesale and national retail electricity price trends. Results from the modeling showed that at current CAPEX costs and SPP wholesale electricity costs no technology combination averaged across the scenarios run provide a positive net present value (NPV). External financial support, changes in market conditions, and additional revenue streams would help create more economically favorable projects. As conditions change re-evaluation may be necessary.
This technical assistance is part of the Communities Local Energy Action Program (CLEAP) for the community of Beacon Hill, Seattle, WA. This analysis focuses on opportunities to reduce energy burden, energy consumption, and energy bills for both single family homes and large multifamily buildings. It uses state-level data from the ResStock modelling tool that was filtered to be relevant to Beacon Hill. Hence, this content includes single family detached homes and large multifamily buildings in the income group of 0-80% AMI, and climate zone 4c (mixed temperatures, relatively cooler summers) within Washington State.
This technical assistance is part of the Communities Local Energy Action Program (CLEAP) for the Beacon Hill, Seattle, Washington community coalition consisting of El Centro de la Raza, Beacon Hill Council and Bethany United Church of Christ with supportive partners, Seattle City Light and the Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment. This report uses the Low-Income Energy Affordability Data (LEAD) Tool to identify the most energy burdened households by income group, building type, building age and fuel type.
As part of the Communities Local Energy Action Program (CLEAP), the Lawrence Stakeholders Coalition (LSC) is interested in assessing and understanding the potential for and pathways to electrification for the City of Lawrence. The LSC's main questions are: What is the impact of various electrification packages on residential electricity bills and what types of buildings should the LSC target for electrification plus weatherization packages? This technical assistance, using ResStock tool modeling, aims to assist the Coalition's electrification and energy burden reduction planning by: 1. Providing cross-cutting data on housing stock characteristics, energy burden characteristics, fuel types, energy consumption, and system efficiency; and 2. Providing information on upgrade package costs, emissions reduction, and energy reductions by prioritized housing segment. The ResStock analysis presented here focuses on opportunities to reduce energy burden, energy consumption, and energy bills for single family homes, multifamily buildings, and mobile homes.
Through the Communities Local Energy Action Program (LEAP), NREL provided technical assistance to a coalition of stakeholders from Oakridge, Oregon. The coalition included community-based non-profit organizations, the city government, the local utility, and others. Technical assistance provides analysis and information to support Oakridge stakeholders with their goals to increase energy reliability and resilience in the community, while promoting economic development. The Geothermal Resource Assessment provides technical analysis related to the geothermal resource in the Oakridge area, possible technology applications, and information related to further geothermal exploration. Technical analysis includes a review of a previous geothermal study conducted for Oakridge, thermal modeling to estimate reservoir temperatures, and technoeconomic simulation of a combined heat and power application in the Oakridge area.
Through the Communities Local Energy Action Program (LEAP), NREL is providing technical assistance to a coalition of stakeholders from Oakridge, Oregon. The coalition includes community-based non-profit organizations, the city government, the local utility, and others. Technical assistance provides analysis and information to support Oakridge stakeholders with their goals to increase energy reliability and resilience in the community, while promoting economic development. The Grid Resilience and Microgrids Learning Session was presented to the Oakridge coalition to provide foundational technical knowledge that can support decision-making about energy-related issues in the community.
An Alabama community coalition received technical assistance through the U.S. Department of Energy's Communities Local Energy Action Program (LEAP) to expand awareness of alternative transportation fuels through stakeholder engagement efforts. Phase 1 of the project centered on outreach, relationship-building, and the identification of community priorities. Through two workshops held in October and December 2024, the coalition engaged over 120 stakeholders - including county commissioners, school district representatives, and public and private fleet operators. These sessions included presentations from technical experts and industry partners, as well as a vehicle showcase and structured discussions to assess stakeholder needs and concerns. This report summarizes these efforts and identifies three key priority areas for Phase 2 of the project.
The Columbia River Treaty Tribes in the Pacific Northwest - the Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs, and Yakama - hold treaty-reserved fishing rights for the Columbia River, the largest river in North America flowing into the Pacific Ocean. The four Tribes, through the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC), prepared a vision for a more harmonized energy and water system in their 2022 Energy Vision for the Columbia River Basin. In it, the four Tribes envision a future where the Columbia Basin electric power system supports healthy and harvestable fish and wildlife populations, protects Tribal treaty and cultural resources, and provides clean, reliable, and affordable electricity. To help realize the Energy Vision, CRITFC received technical assistance from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) through the Communities Local Energy Action Program (LEAP) pilot with the goal of ensuring that the Tribes are fully informed and prepared to integrate their interests into regional power system planning. This resource aims to provide an overview of program and policy design frameworks for behind-the-meter (BTM) energy storage and solar-plus-storage programs and examples from across the United States. This information is intended to build CRITFC's understanding of potential policies and program designs that could support the deployment of solar photovoltaics (PV) and energy storage in the Pacific Northwest.
The Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska (ITKN) is a federally recognized Native American Tribe located along the Missouri River on the border of northeast Kansas and southeastern Nebraska. There are over 800 residents (Tribal citizens and non-Tribal) who live on the reservation, as well as more than 500 people who visit or work on the reservation on a daily basis. The ITKN faces many energy challenges, including rising service costs and dozens of power outages annually that impact resident well-being and business activities on Tribal lands. Power service issues are made more challenging by the remoteness of the reservation, which is 20 miles from the nearest town. Despite this, the ITKN has a long history of cultural and economic resilience: Local self-reliance, environmental stewardship, respecting the carrying capacity of the land, and strengthening the community are Tribal communities' traditional strengths. Long-term energy goals for the ITKN are centered around achieving energy sovereignty. Priority actions include: (1) Establishing a Tribal Utility Authority (TUA) to promote social welfare and community development.; (2) Deploying renewable community microgrids with ground-mount solar arrays and sustainable energy storage systems to advance energy sovereignty, resilience, and reliability. To advance these goals, the ITKN partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Communities LEAP (Local Energy Action Program) pilot. From August 2022 to March 2024, the ITKN community coalition collaborated with technical assistance providers at DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Sandia National Laboratories to evaluate TUA planning needs and microgrid deployment scenarios. This fact sheet provides an overview of the results and outcomes from the Communities LEAP technical assistance process.
The Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska (ITKN) is a federally recognized Native American Tribe located along the Missouri River on the border of northeast Kansas and southeastern Nebraska. There are over 800 residents (Tribal citizens and non-Tribal) who live on the reservation, as well as more than 500 people who visit or work on the reservation on a daily basis. The ITKN faces many energy challenges, including rising service costs and dozens of power outages annually that impact resident well-being and business activities on Tribal lands. Power service issues are made more challenging by the remoteness of the reservation, which is 20 miles from the nearest town. Despite this, the ITKN has a long history of cultural and economic resilience: Local self-reliance, environmental stewardship, respecting the carrying capacity of the land, and strengthening the community are Tribal communities' traditional strengths. Long-term energy goals for the ITKN are centered around achieving energy sovereignty. Priority actions include: (1) Establishing a Tribal Utility Authority (TUA) to promote social welfare and community development.; (2) Deploying renewable community microgrids with ground-mount solar arrays and sustainable energy storage systems to advance energy sovereignty, resilience, and reliability. To advance these goals, the ITKN partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Communities LEAP (Local Energy Action Program) pilot. From August 2022 to March 2024, the ITKN community coalition collaborated with technical assistance providers at DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Sandia National Laboratories to evaluate TUA planning needs and microgrid deployment scenarios. This final report details the Communities LEAP technical assistance process, models and analysis performed, and results.