U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
DOE Welcomes Leaders from 46 Local, Regional, and Tribal Organizations to Peer-Learning Cohorts on Emerging Clean Energy Strategies and Best Practices

Participants from 28 States and Territories will Convene for 6 Months to Learn about Energy Resilience, Buildings Efficiency, and Electric Vehicle Infrastructure from Each Other and National Laboratory Experts 

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today (Dec 13) announced leaders from 46 entities will collaborate on common clean energy opportunities and challenges through the Clean Energy to Communities (C2C) Peer-Learning Cohorts program. These participants including county and local governments, tribes, community-based organizations, and utilities will convene regularly from January to July 2024 to exchange strategies and best practices, learn in a collaborative environment from each other and DOE's national laboratory experts, and workshop policy and program proposals across specific energy resilience, buildings efficiency, and electric vehicle topics.  

"C2C's Peer-Learning Cohorts facilitates new connections and collaborations between communities from across the United States and also provides them with access to top clean energy experts from DOE's national laboratories," said Alejandro Moreno, Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. "By hearing about successful plans from their peers, as well as their challenges and questions, participants gain ideas, tools, and confidence to accelerate their own clean energy transitions." 

"Through this round of cohorts, participants will gain cutting-edge information and tools to help them achieve their clean energy goals," says Juan Torres, Associate Lab Director, Energy Systems Integration at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. "Some participants will leave with an understanding of which municipal buildings to prioritize for energy efficiency and decarbonization investments and others will be prepared to tackle a solar plus storage or microgrid project at a local critical facility." 

Through the program, technical experts convene up to 16 communities dedicated to a single clean energy-related topic with educational resources, case studies, analysis and modeling tools, templates, trainings, and facilitated collaboration to enable accelerated clean energy progress. This is the third round of C2C's Peer-Learning Cohorts program. Previous cohorts have covered topics including financing for equitable clean energy transitions, municipal clean energy procurement, planning for electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and more. 

Entities joining the three latest cohorts are: 

Evaluating and Prioritizing Municipal Buildings for Energy Efficiency and Decarbonization Investment 

• Ames, Iowa 
• Baltimore, Maryland 
• Boca Raton, Florida 
• Cincinnati, Ohio 
• Colorado Springs, Colorado 
• Crafton Borough, Pennsylvania 
• Hailey, Idaho 
• Howard County, Maryland 
• Key West, Florida 
• Mount Vernon, New York 
• Reading, Pennsylvania 
• Salem, Oregon 
• Skokie, Illinois 
• Washtenaw County, Michigan 
• Windham, Maine 

Enhancing Resilience at Critical Municipal Facilities Through Solar, Storage, and Microgrids 

• Albemarle County, Virginia 
• Bellevue College, Washington 
• Cook County, Illinois 
• Detroit, Michigan 
• Edmond Electric, Oklahoma 
• Lander, Wyoming 
• LUMA Energy, Puerto Rico 
• Mesa, Arizona 
• Miami, Florida 
• Morris, Minnesota 
• Penobscot Indian Nation 
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 
• Santa Monica, California 
• Sipayik Resilience Committee, Maine 
• Stowe Electric Department, Vermont 
• Tulsa, Oklahoma 

Integrating Community Priorities into Electric Vehicle Plans and Projects 

• Bellevue, Washington 
• Bronzeville Partners, Illinois 
• Centre County Metropolitan Planning Organization, Pennsylvania 
• Durham, North Carolina 
• Fort Collins Utilities, Colorado 
• Greater Portland Council of Governments, Maine 
• Ithaca, New York 
• Missoula, Montana 
• North Miami, Florida 
• Salt Lake County, Utah 
• San Jose, California 
• SEEED, Inc., Tennessee 
• Sovereign Energy, New Mexico 
• Vancouver, Washington 

Peer-Learning Cohorts are one of three technical assistance programs within the C2C program. C2C also provides communities with expertise and tools to achieve clean energy goals across a range of technologies through 3-month and multiyear offerings.  

C2C is funded by DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and managed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with support from Argonne National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The World Resources Institute also supports C2C Peer-Learning Cohorts. 

Learn more about C2C's three different technical assistance programs and find out how to apply.