DOE Launches $3.3 Million Prize to Support Place-Based Partnerships Focused on Creating and Expanding Access to Good Jobs in Clean Energy

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced a new prize that will award over $3.3 million in prize money to new or newly formed place-based coalitions focused on creating good jobs in clean energy. The Good Jobs in Clean Energy Prize is aligned with the Biden-Harris Administration’s Investing in America agenda and “High Road” economic and workforce development principles. 

“The growth of the clean energy economy offers abundant opportunity to put Americans to work with family-sustaining wages and room for advancement,” said Alejandro Moreno, associate principal deputy assistant secretary for DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. “This new prize will support the ‘boots on the ground’ work that is necessary to make clean energy jobs accessible in every community across the country.”

“Good jobs” are defined as providing stable pay and benefits that can support families, safe working conditions and assurance of job security, skills development and career advancement opportunities, and empowerment to contribute meaningfully to the workplace and organize without fear of retaliation.

The three-phase competition catalyzes coalition building to understand, plan for, and improve job access and job quality within the clean energy economy for target populations. Each competing coalition is required to include at least one representative from each of the following key stakeholder groups: labor organizations, clean energy employers, community-based organizations, public agencies, and education and workforce providers. 

Up to 15 Phase One awardees will receive $50,000 for demonstrating robust partnerships focused on a specific clean energy employment opportunity and will be eligible to participate in Phase Two of the prize. In Phase Two, up to 10 teams will each win $100,000 for developing and implementing their Coalition Action Plans that demonstrate how the coalition will advance job quality and job access in the clean energy opportunities within their community. In Phase Three, the top three performing coalitions will receive $200,000 to $300,000 for the strength of their impact in implementing their Action Plans, and up to seven runner-up coalitions will receive $125,000.

DOE is currently accepting submissions for Phase One of the prize until Jan. 31, 2025. For more information and to apply, visit the prize website.

The American-Made Good Jobs in Clean Energy Prize is directed and administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.