On Tuesday, March 12, The California Energy Commission (CEC) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) hosted a joint workshop on the CA NEVI grant funding opportunity. The main goal of the workshop was to outline planned changes for the second round of NEVI funding and to solicit feedback from interested parties prior to the opportunity's release.
The workshop covered timeline updates, anticipated changes between Round 1 & Round 2, and a Q&A/feedback session.
Timeline Updates:
Awards for the previous NEVI round are expected in April.
CEC anticipates the 2024 Updated Plan will be finalized by July and approved by September.
CEC anticipates Round 2 Release in August, with a due date sometime in November.
Changes from previous solicitation:
Funding: The estimated total funding for this second solicitation is $110,220,000. ($40,500,000 was offered in Round 1.)
Corridor Groups: For this solicitation, CEC & Caltrans added new Corridor Groups (there are 17 in total), as well as a new implementation plan. There will be Two-Part projects for 16 of the corridor groups, and a single Stand-Alone project for the final corridor. However, more Stand-Alone projects may be proposed and accepted prior to the solicitation's release.
Two-Part Projects ($109,260,000):
16 of the corridors will be divided into high- and low- ranked according to ranking chart (pg 16 of slides).
Applicants may choose an unlimited number of high and low pairs to include in their project (although funding may be limited to 3 pairs, or 6 groups, per applicant).
This project plan is intended to address higher ranked groups as priority, while allowing for more manageable projects on a faster deployment timeline.
Stand-Alone Project(s) ($960,000):
1 or more small corridor group(s) (for now only group #22)
This project plan is intended to address a unique location, invite an expanded applicant pool (so that smaller applicants may be able tackle this project), and allow for faster deployment in this special corridor.
The 17 corridor groups are mapped and specified on slides 26-44 of the linked slides.
General Details:
CEC and Caltrans expect that many of the Round 2 solicitation details will be similar or identical to the previous round's.
Eligibility:
This solicitation, like the previous round, will be aimed at private companies, with no investor-owned/public utilities eligible as primary applicants (details can be found on slide 46).
Location & Equipment Requirements:
The meeting hosts stressed that these are the same as Federal Requirements, and therefore will be the same as, or similar to, the last round's (details can be found on slides 47-48).
Evaluation Categories:
The meeting hosts also stressed that these are extremely similar to the previous round, as they mostly follow the federal regulations (details can be found on slides 48-50).
Q & A/Feedback:
Many questions focused on solicitation project and proposal requirements, including: requiring CCS instead of NACS ports, requiring 350kw conduit, the ineligibility of public utilities, etc. The answer to many of these questions was that these requirements stem from the federal NEVI regulations and must be followed in state solicitations.
Many commenters seemed to like the Two-Part (paired corridor) project plans, while some expressed concerns that the projects may be too big to tackle. CEC and Caltrans acknowledged these concerns.
Written Comments:
Written comments on either the first round or the upcoming second round may be submitted to the Docket Unit by 5:00 p.m. on March 25, 2024. Include docket number 22-EVI-05 and NEVI Funding Program in the subject line and email to docket@energy.ca.gov.
A paper copy may be mailed to:
California Energy Commission
Docket Unit, MS-4
Docket No. 22-EVI-05
715 P Street
Sacramento, California 95814
For more information, visit these links: