Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project

April 27, 2021

Remote and island communities face high energy costs and vulnerable energy infrastructures, and are at increased risk of natural disasters and climate change impacts. Sustainable solutions that emphasize holistic energy planning are of paramount importance, yet advancing energy transition plans for these small communities is often difficult due to limited resources or capacity.

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP) is a cross-office program that leverages the world-class expertise of DOE’s national labs and works with regional partner organizations and connected communities to advance local, clean energy solutions and improve resilience.

ETIPP has announced its 11 competitively selected remote, island, and islanded communities to participate in the project’s first cohort. As part of the ETIPP network, DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) – along with National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories – will work alongside these communities to address their energy resilience challenges.

The selected communities comprising the first ETIPP cohort are:

  • Alaska Longline Fishermen's Association
  • Dillingham, Alaska
  • Eastport, Maine
  • Honolulu, Hawaii
  • Islesboro, Maine
  • Kauai, Hawaii
  • Nags Head, North Carolina
  • Ocracoke Island, North Carolina
  • Ouzinkie, Alaska
  • Sitka, Alaska
  • Wainwright, Alaska

Prioritizing a community-led, inclusive approach, ETIPP identifies unique energy challenges and provides strategic assistance to help communities determine and direct their energy transition to realize local benefits and to meet accelerating renewable energy goals that lessen impacts from natural disasters and climate change.

The energy and infrastructure opportunities reflected among ETIPP’s selected communities include building performance, critical facility hazards, distributed energy resources, hydropower, microgrids, solar, energy storage, and transportation.

Over the next 12 to 18 months, Berkeley Lab will collaborate with several of these communities and the regional partner organizations to identify and implement solutions leveraging technical tools and resources .

With unprecedented access to these resources, each community will ultimately determine which options best meet their needs; in fact, ETIPP is intentionally designed to keep these communities at the helm of the decision-making process.

While we don’t know - yet - what specific solutions these communities will ultimately select, we do know these solutions will share the same goal: enhanced local self-reliance and energy resilience.

Follow the hashtag #ETIPP on Twitter to watch these communities map their path to a resilient energy future.