Small Business Energy Assessment & Audit Program
Helping small businesses reduce energy costs through efficiency and renewable energy!
Southeast Conference’s Energy Assessment & Audit Program provides small businesses a pathway to low-cost energy audits and grant assistance to reduce energy use and associated costs.
Energy costs represent a significant cost for small businesses. Most buildings and commercial fishing vessels can reduce energy usage through investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy, providing a sustainable reduction in operating costs.
If your business is looking to become more energy efficient or add low-cost renewable energy generation, we can help you explore the opportunities provided by the USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). USDA REAP grant funds are available for small businesses, covering up to 50% of the total project costs for energy efficiency upgrade or renewable energy systems.
Interested, but unsure of where to begin? Browse the available resources below! We will work with any Alaska small business outside the Municipality of Anchorage* that wants to invest in clean energy and lower their energy bills.
*Businesses in the Municipality of Anchorage are not eligible because they are not considered rural by USDA definition.
INTERESTED IN SOLAR?
The National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) has developed an online tool that can help you determine what size solar investment is right for your business. The first step in completing the assessment is to request assistance by filling out this form, which only takes a couple minutes. Once you have completed this intake form a SEC or NREL staff person will reach out to walk you through an online assessment tool, this can all be done on the phone or a zoom call. If you are interested in pursuing a project, SEC staff can help connect you with potential funding options. Using this tool and the assistance provided by SEC and NREL staff comes at no cost to you.
INTERESTED IN ONE ON ONE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE?
The first step is to request a consult with an energy auditor or renewable energy expert by filling out this intake form. Once you have completed the intake form a staff person from Alaska’s USDA REAP TAG team will contact you to get a little more information and match you up with a qualified energy auditor and/or renewable energy expert.
For energy efficiency, this could be an on-site or remote energy audit of your business (building or commercial vessel). The energy auditor can target the audit to specific building upgrades if desired by the owner. Registering for an energy audit does not commit you to doing the energy audit or upgrade. It allows you to discuss your building with the energy auditor to determine the best way forward for you and your business. There may be a cost for energy audits, the REAP TAG program offers pricing on a sliding scale based on location and owner demographics, such as veteran and/or socially disadvantaged group status. The program covers from 25% to 100% of the energy audit, and the cost is based square footage and the type of audit need.
For building-level renewable energy systems (solar, wind, biomass, storage), this could be an on-site assessment, review/verification of a vendor assessment, or modeling and estimation of system size and savings using building energy data. This is offered at no cost.
For both energy efficiency and renewable energy, the results will be provided as a report that the small business owner can use to fill out a USDA REAP Grant application to cover up to 50% of the cost of the energy upgrades. Examples of how other Alaska small businesses have used the USDA REAP Grant includes – efficient heating and ventilation systems, heat pumps, updated refrigeration systems, LED lighting, solar PV systems, and refrigerated seawater systems (RSW) for commercial fishing vessels.
NEED HELP WRITING A GRANT?
The USDA Alaska REAP TAG team can also assist small business owners on completing the REAP Grant application – sorting through federal codes and paperwork – you do not need to do this alone. Funded through USDA, application assistance is available at no cost to the small business owner. As with the resources above, you just note that request on the intake form (www.usdareapalaska.org).