00A01474

**Description:** The purpose of this award is to provide funding under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP).

The recipient will implement greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction programs, policies, projects, and measures identified in a Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP) developed under a Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG) planning grant.

Activities conducted through this grant will benefit all residents of and visitors to Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island through four main objectives:

1. Implementation of ambitious measures that will achieve significant cumulative GHG reductions by 2030 and beyond;
2. Pursuit of measures that will achieve substantial community benefits, particularly in low-income and disadvantaged communities;
3. Complementing other funding sources to maximize these GHG reductions and community benefits; and,
4. Pursuit of innovative policies and programs that are replicable and can be 'scaled up' across multiple jurisdictions.

**Activities:** The activities include various initiatives intended to rapidly accelerate adoption of cold-climate air-source heat pumps (ASHPs), heat pump water heaters (HPWHs), and ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) in single-family and multifamily residential buildings in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island.

These initiatives will be implemented through three program pillars or 'hubs': the Market Hub, Innovation Hub, and Resource Hub.

Through the Market Hub, the recipient will work with contractors and partner organizations to provide per-unit midstream incentives for qualifying ASHPs, HPWHs, and GSHPs via distributors.

The recipient will also conduct contractor training on regionally relevant topics, such as cold-climate heat pumps and whole-home installations, to drive consistent installation practices.

Workforce development programs to grow the contractor base, with a focus on promoting job creation and entrepreneurship in low-income and disadvantaged communities (LIDACs), will be developed as well.

Activities to be performed through the Innovation Hub include 1 or 2 large-scale, multiyear state initiatives to address specific state priorities and develop scalable solutions to overcome barriers for LIDACs; annual 'quick start grants' for community-based pilot projects to expand access to heat pumps for LIDACs; and stakeholder engagement to ensure community involvement in the design of these programs.

Through the Resource Hub, the recipient and its partners will collect and share aggregate or anonymized data on heat pump markets and program participation; share resources for consumer and contractor education; and offer additional LIDAC-specific outreach and resources.

Stipends will be distributed to groups representing LIDACs to encourage community participation.

**Subrecipient:** No subawards are included in this assistance agreement.

**Outcomes:** Key deliverables include semi-annual progress reports and a detailed final report to EPA; a Quality Assurance Progress Plan (QAPP), if deemed necessary by EPA; annual program evaluations by a third-party program evaluator (beginning in month 23 of the project); and annual reports to stakeholders describing results for the Market Hub and Innovation Hub (also beginning in month 23).

Reports for the Innovation Hub will include information on heat pumps installed (including data on installations in low-income and disadvantaged communities), barriers overcome, incumbent systems replaced, and scalable solutions identified.

Reports to EPA will describe actual GHG emissions reduced and report on the recipient's progress toward achieving other outputs and outcomes described in the workplan.

Additional deliverables for each of the three project pillars are listed below.

**Market Hub:**
- Equipment eligibility criteria and qualified product lists (QPLs) for heat pump technologies (updated).

Connecticut Department Of Energy & Environmental Protection

1 - TACKLE THE CLIMATE CRISIS 1.1 - REDUCE EMISSIONS THAT CAUSE CLIMATE CHANGE 4 - ENSURE CLEAN AND HEALTHY AIR FOR ALL COMMUNITIES 4.1 - IMPROVE AIR QUALITY AND REDUCE LOCALIZED POLLUTION AND HEALTH IMPACTS 1 - A CLEANER, HEALTHIER ENVIRONMENT 1.2 - PROVIDE FOR CLEAN AND SAFE WATER 1 - TACKLE THE CLIMATE CRISIS 1.1 - REDUCE EMISSIONS THAT CAUSE CLIMATE CHANGE 1 - TACKLE THE CLIMATE CRISIS 1.1 - REDUCE EMISSIONS THAT CAUSE CLIMATE CHANGE 1 - TACKLE THE CLIMATE CRISIS 1.1 - REDUCE EMISSIONS THAT CAUSE CLIMATE CHANGE

66.046 - Climate Pollution Reduction Grants

EPA Region 1: Boston [EPA - RO]

Connecticut United States

State-Wide

Climate Pollution Reduction Grants Program: Implementation Grants (General Competition) (EPA-R-OAR-CPRGI-23-07)