Community Microgrid Assistance Partnership Direct Funding Opportunity
Contract Overview
Solicitation details, issuing organization, response deadlines, documents, and interested companies for this government contract opportunity.
AI Contract Overview
The Community Microgrid Assistance Partnership (C-MAP) is a Department of Energy initiative aimed at enhancing energy accessibility, reliability, and security in rural and remote U.S. areas with high energy costs and less reliable systems. The 2026 solicitation under this program invites proposals to support the development, improvement, and operation of advanced microgrid systems. The program focuses on facilitating collaboration among energy providers, local governments, and large energy users to design effective microgrid solutions that can operate independently or in conjunction with external energy infrastructures, thereby addressing challenges related to cost, reliability, resilience, and power quality. The funding opportunity is structured around five key areas: regional coordination among multiple community microgrids, integration of microgrids with large industrial or load-consuming partners, detailed design and development of new or retrofitted microgrid systems, transformative improvements to existing microgrids, and assessments for large energy consumers aiming to expand or develop microgrid capabilities. This initiative provides direct funding, expert technical support, and educational resources to facilitate the advancement of microgrid technologies that enhance energy delivery for underserved communities. The solicitation is open until July 2, 2026, with the Department of Energy’s contractor alliance in Colorado overseeing the effort.
General Info
Agency
NAICS
Place of Performance
Arvada, CO, 80007, USASet-Aside
Timeline
Response Deadline
Organization & Contact Information
Full Description
6/8/26 Amendment No. 01 posted to update RFP and answer questions.
See Request for Proposal RFX-2026-10006-CMAP and Attachments 1-6, for full description.
Program Overview
The Community Microgrid Assistance Partnership (C-MAP) is an effort through the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Electricity (OE) to expand American’s access to affordable energy, strengthen grid reliability, and bolster national security. The program supports the implementation of innovative OE-funded research to improve energy delivery to Americans living and working in rural and remote areas that have less reliable energy systems and some of the highest energy costs in the nation. Through this effort, DOE-OE provides direct funding, access to technical experts, and educational resources to energy providers and partners to build, operate, and enhance microgrid systems that improve the affordability, reliability, and security of electricity in rural and remote areas of the U.S.
The 2026 C-MAP solicitation aims to support rural and remote communities to:
• Develop and implement multi-community support efforts to better support or develop advanced microgrid energy systems
• Develop detailed engineering designs and financial assessments in support of developing advanced microgrid systems
• Expand collaboration between energy providers and large load energy users, with a goal to expand industrial development in rural areas
• Assess and improve the operation of existing microgrid energy systems.
This call for proposals will support energy providers, local governments and U.S. industry in remote areas to improve the operational efficiency of existing or development of new microgrid energy systems. This solicitation uses the U.S. Department of Energy definition of a microgrid: “a group of interconnected loads and distributed energy resources within clearly defined electrical boundaries that acts as a single controllable entity.”
This solicitation targets existing or proposed microgrids which experience challenges with cost, reliability, resilience, and/or power quality. The microgrids may be electrically islanded (not connected to an external electricity infrastructure) or, if connected to external electrical infrastructure, such as electric transmission or distribution feeders, must at times operate independently of that external energy system.
The 2026 Community Microgrid Development Partnership Awards consist of five (5) topic areas:
1. Regional Microgrid Coordination
To help energy service providers from multiple communities collaborate to improve the operations of, or development opportunities for, separate microgrid power systems for their independent communities.
2. Microgrid Integration with Large Load Energy Consumers
To support collaboration between utilities operating community microgrids and adjacent large load energy consumers which operate, or plan to operate, independent power systems.
3. Microgrid Development
To assist individual communities with completing detailed design efforts for a new, or major retrofit of an existing, microgrid power system.
4. Microgrid Transformation
To equip individual communities to assess, design, and implement innovative microgrid improvements to operational microgrid systems.
5. Microgrid Assessment for Industrial or other Large Load Energy Consumers
To assist individual large energy consumers to develop or advance microgrid systems, expanding energy availability while lowering costs.