Please provide your narrative grant proposal below in a word document. Applicants should structure their proposal according to the outline below and must clearly address each of the following components. For required project deliverables and expectations, see Section V of the RFP (Project Scope of Work). Applications that do not address these elements may be deemed non‑responsive.
1. Problem Statement & Proposed Solution (Suggested length: Up to 4 pages)
- Define the cost problem in the context of decarbonizing existing 1-4 unit residential buildings in Massachusetts.
- Describe the proposed solution and how it differs from typical (“business-as-usual”) approaches currently used in the market in terms of deployment costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
- Detail anticipated cost reduction at a per-Project level as well as at scale in the Massachusetts market.
- State key assumptions underlying the proposed approach.
- Identify the TRL and ARL of the proposed solution and briefly justify the stated readiness levels using prior deployments, pilots, or operational experience.
2. Cost Reduction Analysis (Suggested length: Up to 3 pages)
Describe how cost savings will be defined, measured, and attributed. At minimum, include:
- Reference Case: What the proposed solution is being compared against (e.g., typical Massachusetts installation, procurement, or project delivery approach for the same scope).
- Cost Components: Break out costs at minimum into labor, materials/equipment, and soft costs (e.g., design, permitting, customer acquisition, administrative).
- Attribution: What portion of the expected savings is attributable to the proposed approach versus external factors (e.g., incentives, rebates, unrelated scope changes).
- Evidence Plan: The data and method that will be used to estimate or validate cost savings during the project period (e.g., before and after comparisons, matched projects, invoicing analysis, third‑party estimates).
- Other Key Metrics (as applicable): Identify additional metrics the Project will track to evaluate project success (e.g., energy savings, greenhouse gas emissions reductions, bill impacts, customer outcomes) and briefly describe calculation methods and data sources.
3. Demonstration Plan & Project Site Readiness (Suggested length: Up to 3 pages)
Applicants must describe a demonstration plan that details how the proposed solution will be tested in real‑world conditions at Project Sites. Include at least one (1) of the following:
- Identified Project Site(s):
- Location or general description of the site(s) (as appropriate for confidentiality), and
- Evidence of site access or permission (e.g., letter or email of commitment),
OR
- Site Recruitment Plan:
- Target number of Project Sites,
- Recruitment pipeline and partners,
- Timeline for securing sites, and
- Identification of the entity responsible for contracting with participating households.
If applicable, Project Sites should have a variety of characteristics (e.g., typology, size, year built).
4. Adoption Pathway & Scalability (Suggested length: Up to 3 pages)
Applicants must describe a plausible path for replication in Massachusetts beyond the demonstration. This must include the following:
- Identify who would adopt the solution (e.g., contractors, distributors, utilities, municipalities, aggregators).
- Identify who pays for the solution under a scaled scenario.
- Describe key barriers to scaling (e.g., workforce, permitting, customer acquisition, financing, regulatory).
- Detail the extent to which the Project’s concept, outcomes, and methods will be open-source and freely accessible for others to use, ensuring that their advantages are not restricted by proprietary rights or intellectual property constraints. If there are any restrictions on sharing these approaches openly, please describe them and clarify how the solution could still scale under those conditions.
- Explain what evidence from the proposed demonstration would enable deployment at a larger scale (e.g., to one hundred (100) homes and then a thousand (1,000)).
- Describe replicability across technical, financial, and administrative dimensions (e.g., required equipment/workflows, unit economics/financing stack, staffing/partners, standard operating procedures).
- Identify regulatory, permitting, interconnection, and other execution risks, and propose feasible mitigation strategies (including who owns each mitigation action).
- Describe the geographic/community context in Massachusetts existing small residential buildings market (e.g., where the demonstration and intended scaling would occur).
- Describe how the proposed approach has the potential to deliver more equitable access to the benefits of clean energy.
5. Dissemination & Public Outputs (Suggested length: Up to 2 pages)
Applicants must describe how results will be documented and shared to support adoption and scalability targets. Include a commitment to produce:
- An executive summary describing the approach, baseline, results, and limitations;
- A replication playbook (process steps, assumptions, cost drivers, and required conditions); and
- Participation in a presentation at a MassCEC-designated forum or conference.
6. Team Qualifications (Suggested length: Up to 3 pages, not including resumes.)
Summarize the Applicant Team’s qualifications and capacity to deliver the proposed Project and required public outputs, including relevant project experience (ideally in Massachusetts and/or the small residential sector), key staff/partner roles, and short bios or resumes for key personnel.
7. Budget, Team Structure, and Project Timeline (Suggested length: Up to 4 pages)
Applicants must provide sufficient detail to evaluate team structure, timeline, deliverables, and the relationship between requested funds and expected benefits. At minimum, include:
- Team structure and roles: Identify the Lead Applicant and each partner/subcontractor; describe roles and responsibilities, decision-making/governance, and how work will be coordinated.
- Workplan and timeline: Provide a high-level schedule for planning, securing Project Sites, implementing the demonstration, collecting and evaluating data, and producing dissemination deliverables. Identify key risks to the timeline and mitigations.
- Deliverables structure: List major deliverables (including executive summary, playbook, and presentation) and when each will be completed.
- Budget summary and allocation: Summarize the requested MassCEC funds and any cost share; show how funds will be allocated by major cost category (e.g., labor, equipment/materials, soft costs, participant incentives, measurement and verification) and by partner (if applicable).
- Benefits to Massachusetts residents: Describe who benefits (e.g., homeowners, tenants, contractors), anticipated affordability/bill impacts, and any health, comfort, resilience, or other customer outcomes. Identify the communities/regions in Massachusetts where the demonstration will occur.