State Competitiveness Matching Funds
The Minnesota State Competitiveness Fund (SCF) Matching Funds Program is administered by the Minnesota Department of Commerce. This program was created by the Minnesota state legislature in 2023 through Minn. Stat. § 216C.391 and provides matching funds for eligible entities applying for approved federal funding opportunities requiring a match or whose federal application would benefit from matching funds. This legislatively created program is intended to increase the competitiveness of Minnesota in securing federal funding from the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act (IIJA, aka the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, or BIL) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Projects selected for the SCF Matching Funds program must demonstrate that the project will help meet the state's clean energy and energy-related climate goals through renewable energy development, energy conservation, efficiency or energy-related greenhouse gas reduction benefits.
The legislation stipulates:
- No single entity may receive grants totaling more than $15,000,000; and,
- At least $75,000,000 of the fund must be allocated for grant awards of less than $1,000,000.
Successful applicants to the SCF Matching Funds program receive a reservation for state funds to assist with costs of their federally funded project. The funds become available to awardees once MN Commerce receives confirmation the applicant has received the federal award associated with their SCF Matching Funds application. Funding reservations have been allocated to 99 applicants, with reservation awards ranging from $29,000 to $10 million with an average award size of $1,490,267. The full list of entities selected can be found by clicking on the Legislative Advisory Commission (LAC) notification reports that are linked below.
- Round 1 Notification Report – sent to LAC on January 23, 2024
- Round 2 Notification Report – sent to LAC on March 8, 2024
- Round 3 Notification Report – sent to LAC on November 15, 2024