Clean Air Program (CAP) Grants
Colorado’s Clean Air Program Grants
Funding to reduce industrial air pollution.
Funding Overview:
Type: Grant
For: Business & Industry, Government
Amount: $25 million
Match: Required
RFA rounds: Closed
Industrial production is among the top five leading contributors of emissions in the state. Colorado’s Clean Air Program provides grants for industry-related emission reduction projects that bring the State closer to its air pollutant emission reduction goals.
Clean Air Program grants offset the direct costs of purchasing industrial air pollutant emission reduction equipment at the site where air pollutant emissions are generated and released.
The Colorado Energy Office (CEO) offered technical assistance to help eligible facilities identify decarbonization opportunities. Visit the CAP Technical Assistance Offering webpage to learn more about this initiative.
Sign up for Industrial Energy Program Updates
Contact Information: Libby Lee, elizabeth.r.lee@state.co.us
Webinars
CEO will host an RFA Funding Round Table Webinar on September 23 at 9:00 AM MT to explore additional opportunities to support industrial air pollutant avoidance projects.
Register for the webinar
Eligible Applicants
The following applicant types are eligible to apply for this grant:
Private Entities:
- Manufacturing operations (2022 NAICS code between 31-33)
- Cement plants
- Steel mills
- Mining & Quarrying (NAICS code 2121, 2122, 2123)
- Midstream Operators
- Refineries
- Meat-packing plants
- Dairies
- Airline operations
- Drinking and wastewater treatment plants
- Landfill operators
- Abandoned coal mine sites
- Carbon management project developers
Local Governments: A statutory or home rule municipality, county, city and county, or special district
Tribal Governments
Public-Private Partnerships: A partnership between a local government and a private entity that engages in industrial and manufacturing operations.
As-a-Service Company: A third-party financing and ownership model in which the service provider purchases, installs, owns, and is responsible for the operation and maintenance of eligible decarbonization equipment at an End User’s facility. There is no asset or liability added to the End-User’s balance sheet, making the service payment similar to any other operating expenditure, such as a subscription payment.\
Special Purpose Vehicle (SPVs): A subsidiary created by a parent organization to manage financial risk. Operating independently, an SPV maintains its own assets, liabilities, and legal status.
Note: Local governments may only apply for funding for air pollution reduction projects at drinking and wastewater treatment plants and landfills and for carbon management and methane capture & destruction projects.
Eligible Project Types
Clean Air Program funding is available for voluntary emissions reduction projects at eligible industrial facilities. Voluntary projects are projects that achieve emissions reductions beyond or before reductions required by applicable state and federal laws, regulations, or mandates.
Eligible project types include:
- Fossil fuel efficiency & fuel switching to lower carbon fuel sources
- Industrial process changes that reduce air pollutant emissions
- Converting fossil fuel-powered equipment/processes to an electric fuel source (i.e. strategic electrification)
- Where grid access is unavailable, converting to renewable energy. Projects must support strategic electrification or fulfill some or all processing heating requirements.
- Concentrated solar for process heating
- Carbon management projects; specifically, carbon capture from an industrial point source, carbon sequestration or storage, carbon utilization, and direct air capture
- Methane capture, destruction, and/or utilization
Additional Resources
View 2024 Clean Air Program Report
Industrial facilities may also be eligible for funding support through the Colorado Industrial Tax Credit Offering (CITCO), but may not combine this funding with CAP.
Learn more about CITCO
