Company Overview: Describe your company, including prior experience manufacturing or recycling qualifying advanced energy technologies relevant to the proposed project.

Project Summary: Describe the eligible manufacturing or recycling facility, including size, location, and other relevant information. Indicate what the investment will accomplish, including the specified advanced energy property detailed in Appendix A(1), whether the facility will manufacture or recycle the specified advanced energy property, and whether the project will establish, re-equip, or expand a facility. If the project involves more than one specified advanced energy property, indicate the project’s primary advanced energy property, and any additional advanced energy properties the project will produce or recycle. In the case of a recycling project, describe the facility’s products and any clean energy supply chains they will support. Summarize the equipment and processes employed in the proposed facility, and for projects that re-equip or expand facilities, summarize what will be added or changed in the facility.

Project Timeline: Provide planned dates to begin construction and operation of the project, and how many months the project will take to commence production and achieve full production capacity once certified.

Siting and Permitting: Explain the rationale for selection of the project site, including motivating factors such as suppliers, offtakers, and co-located industries. Indicate the current status of any required siting and permitting.

Risk Management Plan: Identify project risks or challenges and any relevant strategies for risk mitigation and management, such as legal, financial, engineering, procurement, construction, physical climate, and environmental risks.

Financial Information: Describe sources of financing for the proposed project, including the amount and strength of funding sources that will provide the equity to be invested in the project, the amount of total debt obligations that will be incurred and the funding sources of all such debt, and the dollar amount of incentives or funds pursued or awarded from local and state governments, as well as other federal incentives pursued or awarded.

Market Information: Describe the market your product will serve and its growth potential, as well as your product’s anticipated market share and target consumers.

Cost Information: Provide the estimated cost of your facility’s product and how it compares to similar technologies or materials in the same market segment.

Describe the key management team members who will design, construct, permit, and operate the facility. Include a description of relevant industry experience of the top-tier executives responsible for the success of the project.

Describe any corporate health indicators, including legal claims or liabilities, planned debt restructuring, planned corporate actions, and other factors that could negatively affect the likelihood of project completion.

End Product Impacts: Describe the end-use application of facility’s products and how their use, whether that is independently (e.g., energy efficiency equipment) or as part of a larger specified advanced energy product (e.g., blade in wind tower) will avoid or reduce GHG emissions. Provide product specifications to verify these claims.

◦ In the case of specified advanced energy property that provides GHG reduction or avoidance over incumbent technologies or systems, such as clean energy, clean vehicle, or efficiency products, applicants should describe the product’s typical use in the narrative and provide quantitative information in the Data Sheet.

◦ In the case of carbon capture or removal equipment, applicants should quantify direct GHG reductions enabled by the product in typical use in the Data Sheet.

◦ In the case of electrolyzing, refining, or blending equipment, applicants should describe the fuel, chemical, or product and its production process, including feedstocks, in the narrative and Data Sheet.

◦ In the case of specified advanced energy property that provides indirect GHG reduction or avoidance, applicants may wish to qualitatively describe how the facility's products could contribute to emissions reductions by reducing energy or fuel demand or accelerating adoption of low-emissions technologies (e.g., for enabling technology such as grid components, storage, or charging infrastructure).

◦ In the case of recycling projects, applicants should qualitatively describe how the facility's products are expected to reduce emissions through their use and by reducing raw material needs or emissions associated with end-of-life.

Product Performance: Provide any details about the innovation and performance of the end product (e.g., efficiency, range, and economic life) that indicate its ability to facilitate deeper GHG emissions reductions than leading competitors or incumbents. This may not be applicable for facilities whose outputs are materials.

Direct Emissions: Qualitatively and, where possible, quantitatively characterize the anticipated sources of GHG emissions in the manufacturing or recycling process (e.g., fuel use, process emissions).

Facility Performance: Provide any details about the manufacturing process (e.g., efficiency and lifetime) that indicate its potential to result in lower emissions than leading competitors or incumbents.

Mitigation Efforts: Describe any planned efforts to mitigate GHG emissions at the proposed facility, including the use of best-in-class or innovative manufacturing or recycling approaches and/or low-carbon fuels, processes, or materials.

Output of Your Facility: Describe the facility’s products and associated quantities. Indicate whether production from your facility covers multiple supply chain segments—processed material, subcomponents, components, system/end products—and how those segments interact. In the Concept Paper Data Sheet, submit the relevant production capacity information for the facility’s outputs (see Section V for a description of these terms):

◦ Annual Production.

◦ Manufacturing Contribution.

◦ Share of Facility Output.

◦ Real-World Annual Performance.

◦ Product Lifetime.

Inputs to Your Facility: Describe key inputs to your manufacturing or recycling process. In the case of recycling facilities, this should include the qualifying energy property being recycled. Describe any known sources for your inputs, including indicating domestic sources and any current or anticipated supply chain vulnerabilities.

Supply Chain Resilience: Describe how your facility’s products will help build resilience of domestic supply chains that are critical for energy products that facilitate progress towards a net-zero economy, from raw materials to end-of-life.

End-Use Applications: Indicate whether the facility’s products will be used in multiple qualifying advanced energy technologies (e.g., wind, solar, and electric grid) or multiple sectors (e.g., transportation, industry, and electricity). Describe any offtake or sales arrangements that help to justify the indicated end-use applications.

Job Creation and Workforce Continuity:

◦ Briefly characterize the jobs (both direct and indirect) your project will create (e.g., mechanics and construction workers), including (a) during completion of the project and (b) after the project is placed in service, and any indicators of job quality.

◦ Describe partnerships with apprenticeship readiness programs, or community-based workforce training and support organizations serving displaced industrial workers, including in the coal, other energy, and automotive sectors, and others facing systematic barriers to employment to facilitate participation in the project’s construction and operations.

Ensuring Timely Project Completion Through Workforce and Community Engagement:

◦ Describe current and planned efforts to engage with community and labor stakeholders, including as it relates to the ability to complete the project in the shortest time and with adequate workforce.

◦ Describe current and planned efforts to ensure availability of the workforce needed to successfully complete the project and place it in service in a timely manner, including through training programs that serve workers currently underrepresented in the sector.

◦ Describe any activities to strengthen support of the community such as through benefit-sharing agreements, consideration of environmental impact, and use of local resources.

Energy Community Transition:

◦ Describe the extent to which the project will support energy communities, through transition opportunities for workers in the coal, other energy, and automotive sectors, and through the use of existing infrastructure in energy transition communities.

Local Environmental Impacts:

◦ Describe the impact of your project on local air, water, and/or land quality, as well as any efforts to mitigate local pollution and waste.

Company Overview:

◦ Describe your company, including prior experience manufacturing or recycling clean energy technologies relevant to the proposed project.

Project Summary:

◦ Describe the proposed manufacturing or recycling facility, including size, location, and other relevant information.

◦ Indicate what the investment will accomplish, including:

▪ Whether the project will establish, re-equip, or expand a facility.

▪ The specified advanced energy property, and whether the facility will manufacture or recycle the specified advanced energy property. If the project involves more than one specified advanced energy property, indicate the project’s primary advanced energy property, and any additional advanced energy properties the project will produce or recycle.

▪ In the case of a recycling project, describe the facility’s products and the clean energy supply chains they will support.

◦ Describe in detail the equipment and processes employed at the proposed facility to manufacture or recycle the proposed advanced energy property.

▪ If the proposed project re-equips or expands an existing facility, describe clearly what the proposed project will add or change in the existing facility.

▪ To clearly illustrate the proposed facility or proposed changes to an existing facility, applicants are encouraged to submit diagrams and/or images (e.g., a detailed process flow diagram) as appendix materials.

▪ Provide a list of the anticipated eligible property that will make up the qualified investment of the qualifying advanced energy project.

◦ Describe any significant changes to the project that have occurred since the concept paper stage.

Project Management and Timeline:

◦ Provide a project schedule through operation and achieving full production capacity, which demonstrates how certification requirements will be met within two (2) years of receiving an allocation decision from the IRS, and how the project will be placed in service within two (2) years of such certification. Documentation supporting the project schedule should be submitted as separate appendix materials.

◦ Describe plans to ensure an adequate supply of essential inputs needed for successful operation of the project.

◦ For the following contracts and agreements, summarize key terms and conditions in the narrative and submit copies as appendix materials. A Professional Engineer must inspect and certify the project documents for feasibility and may be an employee of the applicant.

▪ Operations and Maintenance Agreement.

▪ Shareholders Agreement.

▪ Engineering, Procurement and Construction Agreement, including firm price, liquidated damages, holdbacks, and performance guarantees, for example.

Siting and Permitting: Explain the rationale for selection of the project site and provide documentation supporting the applicant’s conclusion that the proposed site can fully meet all environmental, water supply, transmission interconnection, and other necessary requirements. Include a complete list of all federal, state, and local permits, including environmental authorizations (if applicable) or reviews necessary to commence construction of the project. Additional documentation that supports key claims may be provided as appendix materials, such as regulatory approvals and signed agreements, letters of intent, or term sheets for supply and product transportation.

Risk Management Plan: Identify project risks or challenges and any relevant strategies for risk mitigation and management, including legal, financial, engineering, procurement, construction, and risks. Include a discussion of natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes), climate impacts and extreme weather patterns (e.g., tornadoes, hurricanes, heat and freezing temperatures, drought, wildfire, and floods) that may impact the resilience/sustainability of the project.

Financial Information:

◦ Submit a cash flow model detailing investments in and cash flows anticipated over the facility’s expected lifetime, including a description of the methodology and all assumptions used.

◦ Describe the payback period, net present value (NPV), adjusted present value (APV) and break-even analysis for the project and other financial metrics including return on investment and return on assets.

◦ Estimate the project’s amount that will be treated as a qualified investment (as determined under § 48C) if the project is certified to receive a credit. The applicant may use any reasonable methodology and assumptions in estimating this amount.

◦ Describe the amount of equity that will be invested in the project, including the sources of such equity and their strengths. Provide any existing equity funding commitments or expressions of interest from equity funding sources for the project as separate appendix materials.

◦ Describe the amount of total debt obligations that will be incurred and the funding sources of all such debt. Include any existing debt funding commitments or expressions of interest from debt funding sources for the project as separate appendix materials.

◦ Describe any local, state, or other federal incentives or funds that are being pursued or have been awarded for the proposed project, such as grants, loan guarantees, or tax credits. Also include a description of any instances where any federal agencies or non-federal governmental entities have entered into an arrangement as a customer or offtaker of the project’s products or services, or other federal contracts, including acquisitions, leases, and other arrangements, that may indirectly support the applicant’s proposed project.

Market Information:

◦ Describe the markets your products will serve, including the existing market size, dollar volume, and growth potential. If the product can be sold in multiple market segments, describe each one.

◦ Discuss the current and anticipated competitiveness of your market, including current competing products and competitors.

◦ Discuss your sales forecast, including details of any offtake agreements you may have to support your project. Identify confirmed or potential customers who will purchase, lease, or otherwise use the facility’s product. Offtake agreements and other documents provided as evidence may be included as appendix materials.

◦ Based on the above information, summarize your product’s projected market share for the next five years including trends and projections for demand and price, growth potential (short-term and long-term), and strategies to expand your market share (e.g., ways to circumvent market barriers).

Cost Information:

◦ Provide the estimated cost of your facility’s product and how it compares to similar technologies or materials in the same market segment, including new and recycled products. This should be expressed in the same units as annual production (e.g., $/watt, $/kilowatt-hour, and $/ton) per the instructions in the 48C Application Data Sheet. Applicants should include the absolute difference and percentage change from a reasonable domestic industry average.

◦ Calculate the levelized cost of generated or stored energy, or of measured reduction in energy consumption or GHG emissions (based on costs of the full supply chain). Instructions for calculating levelized cost metrics are provided in Section V. Explain the methodology and assumptions used in the § 48C(e) application narrative.

Describe the ownership structure of the company, including all beneficiaries.

List key management and senior personnel for the project, including the names, positions or titles, qualifications, and relevant experience. Resumes may be included as combined appendix materials, preferably in an Adobe PDF document labeled Resumes.pdf.

Describe the unique capabilities and expertise of the applicant and any major project partners, including debt or equity sponsors, contractors/vendors (if known), and any other counterparty that the applicant believes will enable the project to be successful, as well as the prior experience of the applicant and any major project partners in similar undertakings to the proposed project.

Summarize any pending or threatened (in writing) action, suit, proceeding, or investigation, including any action or proceeding by or before any governmental authority, that relates to the senior/key personnel, and the status of any appeals.

Describe any corporate health indicators, including legal claims or liabilities, planned debt restructuring, planned corporate actions, and other factors that could negatively affect the likelihood of project completion. Provide a copy of audited financial statements for the applicant and other projected funding sources for the most recently ended three (3) fiscal years, and the unaudited quarterly interim financial statements for the current fiscal year, as separate appendix materials. If all three years of audited statements are not available, provide all available statements and any additional information or appendices that provide similar evidence of corporate health.

End Product Impacts: Describe the end-use application of facility’s products and how their use, whether that is independently (e.g., energy efficiency equipment) or as part of a larger specified advanced energy product (e.g., blade in wind tower) will avoid or reduce GHG emissions. Provide product specifications to verify these claims.

◦ In the case of specified advanced energy property that provides GHG reduction or avoidance over incumbent technologies or systems, such as clean energy, clean vehicle, or efficiency products, applicants should describe the product’s typical use in the narrative and provide quantitative information in the Data Sheet.

◦ In the case of carbon capture or removal equipment, applicants should quantify direct GHG reductions enabled by the product in typical use in the Data Sheet.

◦ In the case of electrolyzing, refining, or blending equipment, applicants should describe the fuel, chemical, or product and its production process, including feedstocks, in the narrative and Data Sheet.

◦ In the case of specified advanced energy property that provides indirect GHG reduction or avoidance, applicants may wish to qualitatively describe how the facility's products could contribute to emissions reductions by reducing energy or fuel demand or accelerating adoption of low-emissions technologies (e.g., for enabling technology such as grid components, storage, or charging infrastructure).

◦ In the case of recycling projects, applicants should qualitatively describe how the facility's products are expected to reduce emissions through their use and by reducing raw material needs or emissions associated with end-of-life.

Product Performance: Provide any details about the innovation and performance of the end product (e.g., efficiency, range, and economic life) that indicate its ability to facilitate deeper GHG emissions reductions than leading competitors or incumbents. Applicants should substantiate such claims using the product warranty or related information, which should be described in the narrative and may be submitted as separate appendix materials.

Direct Emissions: Qualitatively and quantitatively characterize the anticipated sources of direct (Scope 1) or indirect fuel- and energy-related (Scope 2) GHG emissions in the manufacturing or recycling process. Emissions estimates should be provided in the 48C Application Data Sheet using the methodology described in Section V; where available, input assumptions should be justified with publicly available data and engineering studies. Explain any significant differences between direct emissions from the facility and industry averages.

Facility Performance: Provide any details about the manufacturing or recycling process (e.g., efficiency, lifetime, electrification, low-carbon fuels, etc.) that indicate its potential to result in lower emissions than leading competitors or incumbents. Wherever possible, the applicant should substantiate assessments of process improvements with analysis or engineering studies, which should be described in the narrative and may be submitted as separate appendix materials, which may be submitted as separate appendix materials.

Mitigation Efforts: Describe any planned efforts to mitigate GHG emissions of the proposed facility.

Company Commitments and Track Record: Describe any company commitments or experience reducing GHG emissions of manufacturing or recycling facilities.

Output of Your Facility: Describe the proposed facility’s products and projected annual output for each product. In the case of retrofitting, re-equipping, or expanding an existing facility, indicate how the project will alter the facility’s annual output. Indicate whether production from the facility covers multiple supply chain segments—processed material, subcomponents, components, systems/end products—and how those segments interact. In the 48C Application Data Sheet, submit the relevant production capacity information for the facility’s outputs (see Section V for a description of these terms) and then justify each in the § 48C(e) Application narrative:

◦ Annual Production.

◦ Manufacturing Contribution.

◦ Share of Facility Output.

◦ Real-World Annual Performance.

◦ Product Lifetime.

Supply Chain Resilience: Describe how your facility’s products will help build resilience of domestic supply chains that are critical for energy products that facilitate progress towards a net-zero economy, from raw materials to end-of-life.

Inputs to Your Facility: Describe key inputs needed for your manufacturing or recycling process. Describe any known sources for your inputs, including indicating domestic sources and any current or anticipated supply chain vulnerabilities.

End-Use Applications: Indicate whether the facility’s products will be used in multiple specified advanced energy technologies (e.g., wind, solar, and electric grid) or multiple sectors (e.g., transportation, industry, and electricity). Reference any offtake or sales arrangements provided in the Commercial Viability section to justify the end-use applications and, where possible, include these in the appendix.

Characterize and estimate the number of jobs your project will create (e.g., mechanics and construction workers), including both direct and indirect jobs both during completion of the project (the credit period) and during operation of the facility after it is placed in service and any indicators of job quality.

Describe partnerships with apprenticeship readiness programs, or community-based workforce training and support organizations serving displaced industrial workers, including in the coal, other energy, and automotive sectors, and others facing systematic barriers to employment to facilitate participation in the project’s construction and operations.

Summarize the applicant’s plan to attract, train, and retain a skilled and well-qualified workforce both during completion of the project (the credit period) and during operation of the facility after it is placed in service. A collective bargaining agreement, labor-management partnership, or other similar agreement would provide evidence of such a plan. Alternatively, applicants may describe:

◦ Wages, benefits, and other worker supports to be provided as benchmarking against prevailing wages for construction and local median wages for other occupations;

◦ Commitments to invest in workforce education and training, including measures to reduce attrition, increase productivity from a committed and engaged workforce, and support the development of a resilient, skilled, and stable workforce for the project; and

◦ Efforts to engage employees in the design and execution of workplace safety and health plans.

Describe employees’ ability to organize, bargain collectively, and participate, through labor organizations of their choosing, in decisions that affect them. This contributes to the effective conduct of business and facilitates amicable settlements of any potential disputes between employees and employers, providing assurances of project efficiency, continuity, and multiple public benefits. In the description, explain whether workers can form and join unions of their choosing, and how they will have the opportunity to organize with the purposes of exercising collective voice in the workplace.

Provide a comprehensive list of stakeholders that the project plans to engage from local governments, Tribal governments, labor unions, and community-based organizations.

Describe current and planned efforts to engage with listed stakeholders, including as it relates to the ability to complete the project in the shortest time and with adequate workforce.

Describe current and planned efforts to ensure availability of the workforce needed to successfully complete the project and place it in service in a timely manner, including through training programs that serve workers currently underrepresented in the sector.

Describe any activities to strengthen support of the community such as through benefit-sharing agreements, consideration of environmental impact, and use of local resources. Discussions should reference Workforce and Community Engagement Agreements, or any plans to develop such agreements, from representative organizations reflecting substantive engagement and feedback on applicant’s approach to community and labor engagement. Examples of such agreements are Good Neighbor Agreements/Community Benefits Agreements, Collective Bargaining Agreements, Project Labor Agreements or Community Workforce Agreements. Actual agreements must be provided in the submission package as appendix files.

Describe plans to utilize existing local and regional resources that previously supported the local or regional coal, other energy, or automotive industries, including through transition opportunities for workers in the coal, other energy, and automotive sectors into clean energy industries.

If applicable, include discussion on plans to repurpose existing infrastructure/assets that have been abandoned due to the closing of a coal mine or coal plant.

Discuss any anticipated negative and cumulative environmental impacts of the project, including impacts on local air, water, and/or land quality. Describe any efforts to mitigate local pollution and waste.

Determine whether the location or community qualifies as a disadvantaged community according to the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST).

Within the context of cumulative environmental impacts, applicants should use the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping (EJSCREEN) tool (https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen) to quantitatively discuss existing environmental impacts in the project area.

If anticipated project benefits will flow to an applicable disadvantaged community, identify applicable benefits that are quantifiable, measurable, and trackable, such as:

◦ (1) A decrease in energy burden;

◦ (2) A decrease in environmental exposure and burdens;

◦ (3) An increase in access to low-cost capital;

◦ (4) An increase in high-quality job creation, the clean energy job pipeline, and job training for individuals;

◦ (5) Increases in clean energy enterprise creation and contracting (e.g., through investment in underserved and underrepresented businesses);

◦ (6) Increases in energy democracy, including community ownership;

◦ (7) Increased parity in clean energy technology access and adoption; and

◦ (8) An increase in energy resilience.

In addition, applicants should also discuss how the project will maximize all of the benefits listed above. Describe how and when anticipated benefits are expected to flow to the disadvantaged community. For example, will the benefits be provided directly within the disadvantaged communities identified, or are the benefits expected to flow in another way? Further, will the benefits flow during project development or after project completion, and how will applicant track benefits delivered?

Company Overview: Describe your company and existing industrial or manufacturing capabilities.

Project Scope: Describe the eligible industrial or manufacturing facility to be re-equipped, including size, location, and other relevant information such as equipment and processes employed. Indicate the proposed changes supported by the project, including a list of the anticipated eligible property that will make up the qualified investment of the qualifying advanced energy project: low- or zero-carbon process heating systems; carbon capture, transport, utilization, or storage systems; energy efficiency and reduction in waste; or other industrial technology to be installed to reduce the facility’s GHG emissions by at least 20%. Indicate whether the retrofit project will achieve the required 20% reduction in direct (Scope 1) emissions facility-wide, indirect fuel- and energy-related (Scope 2) emissions facility-wide, subunit emissions, or some combination thereof. Describe any anticipated changes to production capacity or output as a result of the retrofit.

Emissions: Describe your baseline annual emissions from the year prior to the retrofit compared to peers in your industry, and the anticipated emissions reductions to be achieved through the measures associated with the proposed project. The latter should be provided in both absolute and percentage terms, relative to your facility’s baseline emissions.

Project Timeline: Provide planned dates to begin re-equipping the industrial or manufacturing facility, and how many months it will take to commence operations and achieve full production capacity with the reduced emissions profile once certified.

Siting and Permitting: Explain the rationale for selection of the project site and indicate the current status of any required siting and permitting.

Risk Management Plan: Identify project risks or challenges and any relevant strategies for risk mitigation and management, such as legal, financial, engineering, procurement, construction, physical climate, and environmental risks.

Financial Information: Describe sources of financing for this project, including the amount and strength of funding sources that will provide the equity to be invested in the project; the amount of total debt obligations that will be incurred and the funding sources of all such debt, and the dollar amount of incentives or funds pursued or awarded from local and state governments, as well as other federal incentives pursued or awarded. If applicable, describe any existing or prospective offtake arrangements for the project’s products.

Cost Information: Describe the cost competitiveness of the facility’s products, as demonstrated through a comparison of the estimated price of your facility’s product against similar products in the same market segment.

Describe the key management team members who will design, construct, permit, and execute the project. Include a description of relevant industry experience of the top-tier executives responsible for the success of the project.

Describe any corporate health indicators, including legal claims or liabilities, planned debt restructuring, planned corporate actions, and other factors that could negatively affect the likelihood of project completion.

Emissions Impacts: Quantify the direct (Scope 1) and indirect fuel- and energy-related (Scope 2) GHG emissions associated with the qualified investment immediately before and after the retrofit project. Express post-retrofit emissions in both absolute and relative (% reduction) terms. Where possible, justify these estimates with publicly available data (e.g., EPA Greenhouse Gas Reporting Protocol [GHGRP] reporting) and engineering studies. Explain any significant differences between direct emissions from the facility immediately before the retrofit and a reasonable domestic industry average.

Process Improvements: Describe the portions of the manufacturing process that will be re-equipped by the project.

Best-In-Class Technologies: Describe the equipment used to facilitate the GHG emissions reductions, and the extent to which best-in-class technologies are deployed.

Existing Capacity: Describe and provide the annual output for all of the facility’s products prior to the retrofit project. In the Concept Paper Data Sheet, submit the relevant annual production information.

Innovation and U.S. Competitiveness: Describe how the retrofit project can pave the way for decarbonizing heavy industry by advancing the commercial viability and uptake of replicable decarbonization approaches in major industrial applications, including innovative solutions.

Supporting U.S. Supply Chains: Describe whether the equipment used to facilitate the GHG emissions reductions at your facility is/are produced domestically or the percentage of domestically-sourced materials used in the production of said equipment.

Job Creation and Workforce Continuity:

◦ Briefly characterize the jobs (both direct and indirect) your project will create (e.g., mechanics and construction workers), including (a) during completion of the project and (b) after the project is placed in service, and any indicators of job quality.

◦ Describe partnerships with apprenticeship readiness programs, or community-based workforce training and support organizations serving displaced industrial workers, including in the coal, other energy, and automotive sectors, and others facing systematic barriers to employment to facilitate participation in the project’s construction and operations.

Ensuring Timely Project Completion Through Workforce and Community Engagement:

◦ Describe current and planned efforts to engage with community and labor stakeholders, including as it relates to the ability to complete the project in the shortest time and with adequate workforce.

◦ Describe current and planned efforts to ensure availability of the workforce needed to successfully complete the project and place it in service in a timely manner, including through training programs that serve workers currently underrepresented in the sector.

◦ Describe any activities to strengthen support of the community such as through benefit-sharing agreements, consideration of environmental impact, and use of local resources.

Energy Community Transition:

◦ Describe the extent to which the project will support energy communities, including through transition opportunities for workers in the coal, other energy, and automotive sectors, and through the use of existing infrastructure in energy transition communities.

Local Environmental Impacts:

◦ Describe the impact of your project on local air, water, and/or land quality, as well as any efforts to mitigate local pollution and waste.

Company Overview: Describe your company and existing industrial or manufacturing capabilities.

Project Scope:

◦ Describe the eligible industrial or manufacturing facility to be re-equipped, including size, location, and other relevant information. Include a detailed description of the equipment and processes employed at the proposed facility. Applicants are encouraged to submit diagrams, schematics, and/or images (e.g., a detailed process flow diagram) as appendix materials.

◦ Indicate the proposed changes supported by the project, including a list of the anticipated eligible property that will make up the qualified investment of the qualifying advanced energy project: low- or zero-carbon process heating systems; carbon capture, transport, utilization, or storage systems; energy efficiency and reduction in waste; or other industrial technology to be installed to reduce the facility’s GHG emissions by at least 20%.

◦ Indicate whether the retrofit project will achieve the required 20% reduction in direct (Scope 1) emissions, indirect fuel- and energy-related (Scope 2) emissions, subunit emissions, or some combination thereof.

◦ Describe any anticipated changes to production capacity or output as a result of the retrofit.

◦ Describe any significant changes to the project scope that have occurred since the concept paper stage.

Emissions: Describe your baseline emissions compared to peers in your industry, and the anticipated emissions reductions to be achieved through the measures associated with the proposed project. The latter should be provided in both absolute and percentage terms, relative to your facility’s baseline emissions.

Project Management and Timeline:

◦ Provide a project schedule through operation and achieving full production capacity, which demonstrates how certification requirements will be met within two (2) years of receiving an allocation decision from the IRS, and how the project will be placed in service within two (2) years of such certification. Documentation supporting the project schedule should be submitted as separate appendix materials.

◦ Describe plans to ensure an adequate supply of essential inputs needed for successful operation of the project.

◦ For the following contracts and agreements, summarize key terms and conditions in the narrative and submit copies as appendix materials. A Professional Engineer must inspect and certify the project documents for feasibility and may be an employee of the applicant.

▪ Operations and Maintenance Agreement.

▪ Shareholders Agreement.

▪ Engineering, Procurement and Construction Agreement, including firm price, liquidated damages, holdbacks, and performance guarantees, for example.

Siting and Permitting: Explain the rationale for selection of the project site and provide documentation supporting the applicant’s conclusion that the proposed site can fully meet all environmental, water supply, transmission interconnection, and other necessary requirements. Include a complete list of all federal, state, and local permits, including environmental authorizations (if applicable) or reviews necessary to commence construction of the project. Additional documentation that supports key claims may be provided as appendix materials, such as regulatory approvals and signed agreements, letters of intent, or term sheets for supply and product transportation.

Risk Management Plan: Identify project risks or challenges and any relevant strategies for risk mitigation and management, including legal, financial, engineering, procurement, and construction risks. Include a discussion of natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes), climate impacts, and extreme weather patterns (e.g., tornadoes, hurricanes, heat and freezing temperatures, drought, wildfire, and floods) that may impact the resilience/sustainability of the project.

Financial Information:

◦ Describe the financial viability of the project and provide supporting metrics such as payback period, net present value (NPV), or return on investment and return on assets.

◦ Estimate the project‘s qualified investment (as determined under § 48C) if the project is certified to receive a credit. The applicant may use any reasonable methodology and assumptions in estimating this amount.

◦ Describe the amount of equity that will be invested in the project, including the sources of such equity and their strengths. Provide any existing equity funding commitments or expressions of interest from equity funding sources for the project as separate appendix materials.

◦ Describe the amount of total debt obligations that will be incurred and the funding sources of all such debt. Include any existing debt funding commitments or expressions of interest from debt funding sources for the project as separate appendix materials.

◦ Describe any local, state, or other federal incentives or funds that are being pursued or have been awarded for the proposed project, such as grants, loan guarantees, or tax credits. Also include a description of any instances where any federal agencies or non-federal governmental entities have entered into an arrangement as a customer or offtaker of the project’s products or services, or other federal contracts, including acquisitions, leases, and other arrangements, that may indirectly support the applicant’s proposed project.

◦ Calculate the levelized cost of measured reduction in GHG emissions (based on costs of the full supply chain) that will be enabled by the project. Instructions for calculating levelized cost metrics are provided in Section V. Explain the methodology and assumptions used in the § 48C(e) application narrative.

Market Information:

◦ Describe the markets your products will serve, including the existing market size, dollar volume, and growth potential. Where applicable, include consideration of federal, state, or local subsidies or procurement requirements that could influence demand for a lower-carbon product. If the product can be sold in multiple market segments, describe each one.

◦ Discuss the current and anticipated competitiveness of your market, including competing products and competitors.

◦ Provide the estimated price of your facility’s product after re-equipping and how it compares to similar technologies or materials in the same market segment, including conventional and lower-carbon products. This should be expressed in the same units as annual production (e.g., $/watt, $/kilowatt-hour, and $/ton) per the instructions in the 48C Application Data Sheet. Applicants should include the absolute difference and percentage change from a reasonable domestic industry average.

◦ Discuss your sales forecast, including details of any offtake agreements and including the objectives set forward in the federal Buy Clean Initiative for low-carbon materials. Identify confirmed or potential customers who will purchase, lease, or otherwise use the facility’s product. Offtake agreements, environmental product declarations, low-carbon materials certifications, and other documents provided as evidence may be included as appendix materials.

◦ Based on the above information, summarize your product’s projected market share for the next five years including trends and projections for demand and price, growth potential (short-term and long-term), and strategies to expand your market share (e.g., ways to circumvent market barriers).

Describe the ownership structure of the company, including all beneficiaries.

List key management and senior personnel for the project, including the names, positions or titles, qualifications, and relevant experience. Resumes maybe be included as combined appendix materials, preferably in an Adobe PDF document labeled Resumes.pdf.

Describe the unique capabilities and expertise of the applicant and any major project partners, including debt or equity sponsors, contractors/vendors (if known), and any other counterparty that the applicant believes will enable the project to be successful, as well as the prior experience of the applicant and any major project partners in similar undertakings to the proposed project.

Summarize any pending or threatened (in writing) action, suit, proceeding, or investigation, including any action or proceeding by or before any governmental authority, that relates to the senior/key personnel, and the status of any appeals.

Describe any corporate health indicators, including legal claims or liabilities, planned debt restructuring, planned corporate actions, and other factors that could negatively affect the likelihood of project completion. Provide a copy of audited financial statements for the applicant and other projected funding sources for the most recently ended three (3) fiscal years, and the unaudited quarterly interim financial statements for the current fiscal year, as separate appendix materials. If all three years of audited statements are not available, provide all available statements and any additional information or appendices that provide similar evidence of corporate health.

Emissions Impacts: Quantify the direct (Scope 1) and indirect, upstream fuel- or energy-related (Scope 2) GHG emissions of the facility immediately before and after the retrofit project, both in the application narrative and the 48C Application Data Sheet. Consider how projects may affect other emissions at the facility or in fuel or energy use over the lifetime of the projects (e.g., electrification projects may reduce Scope 1 emissions but increase Scope 2 emissions). Express post-retrofit emissions reductions in both absolute and relative (% reduction) terms, where the latter must be at least 20%. Emissions should be calculated and submitted in the 48C Application Data Sheet using the methodology described in Section V, and, where possible, inputs should be justified with publicly available data (e.g., GHGRP reporting), engineering studies, or other evidence. Explain any significant differences between direct emissions from the facility and a reasonable domestic industry average.

Process Improvements: Describe the portions of the industrial or manufacturing process that will be re-equipped by the project, the nature of the improvements, and how the improvements drive emissions reductions. Wherever possible, the applicant should substantiate these assessments with analysis or engineering studies, which should be described in the narrative and may be submitted as appendix materials.

Best-In-Class Technologies: Describe the equipment used to facilitate the GHG emissions reductions, and the extent to which best-in-class technologies are deployed. Where multiple emissions-reducing technologies are deployed, describe each.

Output of Your Facility: Describe the products currently produced at the facility and average annual output in appropriate units (e.g., tons of steel). Explain whether the retrofit will alter the capacity or output of the facility, including whether the retrofit will shift output from one product to another. Describe the market these products serve, including whether they align with federal, state, or local Made in America requirements, such as Buy America programs or domestic content-based tax credits. Applicants should provide engineering studies or other analysis to substantiate the impacts of the retrofit on facility output capacity as separate appendix materials.

Supporting Domestic Clean Energy Markets: Describe the extent to which the equipment used to facilitate the GHG emissions reductions at your facility is produced domestically. For instance, a project utilizing carbon capture equipment should explain whether they are sourcing from domestic CCUS companies or manufacturers.

Supporting Domestic Low-Carbon Industry: Describe how your project will help strengthen resilience of critical domestic supply chains that facilitate progress towards a net-zero economy, including by spurring or fulfilling the growing demand for low-carbon construction materials, such as those covered in the Buy Clean Initiative.

Innovation: Describe the extent to which the retrofit project employs innovative solutions that can enhance U.S. leadership and industrial competitiveness. This should include the use of advanced industrial or manufacturing approaches.

Characterize and estimate the number of jobs your project will create (e.g., mechanics and construction workers), including both direct and indirect jobs both during completion of the project (the credit period) and during operation of the facility after it is placed in service and any indicators of job quality.

Describe partnerships with apprenticeship readiness programs, or community-based workforce training and support organizations serving displaced industrial workers, including in the coal, other energy, and automotive sectors, and others facing systematic barriers to employment to facilitate participation in the project’s construction and operations.

Summarize the applicant’s plan to attract, train, and retain a skilled and well-qualified workforce both during completion of the project (the credit period) and during operation of the facility after it is placed in service. A collective bargaining agreement, labor-management partnership, or other similar agreement would provide evidence of such a plan. Alternatively, applicants may describe:

◦ Wages, benefits, and other worker supports to be provided as benchmarking against prevailing wages for construction and local median wages for other occupations;

◦ Commitments to invest in workforce education and training, including measures to reduce attrition, increase productivity from a committed and engaged workforce, and support the development of a resilient, skilled, and stable workforce for the project; and

◦ Efforts to engage employees in the design and execution of workplace safety and health plans.

Describe employees’ ability to organize, bargain collectively, and participate, through labor organizations of their choosing, in decisions that affect them. This contributes to the effective conduct of business and facilitates amicable settlements of any potential disputes between employees and employers, providing assurances of project efficiency, continuity, and multiple public benefits. In the description, explain whether workers can form and join unions of their choosing, and how they will have the opportunity to organize with the purposes of exercising collective voice in the workplace.

Provide a comprehensive list of stakeholders that the project plans to engage from local governments, Tribal governments, labor unions, and community-based organizations.

Describe current and planned efforts to engage with listed stakeholders, including as it relates to the ability to complete the project in the shortest time and with adequate workforce.

Describe current and planned efforts to ensure availability of the workforce needed to successfully complete the project and place it in service in a timely manner, including through training programs that serve workers currently underrepresented in the sector.

Describe any activities to strengthen support of the community such as through benefit-sharing agreements, consideration of environmental impact, and use of local resources. Discussions should reference Workforce and Community Engagement Agreements, or any plans to develop such agreements, from representative organizations reflecting substantive engagement and feedback on applicant’s approach to community and labor engagement. Examples of such agreements are Good Neighbor Agreements/Community Benefits Agreements, Collective Bargaining Agreements, Project Labor Agreements or Community Workforce Agreements. Actual agreements must be provided in the submission package as appendix files.

Describe plans to utilize existing local and regional resources that previously supported the local or regional coal, other energy, or automotive industries, including through transition opportunities for workers in the coal, other energy, and automotive sectors into clean energy industries.

If applicable, include discussion on plans to repurpose existing infrastructure/assets that have been abandoned due to the closing of a coal mine or coal plant.

Discuss any anticipated negative and cumulative environmental impacts of the project, including impacts on local air, water, and/or land quality. Describe any efforts to mitigate local pollution and waste.

Determine whether the location or community qualifies as a disadvantaged community according to the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST).

Within the context of cumulative environmental impacts, applicants should use the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping (EJSCREEN) tool (https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen) to quantitatively discuss existing environmental impacts in the project area.

If anticipated project benefits will flow to an applicable disadvantaged community, identify applicable benefits that are quantifiable, measurable, and trackable, such as:

◦ (1) A decrease in energy burden;

◦ (2) A decrease in environmental exposure and burdens;

◦ (3) An increase in access to low-cost capital;

◦ (4) An increase in high-quality job creation, the clean energy job pipeline, and job training for individuals;

◦ (5) Increases in clean energy enterprise creation and contracting (e.g., through investment in underserved and underrepresented businesses);

◦ (6) Increases in energy democracy, including community ownership;

◦ (7) Increased parity in clean energy technology access and adoption; and

◦ (8) An increase in energy resilience.

In addition, applicants should also discuss how the project will maximize all of the benefits listed above. Describe how and when anticipated benefits are expected to flow to the disadvantaged community. For example, will the benefits be provided directly within the disadvantaged communities identified, or are the benefits expected to flow in another way? Further, will the benefits flow during project development or after project completion, and how will applicant track benefits delivered?

Company Overview: Describe your company, including prior experience processing, refining, or recycling critical materials.

Project Summary: Describe the eligible facility, including size, location, and other relevant information. Indicate what the investment will accomplish, including the specified critical materials; whether the project will establish, re-equip, or expand a facility; and whether the facility will process, refine, or recycle the relevant critical material. If the project involves more than one critical material, indicate the project’s primary critical material, and any additional critical materials the project will process, refine, or recycle. Summarize the equipment and processes employed in the proposed facility; and for projects that re-equip or expand facilities, summarize what will be added or changed in the facility.

Project Timeline: Provide planned dates to begin construction and operation of the project, and how many months the project will take to commence production and achieve full production capacity once certified.

Siting and Permitting: Explain the rationale for selection of the project site, including motivating factors such as suppliers, offtakers, and co-located industries. Indicate the current status of any required siting and permitting.

Risk Management Plan: Identify project risks or challenges and any relevant strategies for risk mitigation and management, such as legal, financial, engineering, procurement, construction, physical climate, and environmental risks.

Financial Information: Describe sources of financing for the proposed project, including the amount and strength of funding sources that will provide the equity to be invested in the project, the amount of total debt obligations that will be incurred and the funding sources of all such debt, and the dollar amount of incentives or funds pursued or awarded from local and state governments, as well as other federal incentives pursued or awarded.

Market Information: Describe the current size and growth potential of the markets your produced critical materials will serve, as well as your anticipated market share and target consumers.

Cost Information: Provide the estimated costs of your facility’s products and how they compare to other domestic critical material producers, including new and recycled materials.

Describe the key management team members who will design, construct, permit, and operate the facility. Include a description of relevant industry experience of the top-tier executives responsible for the success of the project.

Describe any corporate health indicators, including legal claims or liabilities, planned debt restructuring, planned corporate actions, and other factors that could negatively affect the likelihood of project completion.

Output of Your Facility: Indicate the critical materials and associated quantities that will be produced by your facility. Describe the proposed facility’s products and projected annual output for each critical material. In the case of retrofitting, re-equipping, or expanding an existing facility, indicate how the project will alter the facility’s annual output. In the Concept Paper Data Sheet, submit the relevant annual production information for each critical material produced in the facility.

Inputs to Your Facility: Describe key inputs needed for your processing, refining, or recycling process, such as source materials (e.g., raw ore, brines, mine tailings, end-of-life products, or waste streams). Describe any known sources for your inputs and indicate domestic sources. Describe any current or anticipated supply chain vulnerabilities.

Supply Chain Resilience: Describe how your facility’s products will help build resilience of domestic supply chains that are critical for energy products that facilitate progress towards a net-zero economy, from raw materials to end-of-life. For instance, critical materials producers intending to serve the battery market should indicate the extent to which their project supports the electric vehicle or stationary energy storage supply chains, as opposed to consumer electronics. Describe whether these products align with U.S. federal, state, or local domestic content requirements, such as those in the § 30D tax credit.

End-Use Applications: Indicate whether the facility’s products will be used in multiple specified advanced energy technologies (e.g., wind, solar, and electric grid) or multiple sectors (e.g., transportation, industry, and electricity).

End Product Impacts: Describe the end-use application of facility’s products and how their use contributes to GHG emissions reduction or avoidance by advancing the adoption of clean energy or other low-carbon products and technologies, such as the advanced energy property described in 48C(c)(1)(A)(i).

Direct Facility Emissions: Qualitatively describe the anticipated sources of GHG emissions in the processing, refining, or recycling process (e.g., fuel use, process emissions).

Facility Performance: Provide any details about the production process (e.g., efficiency and lifetime) that indicate its potential to result in lower emissions than leading competitors or incumbents.

Mitigation Efforts: Describe any planned efforts to mitigate GHG emissions of the proposed facility, including the use of best-in-class or innovative processing, refining, or recycling approaches and/or low-carbon fuels, processes, or materials.

Job Creation and Workforce Continuity:

Briefly characterize the jobs (both direct and indirect) your project will create (e.g., mechanics and construction workers), including (a) during completion of the project and (b) after the project is placed in service, and any indicators of job quality.

Describe partnerships with apprenticeship readiness programs, or community-based workforce training and support organizations serving displaced industrial workers, including in the coal, other energy, and automotive sectors, and others facing systematic barriers to employment to facilitate participation in the project’s construction and operations.

Ensuring Timely Project Completion Through Workforce and Community Engagement:

Describe current and planned efforts to engage with community and labor stakeholders, including as it relates to the ability to complete the project in the shortest time and with adequate workforce.

Describe current and planned efforts to ensure availability of the workforce needed to successfully complete the project and place it in service in a timely manner, including through considerations of training programs that serve workers currently underrepresented in the sector.

Describe any activities to strengthen support of the community such as through benefit-sharing agreements, consideration of environmental impact, and use of local resources.

Energy Community Transition:

Describe the extent to which the project will support energy communities, including through transition opportunities for workers in the coal, other energy, and automotive sectors, and through the use of existing infrastructure in energy transition communities.

Local Environmental Impacts:

Describe the impact of your project on local air, water, and/or land quality, as well as any efforts to mitigate local pollution and waste.

Company Overview: Describe your company, including prior experience processing, refining, or recycling critical materials.

Project Summary:

◦ Describe the proposed manufacturing or recycling facility, including size, location, and other relevant information.

◦ Indicate what the project will accomplish, including:

▪ Whether the project will establish, re-equip, or expand a facility.

▪ The specified critical materials, and whether the facility will process, refine, or recycle the specified materials. If the project involves more than one critical material, indicate the project’s primary critical material, and any additional critical materials the project will process, refine, or recycle.

▪ Describe the facility’s products, including the produced critical material’s purity percentage and the clean energy supply chains they will support.

▪ Describe the associated inputs (e.g., raw ore, mine tailings, end-of-life products, waste streams, or other source materials).

◦ Describe in detail the equipment and processes employed at the proposed facility to manufacture or recycle critical materials.

▪ If the proposed project re-equips or expands an existing facility, describe clearly what the proposed project will add or change in the existing facility.

▪ To clearly illustrate the proposed facility or proposed changes to an existing facility, applicants are encouraged to submit diagrams and/or images (e.g., a detailed process flow diagram) as appendix materials.

▪ Provide a list of the anticipated eligible property that will make up the qualified investment of the qualifying advanced energy project.

◦ Describe any significant changes to the project that have occurred since the concept paper stage.

Project Management and Timeline:

◦ Provide a project schedule through operation and achieving full production capacity, which demonstrates how certification requirements will be met within two (2) years of receiving an allocation decision from the IRS, and how the project will be placed in service within two (2) years of such certification. Documentation supporting the project schedule should be submitted as separate appendix materials.

◦ Describe plans to ensure an adequate supply of essential inputs needed for successful operation of the project.

◦ For the following contracts and agreements, summarize key terms and conditions in the narrative and submit copies as appendix materials. A Professional Engineer must inspect and certify the project documents for feasibility and may be an employee of the applicant.

▪ Operations and Maintenance Agreement

▪ Shareholders Agreement

▪ Engineering, Procurement and Construction Agreement, including firm price, liquidated damages, holdbacks, and performance guarantees, for example.

Siting and Permitting: Explain the rationale for selection of the project site and provide documentation supporting the applicant’s conclusion that the proposed site can fully meet all environmental, water supply, transmission interconnection, and other necessary requirements. Include a complete list of all federal, state, and local permits, including environmental authorizations (if applicable) or reviews necessary to commence construction of the project. Additional documentation that supports key claims may be provided as appendix materials, such as regulatory approvals and signed agreements, letters of intent, or term sheets for supply and product transportation.

Risk Management Plan: Identify project risks or challenges and any relevant strategies for risk mitigation and management, including legal, financial, engineering, procurement, construction risks. Include a discussion of natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes), climate impacts and extreme weather patterns (e.g., tornadoes, hurricanes, heat and freezing temperatures, drought, wildfire, and floods) that may impact the resilience/sustainability of the project.

Financial Information:

◦ Submit a cash flow model detailing investments in and cash flows anticipated over the facility’s expected lifetime, including a description of the methodology and all assumptions used.

◦ Describe the payback period, net present value (NPV), adjusted present value (APV), and break-even analysis for the project and other financial metrics including but not limited to return on investment and return on assets.

◦ Estimate the project’s qualified investment (as determined under § 48C) if the project is certified to receive a credit. The applicant may use any reasonable methodology and assumptions in estimating this amount.

◦ Describe the amount of equity that will be invested in the project, including the sources of such equity and their strengths. Provide any existing equity funding commitments or expressions of interest from equity funding sources for the project as separate appendix materials.

◦ Describe the amount of total debt obligations that will be incurred and the funding sources of all such debt. Include any existing debt funding commitments or expressions of interest from debt funding sources for the project as separate appendix materials.

◦ Describe any local, state, or other federal incentives or funds that are being pursued or have been awarded for the proposed project, such as grants, loan guarantees, or tax credits. Also include a description of any instances where any federal agencies or non-federal governmental entities have entered into an arrangement as a customer or offtaker of the project’s products or services, or other federal contracts, including acquisitions, leases, and other arrangements, that may indirectly support the applicant’s proposed project.

Market Information:

◦ Describe the markets your products will serve, including the existing market size, dollar volume, and growth potential. If the product can be sold in multiple market segments, describe each one.

◦ Discuss the current and anticipated competitiveness of your market, including competing products and competitors.

◦ Discuss your sales forecast, including details of any offtake agreements you may have to support your project. Identify confirmed or potential customers who will purchase, lease, or otherwise use the facility’s product. Offtake agreements and other documents provided as evidence may be included as appendix materials.

◦ Based on the above information, summarize your products’ projected market share for the next five years including trends and projections for demand and price, growth potential (short-term and long-term), and strategies to expand your market share (e.g., ways to circumvent market barriers).

Cost Information:

◦ Provide the estimated cost of your facility’s product and how it compares to similar technologies or materials in the same market segment, including new and recycled products. This should be expressed in the same units as annual production (e.g., $/watt, $/kilowatt-hour, and $/ton) per the instructions in the 48C Application Data Sheet. Applicants should include the absolute difference and percentage change from a reasonable domestic industry average.

◦ Calculate the levelized cost of generated critical materials. Instructions for calculating levelized cost metrics are provided in Section V. Explain the methodology and assumptions used in the § 48C(e) application narrative.

Describe the ownership structure of the company, including all beneficiaries.

List key management and senior personnel for the project, including the names, positions or titles, qualifications, and relevant experience. Resumes maybe be included as combined appendix materials, preferably in an Adobe PDF document labeled Resumes.pdf.

Describe the unique capabilities and expertise of the applicant and any major project partners, including debt or equity sponsors, contractors/vendors (if known), and any other counterparty that the applicant believes will enable the project to be successful, as well as the prior experience of the applicant and any major project partners in similar undertakings to the proposed project.

Summarize any pending or threatened (in writing) action, suit, proceeding, or investigation, including any action or proceeding by or before any governmental authority, that relates to the senior/key personnel, and the status of any appeals.

Describe any corporate health indicators, including legal claims or liabilities, planned debt restructuring, planned corporate actions, and other factors that could negatively affect the likelihood of project completion. Provide a copy of audited financial statements for the applicant and other projected funding sources for the most recently ended three (3) fiscal years, and the unaudited quarterly interim financial statements for the current fiscal year, as separate appendix materials. If all three years of audited statements are not available, provide all available statements and any additional information or appendices that provide similar evidence of corporate health.

End Product Impacts: Describe the end-use application of facility’s products and how their use contributes to GHG emissions reduction or avoidance by advancing the adoption of clean energy or other low-carbon products and technologies, such as the advanced energy property described in 48C(c)(1)(A)(i). Include internal or external analysis to substantiate indirect emissions benefits.

Direct Emissions: Qualitatively and quantitatively characterize the anticipated sources of GHG emissions in the processing, refining, or recycling process (e.g., fuel use, process emissions). Emissions should be provided in the 48C Application Data Sheet using the methodology described in Section V, and input assumptions should be justified with publicly available data and engineering studies. Explain any significant differences between direct emissions from the facility and industry averages.

Facility Performance: Provide any details about the processing, refining, or recycling process (e.g., efficiency and lifetime) that indicate its potential to result in lower emissions than leading competitors or incumbents. Wherever possible, the applicant should substantiate assessments of process improvements with analysis or engineering studies, which should be described in the narrative and may be submitted as separate appendix materials.

Mitigation Efforts: Describe any planned efforts to mitigate GHG emissions of the proposed facility.

Company Commitments and Track Record: Describe any company commitments or experience reducing GHG emissions of critical material processing, refining, or recycling facilities.

Output of Your Facility: Describe the proposed facility’s critical material products and projected annual production for each. In the case of retrofitting, re-equipping, or expanding an existing facility, indicate how the project will alter the facility’s annual output. In the 48C Application Data Sheet, submit the relevant annual production information for each critical material produced in the proposed facility and then justify each in the § 48C(e) Application narrative.

Inputs to Your Facility: Describe key inputs needed for your processing, refining, or recycling process, such as source materials (e.g., raw ore, brines, mine tailings, end-of-life products, or waste streams). Describe any known sources for your inputs and indicate domestic sources. Describe any current or anticipated supply chain vulnerabilities.

Supply Chain Resilience: Describe how your proposed facility’s products will help build resilience of domestic supply chains that are critical for energy products that facilitate progress towards a net-zero economy, from raw materials to end-of-life. For instance, critical materials producers intending to serve the battery market should indicate the extent to which their project supports the electric vehicle or stationary energy storage supply chains, as opposed to consumer electronics. Describe whether these products align with U.S. federal, state, or local domestic content requirements, such as those in the § 30D tax credit. Reference any offtake or sales arrangements provided in the Commercial Viability Criterion section to justify the end-use applications and, where possible, include these in the appendix.

End-Use Applications: Indicate whether the facility’s products will be used in multiple clean energy products (e.g., wind, solar, and electric grid) or multiple sectors (e.g., transportation, industry, and electricity) that facilitate progress towards a net-zero economy.

Characterize and estimate the number of jobs your project will create (e.g., mechanics and construction workers), including both direct and indirect jobs both during completion of the project (the credit period) and during operation of the facility after it is placed in service and any indicators of job quality.

Describe partnerships with apprenticeship readiness programs, or community-based workforce training and support organizations serving displaced industrial workers, including in the coal, other energy, and automotive sectors, and others facing systematic barriers to employment to facilitate participation in the project’s construction and operations.

Summarize the applicant’s plan to attract, train, and retain a skilled and well-qualified workforce both during completion of the project (the credit period) and during operation of the facility after it is placed in service. A collective bargaining agreement, labor-management partnership, or other similar agreement would provide evidence of such a plan. Alternatively, applicants may describe:

◦ Wages, benefits, and other worker supports to be provided as benchmarking against prevailing wages for construction and local median wages for other occupations;

◦ Commitments to invest in workforce education and training, including measures to reduce attrition, increase productivity from a committed and engaged workforce, and support the development of a resilient, skilled, and stable workforce for the project; and

◦ Efforts to engage employees in the design and execution of workplace safety and health plans.

Describe employees’ ability to organize, bargain collectively, and participate, through labor organizations of their choosing, in decisions that affect them. This contributes to the effective conduct of business and facilitates amicable settlements of any potential disputes between employees and employers, providing assurances of project efficiency, continuity, and multiple public benefits. In the description, explain whether workers can form and join unions of their choosing, and how they will have the opportunity to organize with the purposes of exercising collective voice in the workplace.

Provide a comprehensive list of stakeholders that the project plans to engage from local governments, Tribal governments, labor unions, and community-based organizations.

Describe current and planned efforts to engage with listed stakeholders, including as it relates to the ability to complete the project in the shortest time and with adequate workforce.

Describe current and planned efforts to ensure availability of the workforce needed to successfully complete the project and place it in service in a timely manner, including through training programs that serve workers currently underrepresented in the sector.

Describe any activities to strengthen support of the community such as through benefit-sharing agreements, consideration of environmental impact, and use of local resources. Discussions should reference Workforce and Community Engagement Agreements, or any plans to develop such agreements, from representative organizations reflecting substantive engagement and feedback on applicant’s approach to community and labor engagement. Examples of such agreements are Good Neighbor Agreements/Community Benefits Agreements, Collective Bargaining Agreements, Project Labor Agreements or Community Workforce Agreements. Actual agreements must be provided in the submission package as appendix files.

Describe plans to utilize existing local and regional resources that previously supported the local or regional coal, other energy, or automotive industries, including through transition opportunities for workers in the coal, other energy, and automotive sectors into clean energy industries.

If applicable, include discussion on plans to repurpose existing infrastructure/assets that have been abandoned due to the closing of a coal mine or coal plant.

Discuss any anticipated negative and cumulative environmental impacts of the project, including impacts on local air, water, and/or land quality. Describe any efforts to mitigate local pollution and waste.

Determine whether the location or community qualifies as a disadvantaged community according to the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST).

Within the context of cumulative environmental impacts, applicants should use the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping (EJSCREEN) tool (https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen) to quantitatively discuss existing environmental impacts in the project area.

If anticipated project benefits will flow to an applicable disadvantaged community, identify applicable benefits that are quantifiable, measurable, and trackable, such as:

◦ (1) A decrease in energy burden;

◦ (2) A decrease in environmental exposure and burdens;

◦ (3) An increase in access to low-cost capital;

◦ (4) An increase in high-quality job creation, the clean energy job pipeline, and job training for individuals;

◦ (5) Increases in clean energy enterprise creation and contracting (e.g., through investment in underserved and underrepresented businesses);

◦ (6) Increases in energy democracy, including community ownership;

◦ (7) Increased parity in clean energy technology access and adoption; and

◦ (8) An increase in energy resilience.

In addition, applicants should also discuss how the project will maximize all of the benefits listed above. Describe how and when anticipated benefits are expected to flow to the disadvantaged community. For example, will the benefits be provided directly within the disadvantaged communities identified, or are the benefits expected to flow in another way? Further, will the benefits flow during project development or after project completion, and how will applicant track benefits delivered?