The California Air Resources Board (CARB) will be hosting an online public workshop on the recently-published Commercial and Industrial Refrigeration Draft Funding Guidelines for its F-gas Reduction Incentive Program (FRIP).
The government agency is encouraging public feedback on the guidelines in a comment period that will run until August 22. CARB has said that it plans to launch the final program materials and application process in September 2024.
The workshop, which is hosted in partnership with the North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council (NASRC), is scheduled to take place on Zoom at 1–3 pm PDT on Thursday, August 15. Interested parties are required to register for the event to participate.
In addition to the draft guidelines, the workshop will focus on the funding’s eligibility criteria, application process and implementation expectations.
This is the second round of funding under CARB’s FRIP. During this round, CARB plans to invest $38.5 million (€35.2 million) in climate-friendly refrigerants in the state’s industrial and commercial refrigeration facilities.
“The goal of FRIP is to reduce fluorinated gas emissions by incentivizing the adoption of climate-friendly technologies, particularly ultra-low-GWP technologies, defined as having a GWP less than ten,” explained CARB. “Incentives are expected to help these technologies achieve economies of scale, which will lead to wider market adoption and, therefore, greater GHG reductions.”
California-based nonprofit NASRC was named by CARB as the third-party administrator for FRIP earlier this year.
“The goal of FRIP is to reduce fluorinated gas emissions by incentivizing the adoption of climate-friendly technologies, particularly ultra-low-GWP technologies, defined as having a GWP less than ten.”
CARB
Cost-effective and impactful
Launched in 2020, FRIP initially provided $1 million (€910,000) in funding from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) to support the installation of low-GWP refrigeration equipment in the food retail sector.
With this funding, CARB supported 15 installations across the state – four of which were store remodels, while the remaining 11 were at new premises. The majority of the funded projects used CO2 (R744)-based technologies.
To date, FRIP has proven to be one of the most impactful and cost-effective programs administered by CARB, costing just $27 (€24.7) per metric ton of CO2e saved, according to the California Climate Investments’ 2023 Annual Report. In comparison, California’s Urban Greening and Community Solar programs cost $2,614 (€2,390) and $204 (€186), respectively, for every metric ton of CO2e mitigated.
With an additional $65 million (€59.5 million) in funding from the state’s 2022–23 and 2023–24 budgets, FRIP aims to accelerate California’s transition to climate-friendly refrigerants as the state works to reduce its use of HFCs by 40% below 2013 levels by 2030.
Earlier this year, Danielle Wright, Executive Director of NASRC, told NaturalRefrigerants.com that the nonprofit plans to expand FRIP nationwide via the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants (CPRG), funded by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
