EPA-R-HQ-SFA-23-01.pdf

FEDERAL AGENCY AND OFFICE: U.S Environmental Protection Agency, Office of the

Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY TITLE: Solar for All

ANNOUNCEMENT TYPE: Request for Applications (RFA)

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY NUMBER: EPA-R-HQ-SFA-23-01

ASSISTANCE LISTING NUMBER: 66.959

IMPORTANT DATES:

September 26, 2023 Closing Date

March 2024 Anticipated Notification of Selections

July 2024 Anticipated Awards

Deadline: Application packages must be submitted on or before September 26, 2023 at 11:59 PM

(Eastern Time) through Grants.gov. Please refer to Section IV.A: Due Date and Submission

Instructions and Appendix A: Grants.gov Application Submission Instructions for further instructions.

Applicants are required to submit a Notice of Intent (NOI) to be eligible to participate in the Solar for All competition. The deadline for the NOI is July 31, 2023 at 11:59 PM (Eastern Time) for states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico; August 14, 2023 at 11:59 PM (Eastern Time) for territories (specifically, The Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands), municipalities, and eligible nonprofit recipients; and August 28, 2023 at 11:59 PM (Eastern Time) for Tribal governments and Intertribal Consortia. Refer to

Section I.F: Required Notice of Intent and Section III. Eligibility Information for additional information NOI requirements and about applicant eligibility.

NOTE: A grantee who transfers funds awarded through this competition must comply with the

Procurement Standards in 2 CFR Parts 200 and 1500, EPA’s Subaward Policy, and EPA’s

Guidance on Participant Support Costs, as applicable, depending on the vehicle that the grantee uses to transfer funds, as well as the Participation by Disadvantaged Business Enterprises in EPA

Programs requirements in 40 CFR Part 33. Before naming contractors (including consultants) or subrecipients in your application, please carefully review Section IV.d, “Contracts and

Subawards,” of EPA Solicitation Clauses as well as the guidance in Section III.B: Named

Contractors and Named Subrecipients. In accordance with 2 CFR § 200.320(c)(2) and (4), the

Agency does not accept justifications for sole source contracts for services or products available in the commercial marketplace based on a contractor’s role in preparing an application or existing relationships that an applicant may have established without complying with competitive procurement requirements. However, as provided in 2 CFR § 200.317 States as defined in 2 CFR

§ 200.1 follow the same competitive policies and procedures they use for procurements with non-

Federal funds, so EPA defers to state determinations on sole source contracting.

https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-11/documents/gpi-16-01-subaward-policy_attachments.pdf https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-11/documents/epa-guidance-on-participant-support-costs.pdf https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-11/documents/epa-guidance-on-participant-support-costs.pdf https://www.epa.gov/grants/disadvantaged-business-enterprise-program-requirements https://www.epa.gov/grants/disadvantaged-business-enterprise-program-requirements https://www.epa.gov/grants/epa-solicitation-clauses

Contents Section I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Background

B. Statutory Authority and Assistance Listing

C. GGRF Solar for All Program Objectives

D. Competition Terminology

E. Scope of Work

F. Required Notice of Intent

G. Environmental Results and Strategic Plan Information

H. Measuring and Reporting Environmental Results: Example Outputs, Outcomes, and

Performance Measures

I. Additional Provisions for Applicants Incorporated into the Funding Opportunity

Section II. Federal Award Information

A. Number and Amount of Awards

B. Period of Performance

C. Partial Funding

D. Additional Awards

E. Funding Type

Section III. Eligibility Information

A. Eligible Applicants

B. Named Contractors and Named Subrecipients

C. Threshold Eligibility Criteria

D. Allowable and Unallowable Costs

E. Cost Sharing or Matching

Section IV. Application and Submission Information

A. Due Date and Submission Instructions

B. Application Materials

C. Content of Application Submission

D. Pre-Application Assistance

Section V. Application Review Information

A. Evaluation Criteria

B. Review and Selection Process

Section VI. Award Administration Information

A. Award Notification

B. Administrative and National Policy Requirements

C. Program Performance Reporting Requirements

D. Administrative Reporting Requirements

E. Remedies for Non-Compliance

Section VII. Contact Information

Appendix A. Grants.gov Application Submission Instructions

A. Requirement to Submit through Grants.gov and Limited Exception Procedures

B. Submission Instructions

C. Technical Issues with Submission

Appendix B. Program Budget

A. Guidance for Detailed Budget Table

Appendix C. Household Savings Guidance

Appendix D. Consumer Protection Examples

Appendix E. Equitable Workforce Development and Job Quality

Appendix F. Guidance for Carbon Dioxide Avoided Calculations

Section I. Funding Opportunity Description

A. Background Residential distributed solar generation and energy storage, including rooftop residential and residential-serving community photovoltaic (PV) solar and storage, reduces energy costs for

American households, abates pollution from power generation, generates wealth and jobs for local communities, improves public health, and provides resilient and secure power.

Yet, to date low-income and disadvantaged households have been left behind in the rapid deployment of residential distributed solar generation, despite the benefits that this technology can provide to these communities. According to data from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE's)

Low-Income Energy Affordability Tool, the national average energy burden for low-income households is 8.6%, three times higher than the energy burden for non-low-income households, and, in some cases, can be as high as 30%.1 Despite this significant opportunity for lower-cost electricity generation and the falling cost of solar PV systems in recent years, low-income households have not benefitted from solar equally. DOE’s Solar Futures Study found that only

31% of residential solar adopters are households that earned less than the area median income

(AMI).2 There are numerous barriers to low-income and disadvantaged communities adopting residential distributed solar energy. The barriers are financial as well as non-financial such as community engagement, site suitability, and policy and regulatory.3 Investing in solar energy and project-deployment services to enable residential distributed solar projects for low-income and disadvantaged households will expand access to the benefits of clean energy—benefits that include household savings, energy resilience, improved air quality, wealth building, and quality jobs.

Solar energy investments in and benefitting low-income and disadvantaged communities support the climate and equity goals of the United States. Achieving the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal of a 100% clean-electricity grid by 2035 requires a cumulative solar deployment of 760 to

1,000 gigawatts (GWdc), serving 37% to 42% of electricity demand.4 Distributed generation is expected to satisfy at least 20% of this deployment.5 Solar deployment is also critical for achieving the 2030 and 2050 climate goals outlined in the U.S. Nationally Determined Contribution by enabling the zero-emissions transition in other sectors including buildings and transportation.6

Similarly, solar generation in and benefitting low-income and disadvantaged communities advances the Biden-Harris Administration’s equity and environmental justice priorities as detailed in Executive Order 14091 (Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved

Communities Through the Federal Government) and the President’s Justice40 Initiative, established in Executive Order 14008 (Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad), which sets the goal that 40% of the overall benefits from certain investments flow to disadvantaged

1 U.S. Department of Energy, “Low-Income Community Energy Solutions”, accessed May 2023; Energy burden is defined as the percentage of gross household income spent on energy costs.

2 U.S. Department of Energy, “Solar Futures Study”, September 2021 3 National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), “Affordable and Accessible Solar for All: Barriers, Solutions, and

On-Site Adoption Potential”, September 2021 4 U.S. Department of Energy, “Solar Futures Study”, September 2021 5 U.S. Department of Energy, “Solar Futures Study”, September 2021 6 The United States has set bold climate targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 50-52% below 2005 levels in 2030 and net-zero emissions no later than 2050.

https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/NDC/2022-06/United%20States%20NDC%20April%2021%202021%20Final.pdf https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/02/22/2023-03779/further-advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/02/22/2023-03779/further-advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal https://www.whitehouse.gov/environmentaljustice/justice40/ https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/02/01/2021-02177/tackling-the-climate-crisis-at-home-and-abroad https://www.energy.gov/scep/slsc/low-income-community-energy-solutions#:~:text=Energy%20burden%20is%20defined%20as,which%20is%20estimated%20at%203%25.

https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/solar-futures-study https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy21osti/80532.pdf https://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy21osti/80532.pdf https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/solar-futures-study https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/solar-futures-study communities. Residential rooftop and residential-serving community solar generation create meaningful benefits for overburdened households and communities. These benefits include household savings, equitable access to clean energy, power resiliency, asset wealth building, investment in local businesses, and quality jobs in alignment with the Department of Labor’s Good

Jobs Initiative. Traditional energy communities, a priority focus of the President’s Interagency

Working Group on Coal and Power Plant Communities, are in a prime position to benefit from solar deployment.

President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act authorized the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

(EPA) to implement the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), a historic $27 billion investment to combat the climate crisis by mobilizing financing and private capital for greenhouse gas- and air pollution-reducing projects in communities across the country. As part of this program, EPA is launching a $7 billion Solar for All competition — designed to spur the deployment of residential distributed solar energy to lower energy bills for millions of Americans and catalyze transformation in markets serving low-income and disadvantaged communities. Solar for All will tackle the financial and non-financial barriers that limit the ability of low-income and disadvantaged communities across the country to benefit from the rapid growth in distributed solar capacity, thus advancing the Biden-Harris Administration’s climate and environmental justice goals.

To support a broader suite of greenhouse gas-reducing projects, EPA is also launching a $14 billion

National Clean Investment Fund competition to finance clean technology deployment nationally as well as a $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator competition to finance clean technology deployment in low-income and disadvantaged communities while simultaneously building the capacity of community lenders that serve those communities. These three grant competitions are complementary programs and will work together to transform the clean financing ecosystem in the United States, especially in low-income and disadvantaged communities. All competitions are covered under the President’s Justice40 Initiative, which sets the goal that 40% of the overall benefits from certain federal investments in climate, clean energy, and other areas flow to disadvantaged communities. Per Section 134(a)(1) of the Clean Air Act, 100% of Solar for

All funds must be deployed “to enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy or benefit from zero-emissions technologies”.

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is for the $7 billion Solar for All competition.

This competition will award up to 60 grants to states, territories, Tribal governments, municipalities, and eligible nonprofit recipients to expand the number of low-income and disadvantaged communities primed for distributed solar investment—enabling millions of low-income households to access affordable, resilient, and clean solar energy. Grantees will use funds to expand existing low-income solar programs or design and deploy new Solar for All programs nationwide.7 EPA will not fund individual projects under this competition.

EPA’s $7 billion Solar for All competition will help deliver on the climate and environmental justice goals of the United States. To achieve these goals, Solar for All grantees will provide subsidies and other financial assistance to residential rooftop and residential-serving community

7 The Clean Air Act defines “state” to mean a state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the

Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa and includes the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

https://www.dol.gov/general/good-jobs/workers#:~:text=The%20Good%20Jobs%20Initiative%20is,discrimination%20and%20harassment%20for%20all https://www.dol.gov/general/good-jobs/workers#:~:text=The%20Good%20Jobs%20Initiative%20is,discrimination%20and%20harassment%20for%20all https://energycommunities.gov/ https://energycommunities.gov/ https://www.whitehouse.gov/environmentaljustice/justice40/ solar projects in and benefiting low-income and disadvantaged communities in addition to project-deployment technical assistance such as workforce development, community outreach, and other project-deployment support (e.g., interconnection technical assistance, siting and permitting support) to help overcome barriers to solar deployment.

B. Statutory Authority and Assistance Listing The Inflation Reduction Act amended the Clean Air Act to include Section 134 (42 U.S.C. § 7434), which authorizes the EPA to make competitive grants under the Solar for All competition with appropriations funded by Section 134(a)(1), called Zero Emissions Technologies. The law appropriates $7 billion to EPA to make competitive grants to states, Tribal governments, municipalities, and eligible recipients, as defined in the statute, to provide subgrants, loans, or other forms of financial assistance as well as technical assistance to enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from zero-emission technologies, including distributed technologies on residential rooftops, and to carry out other greenhouse gas emission reduction activities.

Section 134(c)(4) defines zero-emission technology as any technology that produces zero emissions of air pollutants listed under Section 108(a) (i.e., particulate matter, ozone, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and lead), or any precursor to such an air pollutant, or greenhouse gases, defined under Section 134(c)(2) as carbon dioxide, hydrofluorocarbons, methane, nitrous oxide, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride.

C. GGRF Solar for All Program Objectives Solar for All will advance the three overarching GGRF program objectives:

1. Program Objective 1: Reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants.

GGRF program grantees will support projects, activities, and technologies that reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants that harm communities and contribute to climate change. As part of the GGRF program, the Solar for All program grantees will deploy and enable deployment of residential-serving solar, storage, and enabling upgrades across the country, directly supporting the climate goal of the United States to achieve a carbon pollution-free electricity sector by 2035.

2. Program Objective 2: Deliver benefits of greenhouse gas- and air pollution-reducing projects to American communities, particularly low-income and disadvantaged communities. GGRF program grantees will invest in projects that directly benefit American communities. All Solar for All funds will enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from distributed solar. EPA expects Solar for All grantees will deliver meaningful benefits, such as household savings, quality jobs, and community ownership to

American communities and households. EPA expects Solar for All grantees to maximize the breadth and diversity of households served in the program, including rural, urban, and suburban communities; energy communities; and persistent poverty counties, while prioritizing investing in the most disadvantaged and low-income households in the communities the program is designed to serve.8

3. Program Objective 3: Mobilize financing and private capital to stimulate additional deployment of greenhouse gas- and air pollution-reducing projects. GGRF program grantees will facilitate market transformation by addressing the barriers to mobilizing private capital into clean technology projects in undercapitalized markets. Grantees will catalyze additional investment in underinvested project types critical to achieving our climate goals and in underinvested communities that have long faced barriers to accessing capital. Solar for All grantees will stimulate additional deployment of solar by strengthening the overall market for residential-serving solar by not only providing access to low-cost capital but also providing project-deployment services, such as community outreach and workforce development. Solar for All will catalyze the deployment of residential distributed solar by developing favorable market environments for low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from solar across the country.

Grantees must align their programs with these three objectives, including setting targets as described in Section IV.C: Content of Application Submission.

D. Competition Terminology This section defines competition terminology referenced throughout this funding opportunity.

Some of this terminology includes important requirements of the grant award that should be carefully considered in preparing the application.

Capital Mobilization: For this competition, capital mobilization refers to additional capital contributions made toward qualified projects as a result of the grant’s activities. Applicants may define methodologies to set goals and targets for capital mobilization for the purposes of their applications. An example methodology is provided below; applicants that do not use this methodology will not be penalized.

Capital mobilization is defined as the total capital contributions toward projects that are financed by the grantee, excluding grant funds; under this definition, capital mobilization for a particular project may be calculated as total capital contributions toward the project, less grant funds committed to the project by the grantee. Total capital contributions may include financing provided by the grantee with funds raised from private capital providers (including through balance-sheet leverage and securitizations), additional sources of financing provided to project sponsors from private capital providers, equity contributions from project sponsors, and sources of public capital including tax increment financing and other tax incentives. Private capital mobilization is defined as a subset of capital mobilization, excluding capital contributions from public entities, including federal, state, and local government entities (such as tax credits and other financial incentives) other than grant funds provided under this competition.

8 Energy communities are coal mining and power plant communities, including but not limited to the 25 energy communities identified by the Interagency Working Group on Coal & Power Plant Communities & Economic

Revitalization.

https://energycommunities.gov/priority-energy-communities/ https://energycommunities.gov/priority-energy-communities/

For this competition, the capital mobilization ratio is defined as the grantee’s capital mobilization

(as defined above), divided by the grantee’s capital commitments through financial assistance (i.e., total financial contributions to the project). The private capital mobilization ratio is defined as the grantee’s private capital mobilization (as defined above), divided by the grantee’s capital commitments through financial assistance. These ratios exclude the grantee’s expenditures for project-deployment technical assistance and program administration activities.

Coalition Application: A coalition application is one of the two types of eligible applications under this competition. A coalition application is composed of one lead applicant, which partners with one or more non-lead coalition member(s) that are named in the application and would receive subawards (in the form of subgrants) to carry out a portion of the grant’s activities if the application is selected. The lead applicant must be an eligible applicant and submit the application on behalf of the coalition. The non-lead coalition member(s) may be eligible applicants as defined in Section

134(c)(1) as well as other types of nonprofits, governmental entities, and Institutions of Higher

Education9 that are entities eligible for subawards under the EPA Subaward Policy.10 An application submitted by a coalition should describe the overall coalition’s program plan, including the role of each coalition member in the Program Narrative.

If selected, the lead applicant will become the grantee, administer the grant as a pass-through entity for the purposes of 2 CRF Part 200, and be accountable to EPA for effectively carrying out the full scope of work and the proper financial management of the grant (including subawards to non-lead coalition members). Additionally, if selected, as provided in 2 CFR § 200.332, non-lead coalition members will become subrecipients accountable to the lead applicant for proper use of EPA funding. Applicants do not need to identify all subgrantees at the time of application (only coalition members must be named), yet applicants should identify in the budget narrative and the Budget

Table the intent to award subawards even if the subgrantee is not identified. Note that pursuant to 2 CFR § 200.332(a)(2), as implemented in Items 2 and 4 of EPA’s Establishing and

Managing Subawards General Term and Conditions, successful lead applicants of coalitions must ensure that the terms and conditions of the grant agreement “flow down” to any coalition members as well as other eligible subrecipients that are provided subawards.

Eligible Zero-Emissions Technology: Section 134(a)(1) of the Clean Air Act provides that grants be used to provide financial assistance and technical assistance “to enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy or benefit from zero-emissions technologies.” Section

134(c)(4) of the Clean Air Act provides that the term zero-emissions technology means any technology that produces zero emissions of (a) any air pollutant that is listed in Section 108(a) (or any precursor to such an air pollutant) and (b) any greenhouse gas. EPA is implementing this statutory language by identifying the four technology categories that exclusively qualify for financial and technical assistance from Section 134(a)(1). These technology categories are defined below. Note: “distributed solar” is used to refer to residential rooftop and residential-serving community solar throughout this NOFO.

9 See definition of Institution of Higher Education at 2 CFR § 200.1. Proprietary colleges and universities and similar for-profit providers of educational services are not eligible for subawards under this program.

10 For profit firms and individual consultants may not be coalition members.

https://www.epa.gov/grants/grants-policy-issuance-gpi-16-01-epa-subaward-policy-epa-assistance-agreement-recipients https://www.epa.gov/grants/grant-terms-and-conditions#general

• Residential Rooftop Solar: Behind-the-meter solar photovoltaic (PV) power-producing facilities, including rooftop, pole-mounted, and ground-mounted PV systems, that support individual households in existing and new single-family homes, manufactured homes, and multifamily buildings. The definition of residential rooftop solar includes behind-the-meter solar facilities serving multifamily buildings classified as commercial buildings so long as the solar facility benefits individual households either directly or indirectly such as through tenant benefit agreements. Residential rooftop solar includes properties that are both rented and owned.

• Residential-Serving Community Solar: A solar PV power-producing facility or solar energy purchasing program from a power-producing facility, with up to 5 MW nameplate capacity, that delivers at least 50% of the power generated from the system to multiple residential customers within the same utility territory as the facility. There are a variety of community solar ownership models that can be considered, including community-owned solar, third-party-owned community solar, and utility-owned community solar.

• Associated Storage: Infrastructure to store solar-generated power for the purposes of maximizing residential rooftop and residential-serving community solar deployment, delivering demand response needs, aggregating assets into virtual power plants, and delivering residential power during grid outages. Financial assistance for associated storage must be deployed in conjunction with financial assistance for a solar PV system and the storage asset must be connected to the solar PV system.

• Enabling Upgrades: Investments in energy and building infrastructure that are necessary to deploy and/or maximize the benefits of a residential rooftop and residential-serving community solar project. Enabling upgrades can include, but are not limited to, electrical system upgrades, structural building repairs and energy efficiency. Applicants may decide the exact types of enabling upgrades that are eligible for Solar for All financial assistance, yet all enabling upgrades should be energy and building infrastructure related and deployed in conjunction with financial assistance for an eligible solar PV system. Financial assistance for enabling upgrades may comprise up to 20% of the total financial assistance deployed during the lifetime of the program.

Grant Fund Activities: Section 134(a)(1) of the Clean Air Act provides that funds for this competition be used for financial assistance and technical assistance as well as program administration costs allowable under federal awards. These three cost activities are defined below.

• Financial Assistance: Financial assistance is defined as subgrants, rebates, subsidies, other incentive payments, debt (including loans, partially forgivable loans, forgivable loans, soft loans, subordinate debt), and other financial products consistent with the definition of Federal financial assistance in 2 CFR § 200.1 and Participant support costs in 2 CFR § 1500.1.11 Solar for All financial assistance is intended to enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from solar, storage, and enabling upgrades, while ensuring all projects

11 An applicant may propose a financial assistance strategy which generates program income (as defined at 2 CFR §

200.1 and includes, but is not limited to, repayments of the principal on loans, interest on loans, loan origination fees and may include other income from investments of GGRF grant funds). EPA specific rules on program income are provided at 2 CFR § 1500.8. EPA will negotiate terms and conditions governing program income with a successful applicant who will use EPA funding to capitalize revolving loan funds.

https://www.energy.gov/lpo/virtual-power-plants https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-A/chapter-II/part-200/subpart-A/subject-group-ECFR2a6a0087862fd2c/section-200.1 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-B/chapter-XV/part-1500/subpart-A/section-1500.1 deliver household savings, among other benefits. Most applicants should use at least 75% of program funds on financial assistance and should maximize solar deployment funded by this program. EPA will evaluate proposals more favorably if the applicant proposes to use

75% of program funds or more on financial assistance. Please see Section I.E: Scope of

Work for additional guidance and details on applicability.12

• Project-Deployment Technical Assistance: Section 134(a)(1) of the Clean Air Act provides that funds for this competition be used for “technical assistance.” Technical assistance is defined as “project-deployment technical assistance” and is services and tools provided by grantees to communities and energy stakeholders to overcome non-financial barriers to solar deployment. Examples of these services and tools include workforce training, customer outreach and education, project deployment assistance such as siting, permitting, and interconnection support (including procurement of services and tools from National Labs), and coordination with utilities for the purposes of project deployment.

• Program Administration Activities: Consistent with 2 CFR § 200.403, expenditures such as program administration costs are allowable under federal awards provided they are necessary and reasonable for the performance of the award—in this program, for the provision of financial assistance and project-deployment technical assistance. Expenditures for program administration activities could include those for program performance, financial and administrative reporting, and compliance, including but not limited to activities to support, monitor, oversee, and audit subrecipients, contractors, and program beneficiaries. Program administration costs include procuring services and tools that support the grantee in program design (e.g., technical assistance from the DOE National Laboratories to support the grantee directly for program design).13

Low-Income and Disadvantaged Communities: Section 134(a)(1) of the Clean Air Act appropriates $7 billion for the purposes of providing financial and technical assistance to enable

“low-income and disadvantaged communities” to deploy and benefit from residential distributed solar. GGRF defines low-income and disadvantaged communities as encompassing the following four categories, as defined below: (a) communities identified as disadvantaged by the CEJST mapping tool; (b) a limited number of additional communities identified as disadvantaged by the

EJScreen mapping tool; (c) geographically dispersed low-income households; and (d) properties providing affordable housing.

a. CEJST-Identified Disadvantaged Communities: The Climate and Economic Justice

Screening Tool (CEJST) is a publicly-available mapping tool developed by the White House

12 Further in this document, EPA explains how Solar for All has three different award options for applicants.

Applicants will determine their relevant award option based on the type of communities the applicants are designing a program to serve. Most applicants should use at least 75% of program funds for financial assistance; applicants applying to serve Indian and Alaska Native communities should use at least 65% of program funds for financial assistance. Thus, programs serving Indian and Alaska Native communities may use up to 35% of program funds for project-deployment technical assistance and program administration.

13 As provided in section 7.0(a) of EPA’s Subaward Policy, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers are eligible subrecipients provided the substance of the transaction is consistent with the guidance at 2 CFR § 200.331 and Appendix A: Distinctions Between Subrecipients and Contractors.

https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/en/#3/33.47/-97.5 https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/en https://screeningtool.geoplatform.gov/en

Council on Environmental Quality. GGRF’s definition of “disadvantaged communities” includes all communities identified as disadvantaged through the CEJST.

b. EJScreen-Identified Disadvantaged Communities: EJScreen is a publicly-available, place-based environmental justice screening and mapping tool developed by the EPA. GGRF’s definition of “disadvantaged communities” includes (1) the limited supplemental set of census block groups that are at or above the 90th percentile for any of EJScreen’s supplemental indexes14 when compared to the nation or state or (2) geographic areas within Tribal lands as included in EJScreen.

c. Geographically Dispersed Low-Income Households: GGRF’s definition of “geographically dispersed low-income households” includes low-income individuals and households that fall within either of the two categories listed below.

• Individuals and households with incomes at or below the greater of:

o For Metropolitan Areas: (1) 80% Area Median Income (AMI) and (2) 200% of the Federal Poverty Level o For Non-Metropolitan Areas: (1) 80% AMI; (2) 80% Statewide Non-

Metropolitan Area AMI; and (3) 200% of the Federal Poverty Level

• Individuals and households currently approved for assistance from or participation in at least one of the following income-based or income-verified federal assistance programs, with an award letter within the last 12 months: (1) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program; (2) U.S.

Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; (3)

U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Weatherization Assistance Program; (4) Federal

Communications Commission’s Lifeline Support for Affordable Communications; (5)

USDA’s National School Lunch Program; (6) U.S. Social Security Administration’s

Supplemental Security Income; or (7) any other verified government or non-profit program serving Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) individuals or households designated by the EPA Administrator

d. Properties Providing Affordable Housing: GGRF’s definition of “properties providing affordable housing” includes properties serving low-income individuals and households defined as properties that fall within either of the two categories listed below.

• Multifamily housing with rents not exceeding 30% of 80% AMI for at least half of residential units and with an active affordability covenant from one of the following federal or state housing assistance programs: (1) Low-Income Housing Tax Credit; (2) a housing assistance program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and

Urban Development (HUD), including Public Housing, Section 8 Project-Based Rental

Assistance, Section 202 Housing for the Elderly, Section 811 Housing for Disabled, Housing Trust Fund, Home Investment Partnership Program Affordable Rental and

Homeowner Units, Permanent Supportive Housing, and other programs focused on the

14The EJ Supplemental Indexes cover 12 environmental indicators: Particulate Matter 2.5, Ozone, Diesel Particulate

Matter, Air Toxics Cancer Risk, Air Toxics Respiratory Hazard Index, Traffic Proximity, Lead Paint, RMP Facility

Proximity, Hazardous Waste Proximity, Superfund Proximity, Underground Storage Tanks, and Wastewater

Discharge. Within EJScreen, the EJ Supplemental Indexes can be found on the “Maps” tab by clicking the “Threshold

Map.”

https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen/download-ejscreen-data https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen/download-ejscreen-data https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ocs/low-income-home-energy-assistance-program-liheap https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program https://www.energy.gov/scep/wap/weatherization-assistance-program https://www.fcc.gov/lifeline-consumers https://www.fns.usda.gov/nslp https://www.ssa.gov/ssi https://ejscreen.epa.gov/mapper/ goal of ending homelessness funded under HUD’s Continuum of Care Program; (3) a housing assistance program administered by USDA under Title V of the Housing Act of 1949, including under Sections 514 and 515; (4) a housing assistance program administered by a tribally-designated housing entity, as defined in Section 4(21) of the

Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C.

§ 4103(22); or (5) any other housing assistance program designated by the EPA

Administrator

• Naturally-occurring (unsubsidized) affordable housing with rents not exceeding 30% of 80% AMI for at least half of residential units15

Meaningful Benefits of Residential Rooftop and Residential-Serving Community Solar:

Consistent with Section 134(a)(1), this program must “enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy or benefit” from solar. This program defines “benefit” as the five meaningful benefits of residential rooftop and residential-serving community solar defined below.

EPA will evaluate applications on their vision and ability to maximize the following benefits received by low-income and disadvantaged communities.

1. Household Savings: Delivering a minimum of 20% household savings to all households served under the program, including households in multi-family, master-metered buildings; 20% household savings is defined as 20% of the average household electricity bill in the utility territory. Household savings can be delivered as a direct financial benefit or, for households without an individual utility bill, a direct non-financial benefit equivalent in value to the program’s household savings target in the utility territory.

Additional detail on how to calculate household savings is included in Appendix C:

Household Savings Guidance. Applicants may propose preliminary estimates in the financial assistance model for household savings and explain how they plan on refining those estimates during the first year of the program if more analysis is needed. EPA expects to work with grantees to refine estimates for household savings

2. Equitable Access to Solar: Ensuring the program increases access to residential distributed solar generation in low-income and disadvantaged communities through financing products and project-deployment technical assistance, maximizing the breadth and diversity of the households that can benefit from solar

3. Resilience Benefits: Increasing the resilience of the power grid by creating capacity that can deliver power to low-income and disadvantaged households and/or to critical facilities serving low-income and disadvantaged households during a grid outage

4. Community Ownership: Facilitating ownership models that allow for low-income households and disadvantaged communities to access the additional economic benefits of asset ownership

5. Workforce Development and Entrepreneurship: Investing in high-quality jobs and businesses in low-income and disadvantaged communities by supporting prevailing wages, investing in effective workforce training programs for underserved populations (e.g., pre-

15 Applicants will be evaluated on their strategies to ensure the long-term housing affordability for properties that receive Solar for All financial assistance.

apprenticeship and registered apprenticeship programs), and prioritizing equitable economic opportunities for women and minority-owned businesses and contractors

Program Income: Consistent with 2 CFR § 200.1, program income means gross income earned by the grantee that is directly generated by a supported activity or earned as a result of the grant award. For this competition, program income includes but is not limited to origination fees, interest payments, income from principal and interest payments on loans made with federal award funds

(e.g., repayments from revolving loan funds), dividends from equity investments (e.g., purchases of stock and other instruments of property ownership), interest from short-term securities (e.g., cash deposits of program income), asset sales, and other sources of program income (e.g. proceeds from bonds issued by governmental entities that were financed with EPA grant funds). EPA-specific rules on program income are provided at 2 CFR § 1500.8.

E. Scope of Work

The Solar for All competition will fund applicants applying to expand existing or develop new

Solar for All programs. A Solar for All program is a program that ensures low-income households have access to residential rooftop and residential-serving community solar energy, often through providing financial support and other incentives. These programs ensure low-income households receive the benefits of residential distributed solar by providing customers household savings, community ownership, energy resilience, and other meaningful benefits. Solar programs can extend beyond solar generating capacity to include associated storage and enabling upgrades that allow for the deployment of solar energy in low-income and disadvantaged communities.

Programs may also include solar project-deployment technical assistance such as workforce training programs that enable underserved communities to participate in the economic opportunity created by the energy transition. All financial and technical assistance funded through GGRF’s

Solar for All competition must enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from solar and storage. The Solar for All competition will fund multi-year programs that subsidize many projects while laying the groundwork to transform distributed residential solar generation markets in low-income and disadvantaged communities.

Existing low-income solar programs are considered existing Solar for All programs, which can be expanded with funding from this competition.16 Applicants that operate existing Solar for All programs should detail in their application how they will expand their existing program. Examples of expansion strategies include, but are not limited to, increasing program caps or carveouts;

reevaluating the current subsidy size; expanding eligibility; introducing new subsidies for storage of solar energy and enabling upgrades; increasing household savings for subscribers; expanding

16 Grant funds from this competition statutorily must enable low-income and disadvantaged communities (as defined in Section I.D: Competition Terminology) to deploy or benefit from distributed solar. GGRF Solar for All program funds can augment existing programs so long as the funds are deployed to enable low-income and disadvantaged communities as defined in this document. This requirement may not be entirely congruent with an existing Solar for

All program’s definitions, and grantees will need to ensure that GGRF funds are deployed according to the statutory requirements.

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-2/subtitle-B/chapter-XV/part-1500/subpart-D/subject-group-ECFRafb95c49532a236/section-1500.8 community ownership opportunities; funding workforce training programs; and introducing new project-deployment technical assistance.

Both new and existing programs funded by this competition should align with the scope and vision of the GGRF Solar for All program. This vision includes delivering meaningful benefits, as described in Section I.D: Competition Terminology, and achieving the program objectives defined in Section I.C: GGRF Solar for All Program Objectives. Solar for All programs funded in this competition will provide financial and technical assistance to enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from solar and storage projects over a five-year period of performance. EPA expects all funds to be deployed within the five-year period of performance. Applicants may elect to include a program planning period in their application that should not exceed one year. This planning period can give the grantee time to refine program plans after receiving an award from EPA and before beginning to deploy financial and technical assistance. Using time and grant funds for program planning should help applicants create a strong foundation for a low-income solar program that is sustainable and long-lasting and fundamentally reshapes local solar markets to better serve low-income and disadvantaged communities.

EPA intends to make up to 60 awards under this competition with three award options for applicants. The approximate guidance on number of awards in each bucket are estimated maximums for each award option. EPA intends to limit the total number of awards across all three award options to 60 awards.

(1) Up to 56 awards, one to serve each of the 56 states/territories eligible for this competition17

(2) Up to 5 awards to serve American Indian and Alaska Native Communities

(3) Up to 10 awards to serve similar communities across multiple states

The table below explains the eligible applicants for each award option, the number of awards available, and a summary of the different scope of work for each award option.

17 Under this competition, all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin

Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are eligible to compete under the definition of a “State” in section 302(d) of the Clean Air Act.

Award Option #1 –

State and Territory

Programs

Award Option #2 –

American Indian and

Alaska Native

Programs

Award Option #3 –

Multi-state Programs

Eligible applicants including coalitions with a lead applicant that is an eligible applicant

States Eligible

Territories Eligible

Tribal governments Eligible Eligible Eligible

Municipalities

(including councils of governments)

Eligible Eligible

Eligible nonprofit recipients Eligible Eligible Eligible

Number of awards Up to 56 Up to 5 Up to 10

Geographic scope of work Develop Solar for

All programs that serve a specific state/territory or a portion of a state/territory (e.g., a coalition of municipalities within a state/territory)

Develop Solar for

All programs that serve American

Indian and Alaska

Native

Communities

Develop Solar for

All programs that serve similar communities in multiple states

EPA reserves the right to modify this award allocation based on the quality of applications that are received and other program considerations. EPA aims to maximize national geographic coverage of the program across all three award options. Note that only activities that serve communities within the boundaries of the United States (including Puerto Rico) and its territories are eligible for funding under the Solar for All program.

All low-income and disadvantaged communities nationwide should be able to access the benefits of this program. Solar policies, economics, and market conditions vary significantly across states and territories. EPA has designed three award options to account for these varying contexts, while also leaving room for innovative programs to serve multiple markets and solve shared challenges.

To apply to award option #1, an application must cover only one state or territory. If an applicant is interested in serving multiple states and/or territories and is not designing a program to serve similar communities in multiple states as described in award option #3, the applicant must submit an application for each state and/or territory that the applicant proposes to serve. In award option

#1, applicants will be ranked against other applicants applying to serve the applicable state or territory. To apply to award option #2, an application must propose a program to serve American

Indian and Alaska Native Communities. To apply to award option #3, an applicant must submit a program that serves similar communities in multiple states that face similar barriers to distributed solar deployment. Additional detail on award option requirements can be found in Section II.A:

Number and Amount of Awards.

EPA anticipates issuing awards of varying amounts. Applicants for all three award options can apply for a small-sized program ($25 - $100 million), a medium-sized program ($100 - $250 million), or a large-sized program ($250 - $400 million). Applicants should review the recommendations on program size detailed in Section II.A: Number and Amount of Awards.

EPA expects applicants to maximize financial assistance to projects. Applicants to award option

#1 and award option #3 should aim to use at least 75% of the award for financial assistance to solar projects. Applicants to award option #2 – American Indian and Alaska Native programs should aim to use at least 65% of funds for financial assistance to solar projects. These targets for financial assistance to solar projects includes financial assistance for associated storage and enabling upgrades in conjunction with a solar project supported under this program. The remaining funds may be used for project-development technical assistance and program administration.

Since American Indian and Alaska Native Communities face additional challenges in deploying solar, EPA intends to provide additional flexibility in their use of funds for project-deployment technical assistance. For applicants to award option #2 – American Indian and Alaska Native

Programs, applicants may use up to 35% of award funds for project-development technical assistance and program administration. Consequently, these applicants should ensure that at least

65% of the program budget is allocated for financial assistance to solar projects.

The table below summarizes the guidance on share of funds that can be used for financial assistance.

Award Option #1 –

State and Territory

Programs

Award Option #2 –

American Indian and

Alaska Native

Programs

Award Option #3 –

Multi-state Programs

Financial Assistance, share of funds

Target at least 75% of funds

Target at least 65% of funds

Target at least 75% of funds

As defined in Section I.D: Competition Terminology, eligible financial assistance includes subsidies, grants, rebates, forgivable loans, and recyclable financial products such as loans

(including soft loans and…