Pennsylvania plans to roll out a solar access plan with new federal grant
By Anya Litvak | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
April 23, 2024 | Full story
Pennsylvania’s goal to bring solar energy to low income and disadvantaged communities got a $156 million nod from the federal government this week. The plan is still being designed but is likely to start in the Philadelphia area and spread westward in the coming months and years.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced awards under its Solar for All program which were granted to states and large multi-state initiatives to bring solar access to residential households.
Solar for All webinar
Monday, April 29, 2024, 4:00pm – 4:30pm ET
Register for the April 29 meeting
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, there were nearly 68,666 solar installations in Pennsylvania in the third quarter of last year. The vast majority of them are residential, rooftop arrays, but the most electricity that’s generated from solar comes from large, utility-scale projects. All the solar installed in the state is enough to power 195,365 homes. Full story
“The Solar for All award provides great potential to aid the development of community solar in Pennsylvania, which will benefit communities, workers, and the environment across the state. This opportunity to pair Solar for All funding with community solar is especially important when considering the equitable distribution of benefits to Pennsylvanians who do not have the ability to install rooftop solar panels.”
Sierra Club Pennsylvania Clean Energy Program Advocate Nate Reagle
Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority
$156,120,000
The Pennsylvania SFA Program will deploy and enable deployment of residential-serving solar, storage, and enabling upgrades in low-income and disadvantaged communities across Pennsylvania. The program will deliver meaningful benefits, such as household savings, quality jobs, and community ownership to rural, urban, and suburban communities; energy communities; and persistent poverty counties in Pennsylvania. It will also stimulate deployment of solar by strengthening the overall market for residential serving solar through an intentional balance of financial subsidies, program design, and project deployment services, such as community outreach and workforce development. Source
“Thanks to these investments from the Biden Administration, Pennsylvania will be able to build out reliable, sustainable, and affordable solar energy infrastructure, which will help low-income Pennsylvanians save money on their electric bills, while also reducing pollution in our communities.”
PA Governor Josh Shapiro
EPA:
Biden-Harris Administration Announces $7 Billion Solar for All Grants to Deliver Residential Solar, Saving Low-Income Americans $350 Million Annually and Advancing Environmental Justice Across America
EPA announces 60 selectees under Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grant competition to deliver solar to more than 900,000 low-income and disadvantaged households nationwide through the President’s Investing in America agenda.
April 22, 2024 (Source)
Contact Information: EPA Press Office (press@epa.gov)
Washington – Today, April 22, as the Biden-Harris Administration celebrates Earth Day, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced 60 selectees that will receive $7 billion in grant awards through the Solar for All grant competition to deliver residential solar projects to over 900,000 households nationwide. The grant competition is funded by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda through the Inflation Reduction Act, which created EPA’s $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The 60 selections under the $7 billion Solar for All program will provide funds to states, territories, Tribal governments, municipalities, and nonprofits across the country to develop long-lasting solar programs that enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from distributed residential solar, lowering energy costs for families, creating good-quality jobs in communities that have been left behind, advancing environmental justice and tackling climate change.
“Today we’re delivering on President Biden’s promise that no community is left behind by investing $7 billion in solar energy projects for over 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “The selectees will advance solar energy initiatives across the country, creating hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs, saving $8 billion in energy costs for families, delivering cleaner air, and combating climate change.”
“Solar is the cheapest form of electricity—and one of the best ways to lower energy costs for American families,” said John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy. “Today’s announcement of EPA’s Solar for All awards will mean that low-income communities, and not just well-off communities, will feel the cost-saving benefits of solar thanks to this investment.”
“Residential solar electricity leads to reduced monthly utility bills, reduced levels of air pollution in neighborhoods, and ultimately healthier communities, but too often low-income and disadvantaged communities have been left out. Today’s announcement will invest billions to ensure that affordable housing across the U.S. can access solar and increase energy efficiency and climate resilience,” said U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman. “HUD is honored to have played a key role in today’s monumental announcement, which will provide meaningful household savings to households in low-income and disadvantaged communities, reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs, and deliver electricity during grid outages for low-income households.”
“Sunlight is powering millions of homes across the nation, and we’re working hard to ensure Americans everywhere can benefit from this affordable clean energy resource,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “DOE is proud to work alongside our partners at EPA and across the Federal government to help communities access the limitless energy of the sun to light their homes and power their businesses.”
“The United States can and must lead the world in transforming our energy systems away from fossil fuels,” said U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (VT). “The Solar for All program – legislation that I successfully introduced – will not only combat the existential threat of climate change by making solar energy available to working class families, it will also substantially lower the electric bills of Americans and create thousands of good-paying jobs. This is a win for the environment, a win for consumers, and a win for the economy.”
EPA estimates that the 60 Solar for All recipients will enable over 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from distributed solar energy. This $7 billion investment will generate over $350 million in annual savings on electric bills for overburdened households. The program will reduce 30 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions cumulatively, from over four gigawatts of solar energy capacity unlocked for low-income communities over five years. Solar and distributed energy resources help improve electric grid reliability and climate resilience, which is especially important in disadvantaged communities that have long been underserved.
Solar for All will deliver on the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to creating high-quality jobs with the free and fair choice to join a union for workers across the United States. This $7 billion investment in clean energy will generate an estimated 200,000 jobs across the country. All selected applicants intend to invest in local, clean energy workforce development programs to expand equitable pathways into family-sustaining jobs for the communities they are designed to serve. At least 35% of selected applicants have already engaged local or national unions, demonstrating how these programs will contribute to the foundation of a clean energy economy built on strong labor standards and inclusive economic opportunity for all American communities.
The Solar for All program also advances President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which set the goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. All of the funds awarded through the Solar for All program will be invested in low-income and disadvantaged communities. The program will also help meet the President’s goal of achieving a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and net-zero emissions economy by no later than 2050.
Solar for All will expand existing low-income solar programs and launch new ones. The 60 selected applicants will serve households in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and territories, as well as increase access to solar for Tribes. EPA has selected 49 state-level awards totaling approximately $5.5 billion, six awards to serve Tribes totaling over $500 million, and five multistate awards totaling approximately $1 billion. Solar for All will deploy residential solar for households nationwide by not only providing grants and low-cost financing to overcome financial barriers to deployment but also by providing services to communities to overcome other barriers such as siting, permitting, and interconnection. A complete list of the selected applicants can be found on EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Solar for All website.
The 60 selected applicants have committed to delivering on the three objectives of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: reducing climate and air pollution; delivering benefits to low-income and disadvantaged communities; and mobilizing financing to spur additional deployment of affordable solar energy. Solar for All selected applicants are expanding existing low-income solar programs and launching new programs. In at least 25 states and territories nationwide, Solar for All is launching new programs where there has never been a substantial low-income solar program before. In these geographies, Solar for All selected applicants will open new markets for distributed solar by funding new programs that provide grants and low-cost financing for low-income, residential solar.
To date, many of the 60 selected Solar for All applicants have supported low-income and underserved communities in installing innovative residential solar projects. With this new funding, selectees can launch thousands more projects like these throughout every state and territory in the nation:
- The threat of storms is a major reason Athens, Georgia resident Delmira Jennings and her husband John used selected applicant Capital Good Fund’s Georgia BRIGHT leasing program to install a 13-kilowatt solar and 10-kilowatt-hour battery system in February. “Last year, we spent two days without power after what seemed like a mini tornado,” Jennings said. After a recent outage, Jennings noted that she didn’t even know she lost power. “The batteries kicked in and all the power items we were using were on battery backup.”
- Last year, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, whose successful pilot initiative served as the basis for selected applicant Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara (MHA) Nation’s Northern Plains Tribal Solar for All program, took major steps toward a clean energy future with the completion of the first phase of the White River Community Solar project. This project will deploy 15 solar systems at the homes of elders while piloting a groundbreaking approach to solar ownership and management that is intended to set an example for Tribes across the nation.
- Through its existing Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) program — a model for equitably providing solar to low-income renters in disadvantaged communities — selected applicant GRID Alternatives’ team in San Diego installed a solar energy system at Trolley Trestle, home to youth transitioning out of the foster care system. Energy cost savings estimated at over $600k over ten years, will be reinvested to provide additional services to those who call Trolley Trestle home, including more job and life skills training.
Review and Selection Process Information
The 60 applicants selected for funding were chosen through a competition review process. This multi-stage process included review from hundreds of experts in climate, power markets, environmental justice, labor, and consumer protection from EPA, Department of Energy, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Treasury, Department of Agriculture, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Labor, Department of Defense, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Department of Energy’s National Labs – all screened through ethics and conflict of interest checks and trained on the program requirements and evaluation criteria. Applications were scored and selected through dozens of review panels and an interagency senior review team.
EPA anticipates that awards to the selected applicants will be finalized in the summer of 2024, and selected applicants will begin funding projects through existing programs and begin expansive community outreach programs to launch new programs in the fall and winter of this year. Selections are contingent on the resolution of all administrative disputes related to the competitions.
Informational Webinars
EPA will host informational webinars as part of the program’s commitment to public transparency. EPA has scheduled a public webinar for the Solar for All program, and registration details are included below. Information on other GGRF webinars can be found on EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Engagement Opportunities webpage.
Solar for All webinar:
Monday, April 29, 2024, 4:00pm – 4:30pm ET
Register for the April 29 meeting
“Solar for all program means 900,000 households will have solar on the rooftops for the first time and soon, millions of families will save over $400 a year on utility bills.”
President Joe Biden
Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund
Solar for All: Solar for Affordable Housing Highlights
Highlights from the $7 billion Solar for All selected applicants
Background: The Solar for All program is a $7 billion investment to enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from solar energy. The program is designed to deliver on the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollution, save American families money on their utility bills, create high-quality jobs, reduce costs and increase the climate resilience of affordable housing properties around the country. It will mobilize financing to deploy residential solar projects, dedicating 100% of the $7 billion in funding to low-income and disadvantaged communities, exceeding President Biden’s Justice40 commitment.
Each of the Solar for All selectees has developed a robust and thoughtful program. The plans highlighted below are a sampling of the strategies and approaches focused on affordable housing, and include proposals specifically targeted to overcoming unique challenges to deploying solar in federally supported housing. The plans are designed to provide meaningful household savings to households in low-income and disadvantaged communities, reduce energy costs and, when combined with battery storage, increase resilience for low-income households by delivering electricity during grid outages.
Please note the examples featured below, while not comprehensive or exhaustive, are intended to highlight key features of programs proposed and details may change as the programs are implemented.
Disclaimer: The summaries are based on information provided in the application packages that selected applicants submitted to EPA and that were reviewed and selected in accordance with the evaluation criteria in Section V.A: Evaluation Criteria of the Notice of Funding Opportunity. Note that EPA will work with the selected applicants to refine their application packages into detailed workplans that are subject to final approval from the EPA Award Official. Note that selections are contingent on resolution of all administrative disputes relating to the competition.
GRID Alternatives:
GRID Alternatives is a national nonprofit leader in helping economic and environmental justice communities nationwide access affordable renewable energy, transportation, and jobs. It recognizes the need to bring partners to the table with affordable housing at the center of their mission in order to truly distribute the benefits of distributed solar energy to residents in all communities. GRID Alternatives’ Solar Access for Nationwide Affordable Housing (SANAH) coalition will implement its GGRF-funded projects across the country. The coalition will draw on its key partners’ extensive experience deploying solar generation systems on affordable single-family and multi-family housing, including in traditionally challenging solar markets. These partners include several nationally-recognized housing-focused organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, NeighborWorks, National Housing Trust, Housing Partnership Network, Enterprise Community Partners and Loan Fund, National Equity Fund, and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation as well as Rewiring America and World Resources Institute. GRID Alternatives’ program commits to offering technical assistance services for affordable housing providers that will address their unique and complex challenges. The program will support a range of third-party owned, direct install and community solar options in the affordable housing sector and takes advantage of virtual net metering and other solutions to maximize direct benefits to residents.
Hope Enterprise Corporation:
Hope Enterprise Corporation (HEC) is a nonprofit community development financial institution (CDFI) with a decades-long track record of investing in affordable housing, schools, grocery stores, small businesses and other investments in low-income and disadvantaged communities in economically distressed areas of the South. Drawing on its strong partnerships with affordable housing developers in Arkansas and Mississippi, HEC plans to offer innovative low-cost financing for leased residential rooftop solar for low-income homeowners, as well as low-interest construction and permanent loans to owners of multi-family buildings tied to guaranteed energy savings for tenants. To ensure buildings receiving these low-cost financial products deliver meaningful benefits to residents, HEC plans to facilitate the creation of agreements that distribute energy and cost savings benefits (which would reduce bills at least 20%) between the building owners and residents.
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality:
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ), the state’s environmental agency, consulted a broad group of stakeholders including nonprofit housing developers to understand the most pressing barriers to solar deployment in the state in the development of their application. These consultations informed NCDEQ’s preliminary plans for a behind-the-meter solar installation program specifically for affordable multi-family and supportive housing owned and operated by nonprofit and public organizations, which will comprise about 21% of NCDEQ’s Solar for All funds. The program will be further refined in tandem with affordable housing stakeholders such as Mountain Housing Opportunities, DHIC, and Raleigh Housing Authority. NCDEQ also plans to provide technical assistance support to recipients of financial assistance while implementing accountability mechanisms to ensure that financial benefits flow to residents. This program will lay the groundwork and build internal capacity at these organizations to incorporate solar benefits into housing projects well into the future.
Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources:
As part of its Massachusetts Coalition, the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) brings together a proven team of energy and housing agencies, including the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, the Boston Housing Authority and MassHousing, to implement solar for low-income and disadvantaged communities across the state. Of the Coalition’s five initiatives, two will focus on solar deployment in multifamily housing: the Solar on Public Housing Initiative (targeting state and federal public housing across the state) and the Solar on Affordable Housing Initiative (targeting regulated affordable housing such as Low-Income Housing Tax Credit properties). Through the Solar for All program, the Coalition intends to provide the technical assistance, subsidies and financing needed to enable affordable public housing and multifamily property owners to overcome the capital and operating barriers to installing solar PV.
Tanana Chiefs Conference:
The Tanana Chiefs Conference will work closely with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and Housing Finance Corporation, along with a wide range of partners in housing authorities, regional nonprofits, electric utilities, and more, to provide access to solar for every Tribal community in Alaska. A share of the program will be administered by the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, which will fully subsidize solar projects benefiting qualifying Alaska Native households. These households will own the systems outright, receiving the self-sufficiency and cost savings benefits of solar ownership.
Vermont Department of Public Service:
The Vermont Department of Public Service is the state’s agency charged with representing the public interest in matters related to energy, telecommunications, water and wastewater. The Department will direct about one-third of its Solar for All award to its Managed Affordable Solar Housing Program, which will offer the benefits of rooftop solar to residents of permanently designated affordable housing. The Department will provide subsidies and low-interest loans alongside other housing and energy resources to developers and property owners of subsidized housing projects. By partnering with local affordable housing organizations using existing and trusted pathways, the Department will be able to deliver on-site solar to multi-family affordable rental housing more efficiently.
Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation:
Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) is a public-private agency focused on advancing business development and innovation for Wisconsinites through loans, grants, tax credits, and technical assistance programs. WEDC plans to provide financial assistance to multi-family affordable housing building owners and developers via several types of funds, including credit-enhanced loans for owners of naturally occurring affordable housing, a revolving loan fund for subsidized affordable housing, and other grants (to be combined with loan products). Through its proposed Single Family Solar Pathway, WEDC will partner with nonprofits to deploy solar on affordable housing constructed or rehabilitated since 2000, as well as new affordable housing projects that will be constructed in the future. This pathway will provide grants to households below 60% of the area median income to cover the upfront costs of installing solar, which will deliver immense cost savings in the long run.
Together these seven selected applicants, along with the 53 other highly qualified selected applicants, will serve over 900,000 households in the next five years and help EPA deliver on the Biden Administration’s promise to reduce utility cost burdens, create job opportunities, and transition to a clean energy economy. Source
“Today is a historic day and a landmark achievement. [It] serves as a reminder of the power of organizing, of what we can accomplish when young people, climate advocates, labor organizers and working people come together to demand the future we all deserve.”
NY representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
Review and Selection Process for Solar for All
Following the evaluation for eligibility using the threshold eligibility criteria provided in Section III.C: Threshold Eligibility Criteria of the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), reviewers from EPA, Department of Energy, Housing and Urban Affairs, Department of Treasury, Department of Agriculture, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Labor, Department of Defense, and the Department of Energy’s National Labs reviewed the Solar for All applications. Over 200 federal experts in climate, power markets, affordable housing, state energy policy, Tribal energy, environmental justice, labor, and consumer protection from across the interagency participated in the Solar for All review and selection process. These federal experts served on expert review panels; provided expert recommendations on selection and partial funding recommendations; and more.
- Expert Review Panels: EPA designed and executed a process to incorporate the diverse set of expertise required to evaluate all applications. EPA created three expert review panels as part of the review and scoring process: a holistic review panel and two criteria-specific review panels focused on 1) distributed solar market strategies; and 2) financial assistance strategies. Therefore, each individual Solar for All application was reviewed in sections by a total of three panels.
- Recommendations from a Senior Review Team and Final Selections: As a final robustness check, after the conclusion of the review process, EPA convened a multi-disciplinary Solar for All Senior Review Team to advise and provide a final set of recommendations to the Selection Officials, who were authorized to make selection and partial funding decisions. The Solar for All Senior Review Team was comprised of senior federal employees, primarily career employees, from EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy with relevant expertise in distributed energy, environmental justice, and clean energy deployment on Tribal lands. The Solar for All Senior Review Team met over the course of several weeks and to provide recommendations to the Selection Officials. The Selection Officials reviewed the Solar for All Senior Review Team’s recommendations before making selection and partial funding decisions that were consistent with the Solar for All Senior Review Team’s recommendations.
“Climate change is real, climate change through drought, floods, forest fires, heatwaves and extreme weather disturbances is already causing massive devastation for our country and the entire world. If anyone tells you climate change is a hoax, have them talk to farmers whose crop production is dwindling, have them talk to firefighters who risk their lives fighting fires with more severity and size than we’ve ever seen.”
Vermont senator Bernie Sanders
The Energy Age 