Solar For All
(7 Billion)
According to the EPA, under the $7 billion Solar for All program, the 60 selected applicants will create new or expand existing low-income solar programs, which will enable over 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from distributed solar energy.
Collectively, these programs will deliver on the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund’s objectives by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollution, delivering cost savings on electric bills for overburdened households, and unlocking new markets for distributed solar in 25 states and territories that have never had a statewide low-income solar program before.
The 60 selected applications include 49 state-level awards, six awards to Tribes, and five innovative multistate awards, spanning the entire country. View the 60 selected applicants in this table.
Below are key highlights from the Solar For All Program, as shared by the EPA:
As part of this collective effort, selected applicants have all committed to the following:
Funding residential and residential-serving community solar projects that will cumulatively reduce or avoid greenhouse gas emissions by over 30 million metric tons CO2 equivalent.
90% of selected applicants plan to fund residential rooftop solar.
88% of selected applicants plan to fund the deployment of residential-serving community and shared solar through diverse ownership models that enable households in disadvantaged communities to access the additional economic benefits of asset ownership.
78% of selected applicants plan to fund storage solutions, maximizing residential rooftop and residential-serving community solar deployment, increasing the resilience of the power grid, and delivering electricity to vulnerable communities during grid outages.
Reaching communities in all states and territories, including in Tribal Lands, maximizing the reach and breadth of Solar for All.
Collectively, the 60 Solar for All selected applicants propose programs that cover all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and territories.
More than $500 million – over 7% of funding – will be dedicated to Tribal communities. Tribes across the nation will have greater access to programs that reduce energy costs and delivery electricity during outages.
Selected applicants will develop specific programs designed to serve communities facing unique barriers to distributed solar deployment across multiple states, including rural communities in the southeast; communities in the industrial heartland; households in affordable housing; households that cannot deploy residential rooftop solar; and communities around HBCUs, HSIs, and TSUs.
All 60 selected applicant will maximize the breadth and diversity of the households that can benefit from solar.
Creating equitable access to affordable, resilient solar for nearly a million low-income households, by providing subsidies, low-cost capital, and technical assistance to projects, communities, and developers.
100% of funding will support the low-income and disadvantaged communities that need it most, ensuring that the program benefits flow to the most overburdened communities and advance the President’s Justice40 Initiative.
The average low-income household benefiting from a Solar for All program will experience ~$400 in annual savings from their electricity bills. Low-income households across our country will realize over $350 million in annual household savings from all 60 selected applicants, totaling over $8 billion in cumulative savings for over a standard solar project 25-year asset life.
Programs funded by Solar for All will deploy and unlock over 4 gigawatts (GW) of distributed solar energy entirely for low-income and disadvantaged communities. According to analysis from the U.S. Department of Energy, by the end of 2023, low-income households were benefiting from approximately 7 GW of solar energy. The Solar for All selected applicants will increase the residential solar capacity serving low-income households by a third over the next 5 years while guaranteeing 20%+ household savings.
Solar for All programs will deliver resiliency and grid benefits by creating capacity that can deliver power to low-income and disadvantaged households and/or critical facilities serving low-income and disadvantaged households during a grid outage.
Delivering hundreds of thousands of good-paying, high-quality jobs, especially in low-income and disadvantaged communities.
Programs funded by Solar for All will create hundreds of thousands of jobs all across the country over the next five years, supported by the commitment from every selected applicant to develop robust workforce development plans.
Applicants selected for funding have committed to fostering the creation of good-paying, high-quality jobs, and are working with a number of local, regional, and national labor unions.
Selected applicants will apply David-Bacon Act labor standards and the Build America, Buy America Act, bolstering good-paying, American jobs.
Data Sources:
https://www.epa.gov/greenhouse-gas-reduction-fund/solar-all
https://www.epa.gov/greenhouse-gas-reduction-fund/solar-all-fast-facts
EPA Disclaimer:
The commitments above are taken or derived from the narrative proposals 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. Where selected applicants made commitments based on magnitudes of outputs and outcomes (such as reducing or avoiding greenhouse gas emissions), the commitments are adjusted for the amount of partial funding received relative to the initial funding requested. Note that EPA will work with the selected applicants to revise their narrative proposals into workplans that are subject to final approval from the EPA Award Official and that reflect adjustments made during workplan negotiations. Selections are contingent on resolution of all administrative disputes relating to the competition.