Community solar is poised to become much more common thanks to a new $7 billion fund tied to the Inflation Reduction Act. The EPA began the process of setting up the fund last week.
In mid-February the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced initial guidance on the design of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) program, created by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. EPA published two Federal Assistance Listings outlining key parameters of the grant competitions that will ultimately award nearly $27 billion to leverage private capital for clean energy and clean air investments across the country. Federal Assistance Listings are the first public notice requirement to implement a federal grant program.
The initial program design guidance follows a robust stakeholder engagement effort with input collected from state, local and Tribal governments, community financing institutions, environmental justice organizations, industry groups and labor and environmental finance experts.
“Thanks to President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund will unlock historic investments to combat the climate crisis and deliver results for the American people, especially those who have too often been left behind. The initial program design announced today will ensure the fund fulfills its mandate to deliver benefits to all in a transparent and inclusive fashion,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “With $27 billion from President Biden’s investments in America, this program will mobilize billions more in private capital to reduce pollution and improve public health, all while lowering energy costs, increasing energy security, creating good-paying jobs and boosting economic prosperity in communities across the country.”
EPA will hold two competitions to distribute grant funding under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: a $20 billion General and Low-Income Assistance Competition and a $7 billion Zero-Emissions Technology Fund Competition. EPA will implement these programs in alignment with President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which directs that 40% of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities, including those facing disproportionately high and adverse health and environmental impacts. EPA expects to open competitions for funding under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund by summer 2023.
“The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund is one of President Biden’s generational investments to build an equitable clean energy economy from the bottom up and the middle out,” said Senior Advisor to the President for Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation John Podesta. “It will create good-paying manufacturing jobs while helping to tackle climate change-the greatest challenge of our time.”
Today, EPA also announced a national Community Roundtable series to continue a robust and inclusive engagement effort, focused on introducing the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to communities across the country and learning about community-level solutions that the Fund can support.
“When we delivered the Inflation Reduction Act last year, we promised the largest investment in climate and clean energy ever made in our history, all while reducing energy bills and bringing good jobs to all communities across America. Now, less than a year later, the American people are seeing us follow through on that promise to improve the lives of families across the country,” said U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. “A giant leap forward for bringing clean energy to communities who are too often left behind, the Green House Gas Reduction Fund is one of the concrete actions taken as a direct result of the Inflation Reduction Act to make access to reliable and clean solar power easier for millions of Americans. By investing in renewable energy, we’re revitalizing communities, creating jobs of the future, and delivering real help for the American people.”
EPA is moving expeditiously to develop these two grant competitions, utilizing the established technical expertise of agency officials in EPA and across the US government, to invest public funding transparently and inclusively and deliver significant investments in the American people. EPA expects to release Notice of Funding Opportunities for these competitions in early summer 2023.
