Solar for All
The Inflation Reduction Act authorized the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to implement the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund through three grant competitions: the $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund, the $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator, and the $7 billion Solar for All Competition. The Solar for All Competition aims to increase access to affordable, resilient, and clean solar energy for low-income households. Programs selected for funding under the Solar for All Competition will provide financing and technical assistance to enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from residential solar and energy storage and/or residential-serving community solar and energy storage.
Applications for the Program are not currently being accepted. Sign up here for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Office of Energy Program’s email list for updates regarding Tennessee’s Solar for All Program. Updates regarding the Program will be provided in the coming months to the email list.
Consumer Protection Notice:
Solar for All funding is not yet available. Residents should be aware of the potential for scams claiming to provide equipment (such as solar panels or battery storage) or services (such as home repairs or upgrades) under the Solar for All Program. Offers of “free solar” to households (whether received via phone, email, text, advertisement, or door-to-door marketing) are not affiliated with the Tennessee Solar for All Program. Review the U.S. Department of Treasury Consumer Advisory for additional information on solar energy scams. Additional resources from the U.S. Department of Treasury, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Federal Trade Commission on recognizing and avoiding solar scams are available here.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s Office of Energy Programs (TDEC OEP) worked with the Tennessee Valley Authority, local power companies, local governments, nonprofits, and other organizations to prepare the State's application for the EPA's Solar for All Competition. The State applied for $250,000,000 -- the maximum amount Tennessee was eligible to apply for. This funding cap was informed by total population within Tennessee census tracts identified as “low-income and disadvantaged communities” by the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (CEJST), a publicly available mapping tool developed by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. View the application summary for additional information.
EPA announced awards on April 22, 2024, including a total award of $156,120,000 to TDEC. Of the funding to be awarded, $400,000 will be awarded as in-kind services provided by the EPA in partnership with the U.S. DOE under the forthcoming National Solar for All Technical Assistance Program. EPA anticipates issuing awards no later than September 30, 2024.
Tennessee’s Solar for All Program will accelerate the deployment of solar infrastructure to benefit low-income households and disadvantaged communities while supporting Tennessee’s varied urban, suburban, and rural communities. TDEC intends to operate a statewide Program, and the scope of work is to provide financial assistance for residential rooftop and residential-serving community solar infrastructure, storage, and associated enabling upgrades in conjunction with preexisting, complementary programs (e.g., the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Flexibility 2.0 Program, Dispersed Power Production program, and community solar programs such as Nashville Electric Service's Music City Solar program). The Program will also provide project-deployment technical assistance focused on workforce development opportunities, as well as siting, permitting, and interconnection assistance, as needed.
The Solar for All Program has a period of performance of up to five years, which can include a planning period not to exceed one year. A planning period will provide time to refine Program plans after receiving an award from EPA and before beginning to deploy financial and technical assistance. TDEC OEP will utilize the planning period, beginning September 1, 2024, to develop Program guidelines and shape technical assistance and workforce development offerings.
A TDEC-led Statewide Program will provide the guidelines needed to ensure the Program's consistent effectiveness and equitable access and will engage a third-party administrator to deploy financial and technical assistance in communities not served directly by a Local Project Implementation Team. Local Project Implementation Teams consisting of local governments, local power companies, nonprofits, community action agencies, and/or other organizations will provide local implementation and support tailored to individual communities' needs. Details pertaining to implementation in specific communities will be finalized during the planning period.
Additional information regarding the Solar for All Competition is available on the Solar for All website, the Notice of Funding Opportunity page, and the FAQs page. View the TDEC OEP Solar for All funding opportunity information webinar presentation slides and application summary for additional information.
On April 22, 2024, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s Office of Energy Programs (TDEC OEP), which serves as the State Energy Office for Tennessee, was notified that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to award the State $156,120,000 to develop solar programs that enable the deployment of residential solar and community serving solar to benefit low-income households and disadvantaged communities.
TDEC OEP has not received funding for the Program, and the State’s Solar for All Program is not currently accepting applications. EPA anticipates executing contractual aspects of the award no later than September 30, 2024. Following such execution and EPA’s distribution of additional Solar for All Program Guidance, including special terms and conditions, TDEC OEP will begin a one-year planning period to extend through the third quarter of calendar year 2025.
During the planning period, the State will focus on refining Program plans, developing the State’s Program Guidelines (including those related to residential and community serving solar projects to be funded or financed with Solar for All funding), designing technical assistance and workforce development offerings, and procuring / contracting with Program partners (e.g., Local Project Implementation Teams) and a third-party implementer. Prior to the start of the planning year, TDEC OEP will continue engaging stakeholders to address aspects that will inform the planning year.
TDEC OEP is considering options for the installation of solar photovoltaics (PV), including residential-serving community solar systems, that would allow low-income households to benefit from solar PV without being the owner of the system or having the solar PV installed on their property.
TDEC OEP intends to identify Local Project Implementation Teams that will provide locally-tailored implementation of solar projects across Tennessee’s communities. Communities not represented by a Local Project Implementation Team will be covered by the Statewide Program. Per the application summary, TDEC OEP anticipates awarding subgrants under the following categories: (1) Local Project Implementation Teams; (2) A Statewide Program Administrator; (3) Public high schools to support introduction to solar trades and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs; (4) Public community or technical colleges for workforce development training programs, including employer apprenticeship support and wraparound services; (5) Subgrants to local nonprofits and community organizations for workforce development training programs, including employer apprenticeship support and wraparound services. Categories (1) and (2) include both (a) financial assistance for rooftop and community-serving solar, appropriate storage, and/or enabling upgrades and (b) program administrative activities for delivering financial assistance and/or project deployment technical assistance.
Local Project Implementation Teams have not been selected. Given the short amount of time to develop the application after responsibility was transferred from the Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA) to TDEC and the volume of information that needed to be gathered, TDEC engaged local governments and local power companies that had previously reached out to TDEC, THDA, TVA, and/or various nonprofit advocacy groups to express interest in the Solar for All opportunity. The list of local entities that engaged with TDEC following our outreach include the City of Chattanooga, Electric Power Board of Chattanooga, the City of Clarksville, CDE Lightband, the City of Knoxville, Knoxville Utilities Board, the City of Memphis, Memphis Light-Gas-Water, Metro Nashville, Nashville Electric Service, and Middle Tennessee Electric.
“Residential rooftop solar” is defined in EPA’s Solar for All Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) as 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 multi-family buildings. “Residential-serving community solar” is defined in EPA’s Solar for All NOFO as 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. Eligible community solar projects could therefore be either in front of the meter or behind-the-meter, depending on the project.
TDEC OEP has not made a determination as to how we will ensure that 20% household savings can be delivered to low-income households, regardless of whether they rent, own, or pay an electricity bill for their place of residence. Solutions will likely need to be tailored to each local electric utility serving the participating low-income households.
It is our understanding that EPA and the Clean Energy States Alliance are also currently working on guidance related to the topic of “20% household savings” and how to implement such programmatically. Please note that per the Notice of Funding Opportunity, “household savings” is defined as delivering a benefit of at least 20% of average household’s electricity bill, including households that do not have individual electricity bills. The average is for the “utility territory” and should be delivered as a financial or non-financial benefit with an equivalent financial value that meaningfully improves the lives of households directly. Some examples of non-financial benefits can be found here: MF_Memo_re_Community_Solar_Credits_in_MM_Buildings.pdf (hud.gov)
Contact OEP Communications Officer Audrey Jackson for additional questions regarding the Solar for All Program at Audrey.Jackson@tn.gov.
Definitions Included in the EPA Notice of Funding Opportunity:
- 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 photovoltaic (PV) system and the storage asset must be connected to the solar PV system.
- Behind-the-meter: A project located on the distribution system. Specifically, “behind-the-meter” refers to assets located after the point of power delivery to the customer and on the “customer side of the meter”. This point of power delivery can be the customer’s billing meter or an unmetered fixture.
- Distributed Solar: Refers to residential rooftop and residential-serving community solar.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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 photovoltaic (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.
Organizations Supporting the State's Solar for All Application
The following organizations provided letters of support for Tennessee's Solar for All application to the EPA:
- Ameresco
- Appalachian Voices
- Be a Helping Hand
- CDE Lightband
- City of Chattanooga
- City of Clarksville
- City of Knoxville
- City of Memphis
- City of Trenton
- Cumberland Electric Membership Corporation (CEMC)
- Electric Power Board of Chattanooga (EPB)
- Goodwill Industries of Middle TN
- Green|Spaces
- International Center for Appropriate and Sustainable Technology (ICAST)
- Knoxville Community Action Committee
- Knoxville's Community Development Corporation
- Knoxville Utilities Board (KUB)
- Memphis Housing Authority
- Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW)
- Memphis/Shelby County Planning Department
- Metro Nashville
- Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency
- Middle Tennessee Electric (MTE)
- Nashville Electric Service (NES)
- Nature Conservancy
- Seven States Power Corporation
- Sierra Club
- Socially Equal Energy Efficient Development (SEEED)
- Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE)
- Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council (TAEBC)
- Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR)
- Tennessee Community Action Agencies (TACA)
- Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development
- Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association (TECA)
- Tennessee Higher Education Commission
- Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA)
- Tennessee Municipal Electric Power Association (TMEPA)
- Tennessee Solar Energy Industries Association (TenneSEIA)
- Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
This Page Last Updated: September 23, 2024 at 11:43 AM