President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act authorized the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to implement the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, creating a historic $27 billion investment in communities across the country—from states to territories to Tribal lands, from the largest urban cities to the most remote rural towns. This bold investment will not only deploy clean energy and combat the climate crisis but also improve health outcomes, lower energy costs, and create high-quality jobs for Americans—all while strengthening our country’s economic competitiveness and ensuring energy security.

As part of this investment, EPA is launching three distinct but complementary grant competitions:

• a $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund competition to finance clean technology deployment nationally;
• 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; and
• a $7 billion Solar for All competition to spur adoption of clean distributed solar energy that lowers energy bills for millions of Americans in low-income and disadvantaged communities.

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. 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 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.

Solar for All will advance the three overarching GGRF program objectives:

1. Reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants.
2. Deliver benefits of greenhouse gas- and air pollution-reducing projects to American communities, particularly low-income and disadvantaged communities.
3. Mobilize financing and private capital to stimulate additional deployment of greenhouse gas- and air pollution-reducing projects.