Intergovernmental Review Notification for GGRF Grant Programs: Assistance Listings 66.957 (NCIF), 66.960 (CCIA) and 66.959 (Zero Emissions Technologies Grant Program, also known as Solar For All)

As indicated in the List of EPA Financial Assistance Programs Subject to Executive Order 12372 and Section 204 of the Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act and Section 401 of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act, EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) grant programs are subject to intergovernmental review pursuant to 40 CFR Part 29 when EPA provides financial assistance for construction or land use planning. EPA is providing this notice pursuant to 40 CFR 29.7 to directly affected state, areawide, regional, and local government entities (directly affected governmental entities) in states that do not have Single Points of Contact (SPOCs) or in which the SPOC has not selected GGRF grant programs for intergovernmental review, so that they have 60 calendar days to submit comments to EPA on the programs described below. The only states or territories with SPOCs that have selected GGRF grant programs for full intergovernmental review are California, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, Utah and the Virgin Islands. The SPOC for the States of Utah and Indiana have selected GGRF grants to  state agencies for review. GGRF program activities carried out in Tribal Nations are not subject to intergovernmental review.

Although the precise location of construction or land use planning projects is not known at this time, the GGRF programs are nationwide in scope and EPA anticipates that projects will be carried out in all 50 states and the U.S. Territories. Directly affected governmental entities may submit comments to [email protected] on or before Tuesday, October 22, 2024. Unless EPA receives comment or inquiry from directly affected governmental entities by this date, EPA will presume that directly affected governmental entities do not have comments and EPA will not take further actions under 40 CFR Part 29.

The GGRF program is authorized by Section 134 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7434) and as provided in Section 7(c) of the Energy Supply and Environmental Coordination Act of 1974 (15 USC § 793(c)(1)) all actions under the Clean Air Act are exempt from the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. However, any recipients, subrecipients or program beneficiaries undertaking construction funded in the GGRF program must comply with state, territorial or local government construction permitting requirements.

GGRF Program Description

The Inflation Reduction Act through codification of Clean Air Act Section 134 authorized the EPA to implement the GGRF to help achieve our nation’s climate goals and priorities, 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. GGRF will mobilize financing and private capital to address the climate crisis, ensure our country’s economic competitiveness, and promote energy independence while delivering lower energy costs and economic revitalization to communities that have historically been left behind. This bold investment will finance clean technology deployment nationally, finance clean technology deployment in low-income and disadvantaged communities while simultaneously building the capacity of community lenders that serve those communities, and spur adoption of clean distributed solar energy that lowers energy bills for millions of Americans in low-income and disadvantaged communities.

EPA established three distinct but complementary grant programs: the $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF), the $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator (CCIA), and the $7 billion Solar for All (SFA) program. NCIF and CCIA are focused on providing capital to non-profit financing institutions, to catalyze the clean energy future in communities that have long faced barriers accessing capital and that most need the benefits of clean technology projects. SFA provides grants to states, municipalities, tribes, and non-profits to develop long-lasting solar programs that enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from distributed residential solar. More than 70% of the $27 billion will benefit low-income and disadvantaged communities, protecting the lives, livelihoods, and communities of the most vulnerable Americans.

The three programs, and the anticipated activities and project types to be funded under each, are detailed below. These priority project categories, and the project examples included therein, represent the agency’s best projection of the activities and project types that will be undertaken by the recipients and end users of GGRF funding. Some projects may involve construction or land use planning.

National Clean Investment Fund (NCIF) and Clean Communities Investment Accelerator (CCIA)

NCIF will fund and finance tens of thousands of clean technology projects nationwide via three selected national non-profit intermediaries. These national nonprofits will provide financing to individuals and families, nonprofit organizations, for-profit businesses, units of government, and others deploying these projects, which will reduce pollution while creating jobs, accelerating progress toward energy security, and lowering energy costs. 

CCIA will capitalize hundreds of community financial institutions around the country, via five selected nonprofit entities. These community finance institutions will finance thousands of projects in their communities to deploy energy-saving and energy-generating technologies, emissions-reducing projects, and other climate projects, in three priority project categories. 

Project categories for both NCIF and CCIA include:

1. Distributed Energy Generation and Storage: Projects, activities, and technologies that deploy small-scale power generation and/or storage technologies (typically from 1 kW to 10,000 kW), plus enabling infrastructure necessary for deployment of such generation and/or storage technologies. For this competition, the projects, activities, and technologies must support carbon pollution-free electricity, which is electrical energy produced from resources that generate no carbon emissions, consistent with the definition specified in Executive Order 14057 (Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability). Examples of the types of projects in this category include (but are not limited to): residential rooftop solar; residential rooftop solar-plus-storage; community wind and solar; fuel cells; stand-alone energy storage, including replacement of backup diesel generators with battery storage; distributed generation and storage assets that support microgrids; and the previously listed projects paired with distribution system upgrades necessary for project interconnection. This priority project category is intended to make an outsized impact on delivering clean energy and energy efficiency benefits—especially to low-income and disadvantaged communities.
2. Net-Zero Emissions Buildings: Projects, activities, and technologies that either (1) retrofit an existing building, making a substantial contribution to that building being a net-zero emissions building and as part of a plan for that building achieving zero-over-time, or (2) construct a new net-zero emissions building in a low-income and disadvantaged community. Net-zero emissions buildings are defined in Executive Order 14057 Implementing Instructions, with the primary focus of reducing emissions but with occupant health, environmental stewardship, and climate resilience also outlined as critical elements of a holistic building design, construction, and operations strategy. Net-zero emissions buildings include residential (e.g., 1- to 4-family homes, manufactured homes, multifamily housing), commercial, industrial, and other buildings—especially properties providing affordable housing. Examples of the types of projects in this category include (but are not limited to): decarbonization of affordable multifamily housing through energy and water efficiency, geothermal heating and cooling, and grid-interactive appliance electrification; school building space and water heating grid-interactive electrification; whole-home retrofits for 1- to 4-family homes and manufactured homes to improve energy efficiency; decarbonization retrofits as part of adaptive reuse of existing buildings to create housing, childcare centers, and other community facilities; and new construction of net-zero residential buildings in rural areas as well as in urban infill, transit-oriented locations that are in low-income and disadvantaged communities. This priority project category is intended to make an outsized impact on delivering affordable and sustainable housing benefits—especially to low-income and disadvantaged communities.
3. Zero-Emissions Transportation: Projects, activities, and technologies that deploy zero-emissions transportation modes, plus enabling infrastructure necessary for zero-emissions transportation modes—especially in communities that are overburdened by existing diesel pollution, particulate matter concentration, and degraded air quality. Zero-emissions transportation should be consistent with the zero-emissions transportation decarbonization strategies in the U.S. National Blueprint for Transportation Decarbonization. Examples of the types of projects in this category include (but are not limited to): deployment of chargers (including prewiring for future charger installation) and other infrastructure to support zero-emissions micromobility options (e.g., electric bikes and scooters) as well as zero-emissions light-duty vehicles for individuals and families, particularly at and near multifamily housing; deployment of chargers and other infrastructure to support zero-emissions medium- and heavy-duty vehicles for small businesses and farms; charging and refueling depots for zero-emissions school buses, trucks, and public transportation vehicles; and small-scale infrastructure to improve walkability and bikeability. This priority project category is intended to make a particular impact on delivering clean transportation benefits—especially to low-income and disadvantaged communities.

 Solar for All (SFA)

Residential distributed solar generation and energy storage, including rooftop residential and residential-serving community photovoltaic (PV) solar and storage, reduces energy costs for American households, abates pollution from power generation, generates wealth and jobs for local communities, improves public health, and provides resilient and secure power. Yet, to date low-income and disadvantaged households have been left behind in the rapid deployment of residential distributed solar generation, despite the benefits that this technology can provide to these communities. According to data from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE's) Low-Income Energy Affordability Tool, the national average energy burden for low-income households is 8.6%, three times higher than the energy burden for non-low-income households, and, in some cases, can be as high as 30%. 

Solar energy investments in and benefitting low-income and disadvantaged communities support the climate and equity goals of the United States, including the Administration’s goal of a 100% clean-electricity grid by 2035. Investing in solar energy and project-deployment services to enable residential distributed solar projects for low-income and disadvantaged households will expand access to the benefits of clean energy—benefits that include household savings, energy resilience, improved air quality, wealth building, and quality jobs. 

Through 60 selected intermediaries, SFA will deliver the benefits of clean and climate-resilient solar power, energy storage, and community solar arrays, to nearly one million low-income American households, across all states, as well as to territories and Tribal lands. To achieve these goals, SFA grantees will provide subsidies and other financial assistance to residential 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.

The four technology categories allowable under the Solar for All program include:

• Residential 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 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 solar includes properties that are both rented and owned. 
• Residential-Serving Community Solar: 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.
• Associated Storage: Infrastructure to store solar-generated power for the purposes of maximizing residential 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 PV system and the storage asset must be connected to the solar PV system. 
• Enabling Upgrades: Investments in energy and building infrastructure that are necessary to deploy and/or maximize the benefits of a residential and residential-serving community solar project. Enabling upgrades can include, but are not limited to, electrical system upgrades, structural building repairs and energy efficiency. Applicants may decide the exact types of enabling upgrades that are eligible for Solar for All financial assistance, yet all enabling upgrades should be energy and building infrastructure related and deployed in conjunction with financial assistance for an eligible solar PV system.