Author: Anna Balzer (NCSP) Published: 11/13/2023 NCPS
We’re continuing to spotlight the 25 winners of the NCSP Round 1 Community Power Accelerator prize – a prize designed to fast-track the efforts of new, emerging, and expanding solar developers and co-developers to learn, participate, and grow their operations to support multiple successful community solar projects. This week, we’re highlighting the Boston SHINE: Solar and Workforce Development team! This team is building a robust workforce development program to support trainees to develop rooftop community solar projects within underserved areas of south Boston. This will create significant community savings and establish scalable solar in areas of great need.
If you’ve been a part of the National Community Solar Partnership community for a while, you’ve almost certainly heard the phrase ‘Meaningful Benefits.’ These benefits, which originally derived from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Justice40 Priorities and stakeholder feedback, are at the core of all of our programs here at NCSP. We work to ensure that, as community solar expands, all households can realize benefits like equitable access and consumer protections, meaningful household savings, resilience, storage and grid benefits, community-led economic development, and solar workforce.
We’ve spent the past few years exploring what’s possible in delivering these meaningful benefits through the Sunny Awards and associated Meaningful Benefits Best Practices Guide, the Community Power Accelerator, and in many presentations and conversations with this community. Now, we’re hoping you’ll join us in an important effort to better understand how to scale the delivery of these benefits, so that they are a part of not just all community solar, but all equitable solar, including low-income residential rooftop solar and other solar located in or serving low-income or disadvantaged communities.
Yesterday, we launched an opportunity to apply to lead one of five Equitable Solar Communities of Practice, to be convened over 6 months in early 2024. Organizations selected to lead these Communities of Practice will be eligible for $75,000 in funding per community of practice and will play a lead role in shaping the community of practice and authoring the final deliverables. We encourage NCSP members to consider applying to this opportunity and to share it with your network. Applications are due at 5:00 p.m. on December 8, 2023. We also encourage you to join an informational webinar, to be held on Wednesday November 15, 2023 from 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. (Eastern). If serving as a lead organization is not a good fit for your organization, please note that there will be additional opportunities to participate in the Equitable Solar Communities of Practice in the future!
As the National Community Solar Partnership grows, we hope this weekly digest will help all of our partners stay informed of the many community solar resources, opportunities, and events shared in the NCSP online community and beyond. Enjoy!
Welcome New Partners:
NCSP grew by 6 new partners this week! Please welcome the newest NCSP partners:
Sean Swentek , Omnidian (joined 11/8/23)
Kim Shields , U.S. Department of Energy (joined 11/6/23)
Joe Kelly , Digital Economics (joined 11/6/23)
Raushan Murshid , Sun Consent (joined 11/5/23)
Krista Kisch , Lone Star Renewables, LLC (joined 11/2/23)
Nathalie Jordi , Feed the Second Line (joined 11/1/23)
Open Opportunities:
Apply to Lead an Equitable Solar Community of Practice: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO), through a partnership intermediary agreement with ENERGYWERX, recently opened applications for organizations interested in leading one or more of five proposed ‘Equitable Solar Communities of Practice.’ Each community of practice will conduct analysis and host community conversations on a specific meaningful benefit, including (1) equitable access and consumer protections, (2) meaningful household savings, (3) resilience, storage, and grid benefits, (4) community-led economic development, (5) and solar workforce. Organizations selected for this opportunity will eligible for $75,000 in funding per community of practice, awarded based on the completion of project milestones. The Equitable Solar Communities of Practice will convene equitable solar stakeholders between January and June 2024 to identify existing resources, resource gaps, and pathways to scale the delivery of meaningful solar benefits to low-income households and other disadvantaged communities through community solar, low-income rooftop solar, and other distributed solar + storage solutions located in, or benefitting low-income or disadvantaged communities. This opportunity closes on December 8, 2023, at 5 p.m. ET. For more information on this program and to apply, visit the ENERGYWERX Equitable Solar Communities of Practice page and register for an informational webinar on November 15.
NCSP Annual Impact Data Collection: Over the last several years, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and participating national laboratories have provided resources and assistance to partners in the National Community Solar Partnership to accelerate community solar deployment in the U.S. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) is collecting data from NCSP partners about your experiences in the Partnership. We’ll use the results to evaluate and report on impact of the NCSP, and improve the program in the future, to achieve the DOE’s target of enabling community solar to power the equivalent of 5 million households by 2025. We request that you complete this form by November 20th, 2023. It should take about 15 minutes of your time.
Applications Open for Communities LEAP Program Round 2: The Communities LEAP program seeks to facilitate sustained community-wide economic empowerment through clean energy and improve local environmental conditions. Eligible applicants are low- income, energy-burdened communities that are also either disadvantaged or experiencing direct economic impacts from a shift away from historical reliance on fossil fuels. Multi-stakeholder applicant teams must include at least one community-based organization and one local government or tribal entity. Communities are invited to attend open office hours to get more information and ask questions: November 16, 2 p.m. ET- REGISTER; November 21, 3 p.m. ET- REGISTER
Applications Now Open for the Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit: On October 19th, 2023 the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), U.S. Department of the Treasury, and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced the opening of applications for the Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit Program. This program, supported by the Inflation Reduction Act, addresses the need to expand access to cost-saving clean energy projects in underserved communities through a groundbreaking tax incentive for solar and wind projects across the country. Eligible applicants can participate in this groundbreaking program through the program’s new applicant portal. DOE is accepting applications for the initial application window for the first 30 days after October 19th for the 2023 program year. After the initial 30-day application window closes, applications for 2023 will be considered on a rolling basis. Learn more about the Low-Income Communities Bonus Credit program and how to apply here!
$50M in Funding for Distributed Energy Systems Demonstrations: The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) released a new $50 million funding opportunity to help the U.S. develop more reliable, resilient, and cost-effective energy systems. Distributed energy systems encompass not only distributed energy production such as rooftop or community solar and distributed wind, but also the flexible management of those sources and energy use by buildings, EV charging, heat pumps and other drivers of electric demand. By scaling distributed energy systems, we can more effectively deliver and use clean, reliable power for more communities, reducing electric losses along transmission and distribution lines, and increasing grid resiliency. Through the Distributed Energy Systems Demonstration program, OCED will provide up to 50 percent of the cost share for 2-4 utility and/or private sector led projects to demonstrate the reliable operation and financial value of connected energy systems with high levels of renewable generation and a variety of connected energy assets. Learn more about the program here! Concept papers are due by 5:00 p.m. (Eastern) on November 16, 2023.
NCSP Rolling Technical Assistance Program: The National Community Solar Partnership continues to offer no-cost technical assistance on a rolling basis to support more partners! The TA program can provide resources to our partners so they can swiftly and successfully implement community solar projects that ensure access to meaningful benefits for all. Any NCSP partner is eligible to request free technical assistance at any time. Check out the application today! Additional eligibility details can be found in the application.
Upcoming Events:
2023 Behavior, Energy, and Climate Change Conference: November 12-15, 2023, Sacramento, CA
APPA Customer Connections Conference: November 12-15, 2023, San Antonio, TX *Joyce McLaren from the NCSP team will be co-leading a workshop on community solar at this conference
NARUC Annual Meeting 2023: November 12-15, 2023, La Quinta, CA
RE+ Midwest: November 14-15, 2023, Chicago, IL *Nicole Steele of the NCSP will be speaking at this event
Thriving Communities Regional Convening: November 14-15, 2023, Durham, NC *Simon Sandler from the NCSP team will be speaking at this event
SETO Equitable Solar Communities of Practice Informational Webinar: November 15, 2023 | 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. (Eastern), virtual *Ariel Drehobl and Anna Balzer of the NCSP will be speaking at this event
Hagamos lo imposible realidad: Latine Leaders Revolutionizing Energy: November 15, 2023 | 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. (Eastern), virtual
National League of Cities City Summit: November 16-18, 2023, Atlanta, GA
Smart Cities Connect Conference: November 28-30, 2023, Washington, D.C.
Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership (GRIP) Grants Webinar: November 29, 2023 | 2:00 p.m. (Eastern), virtual
EUCI Community Solar Design and Implementation Best Practices: November 30 – December 1, 2023, virtual *Anna Balzer and Ben Paulos of the NCSP will be speaking at this event
Southeast Renewable Energy Summit 2023: December 5-7, 2023, Charlotte, NC
RE+ Community Energy: January 10-11, 2024, San Diego, CA
Have an event, opportunity, or resource to share? Consider posting to the discussion forum, or email anna.balzer@ee.doe.gov to be included on the weekly digest.