The Biden administration is set to announce an unprecedented $20 billion in available funding for a national financing network designed to accelerate the deployment of clean energy technologies with a special emphasis on low-income and disadvantaged communities.
Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to announce the funding opportunities July 14 in Baltimore as part of the Inflation Reduction Act's $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
The fund, to be administered by the US Environmental Protection Agency, will be split among three buckets. In June, the EPA announced a $7 billion grant competition aimed at expanding rooftop solar access to millions of low-income households.
Harris on July 14 is to announce an additional $14 billion for a National Clean Investment Fund competition and $6 billion for a Clean Communities Accelerator competition at Coppin State University, a recently retrofitted historically Black college and university, a senior White House official said July 13.
The National Clean Investment Fund competition will provide grants to two to three national nonprofit clean financing institutions "capable of partnering with the private sector to provide accessible, affordable financing for tens of thousands of clean technology projects across the country," the official said.
After being selected, the national nonprofits will provide financing to individuals and families, other nonprofits, for-profit businesses, units of government and others "to deploy carbon pollution-reducing projects," the official said. In line with the Biden administration's Justice40 initiative, at least 40% of the $14 billion must go to low-income and disadvantaged communities.
The Clean Communities Accelerator competition will direct 100% of those funds to low-income and disadvantaged communities. The competition will provide grants to two to seven "hub" nonprofits that will "in turn deliver funding and technical assistance to build the clean financing capacity of local community lenders working in low-income and disadvantaged communities so that underinvested communities have the capital they need to deploy clean technology projects," the White House official said.
Examples of potential projects eligible for funding include a small business installing electric vehicle charging stations, a community installing battery storage to improve climate resiliency, or an affordable housing resident switching from a gas to an electric oven as part of a building retrofit.
Applications for the two competitions will be due on Oct. 12 and the EPA will aim to make selections by March 2024. The EPA is also expected to host public webinars on the funding opportunities in the coming weeks.
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