Office: Grid Deployment Office 

Funding Number: DE-FOA-0003096 

Funding Amount: Up to $450 million 

On July 31, 2023, DOE’s Grid Deployment Office (GDO) released a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for up to $450 million to support residential solar PV and battery storage installations and offer consumer protection and education resources. Potential applicants may include private industry, educational institutions, state and local governmental entities, non-profit organizations, and energy cooperatives. Through this deployment-focused funding, DOE aims to incentivize the installation of roughly 30,000–40,000 residential solar and battery systems. Qualified beneficiaries of the systems installed by selected partners will include very low-income, single-family households that are either located in areas that have a high percentage of very low-income households and experience frequent and prolonged power outages or contain a family member with an energy-dependent disability, such as individuals who need electric wheelchairs for mobility or those that use at-home dialysis machines.

In November 2023, GDO announced the following selectees to begin award negotiations for this FOA:

Topic Area 1 Selectees: Third-Party Residential Deployment (up to $400 million, announced 11/2/2023)

The following companies with an existing Puerto Rican workforce will enter award negotiations and may be awarded a total of $400 million across all three awards to deploy residential solar and battery systems for vulnerable households across Puerto Rico:

• Generac Power Systems, Inc.
• Sunnova Energy Corporation
• Sunrun, Inc.

Topic Area 2 Selectees: Community-Sponsored Residential Deployment (up to $40 million, announced 11/2/2023)

The following qualified nonprofits and cooperatives will also enter award negotiations and may be awarded a total of $40 million across all five awards for residential solar installations:  

• Barrio Eléctrico   
• Comunidad Solar Toro Negro, Inc.   
• Environmental Defense Fund   
• Let's Share the Sun Foundation   
• Solar United Neighbors, Inc.

Topic Area 3 Selectees: Beneficiary Education, Training, and Consumer Protection (up to $10 million, announced 11/29/2023)

The following qualified nonprofits will enter award negotiations and may be awarded up to $10 million across the following two awards to lead education, training, and consumer protection initiatives for households receiving solar and battery storage systems through the PR-ERF:

• Hispanic Federation Inc.
• Institute for Building Technology and Safety

For more details on eligibility and other aspects of each of the above Topic Areas of the FOA, please consult the Funding Opportunity Announcement (DE-FOA-0003096) at Infrastructure Exchange.

The deadline to apply to this FOA was September 18, 2023 at 5:00 PM AT/ET.

Part 1: Overview of Summer 2023 Funding Opportunities

• Learn more about how to apply for a funding opportunity.
• Sign up for our newsletter to stay current with the latest news from GDO’s Puerto Rico Grid Recovery and Modernization Team.  

• DOE Press release about the Topic Area 3 selectees, issued on November 29, 2023.
• DOE Press release about the Topic Area 1 and 2 selectees, issued on November 2, 2023. 
• DOE press release announcing this FOA, issued on July 31, 2023.
• Frequently Asked Questions
• PR-ERF FOA Selectees Fact Sheet
• Landing page for the Solar Ambassador Prize, a funding opportunity through the PR-ERF for organizations in Puerto Rico to assist DOE in identifying eligible households for solar PV and battery storage installations. 

Return to the Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund landing page.