State of California Solar for All Program

California’s US EPA Solar for All (S4A) Grant

California’s Solar For All (S4A) grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Association (EPA) will be used to fund solar initiatives statewide. Three agencies: the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Energy Commission, and the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency via the Employment Development Department will oversee the grant funds.

A summarized version of the workplan is available here.

California Solar for All (SFA) grant is secured. California state agencies are in the administrative and planning phase of implementing this $250 million grant from the US EPA to benefit low-income Californians. California continues to work with US EPA on implementation details in alignment with EPA guidance.

CPUC Overseen:

(IOU-S4A Community Solar (~$190.2 million): Funds will support new mid-scale capacity solar systems (about 5 MW each) that offer 20% monthly electricity bill discounts to participating households in the three investor-owned utility (IOU) territories. California is reserving $19M of its IOU-S4A Community Solar budget to encourage the development of projects on tribal lands. Should these funds not be fully allocated after three years, funds will return to the general allocation of IOU-S4A Community Solar funds. Details on the distribution of these funds will be determined in the CPUC’s Community Solar proceeding, A.22-05-022. Please check the “How to Participate in this Proceeding” section of our Community Solar in California page to learn more about getting involved.
IOU-S4A SOMAH (~$9.7 million): Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) site readiness grants to affordable multifamily participants to improve structures and grid connections enabling upgrades to deploy residential rooftop solar and associated storage (including tribal customers). Details on the implementation of these funds are likely to be presented by the SOMAH Program Administrator via a Tier 2 Advice Letter filing. Details on the SOMAH Program can be found here: The Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) Program. Details on the Advice Letter process can be found here: Energy Utility Advice Letter and Tariff Information

CEC Overseen:

POU-S4A (~$25 million): Establish new programs to deploy community solar, multifamily rooftop solar, and single-family rooftop solar or solar with associated storage systems (including tribal stakeholders) in multiple Publicly Owned Utility (POU) territories. POU-S4A will offer at least the minimum bill expected of 20% monthly electricity bill savings. The CEC will run two to three granting cycles to which POUs or Tribes will apply to start new programs and tariffs in their territories during the grant period to expand solar access to Low-Income and Disadvantaged Communities (LIDAC) customers. More details may be found here.

EDD Overseen:

RWP-S4A (~$8 million): Establish and expand training programs to increase knowledge and competency of workers within the solar and storage sectors through the Resilient Workforce Program (RSW). Selected programs will include outreach to increase participants from identified LIDAC communities. The Employment Development Department (EDD) Workforce Services Branch (WSB) has managed funding programs that create pathways for job growth via training partnerships with California employers.

Contracting and Procurement Opportunities

All of California’s EPA S4A consulting and contracting opportunities will be administered on the Cal eProcure System through California’s State Government Marketplace (https://caleprocure.ca.gov/pages/index.aspx).