Spring 2023 Solar Industry Update

Recent Solar News • On April 4, 2023, the White House released a Guidebook intended to help Tribal and indigenous communities navigate IRA opportunities. The Guidebook provides descriptions and eligibility information for Tribes to benefit from IRA grant, loan, and clean energy incentives. It also provides a brief summary of each program, key dates to watch out for, and important links for further information. On April 19, 2023, the EPA released its framework for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), a $27B fund for clean energy projects targeting low- income and disadvantaged communities. The framework outlines three grant competitions: the National Clean Investment Fund ($14B), the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator ($6B), and the Solar for All competition ($7B), which will provide 60 grants to States, Tribal governments, municipalities, and nonprofits. The EPA invites feedback by May 12th on this framework, and also plans to hold six public listening sessions. Sunnova VPP loan guarantee The U.S. Department of Energy Loan Program Office (LPO) announced a conditional commitment of up to $3B in a partial loan guarantee (i.e., a 90% guarantee of up to $3.3B) to Sunnova to support its Project Hestia. Certain conditions must still be satisfied before the DOE loan guarantee is issued, including finalization of definitive financing documents. Sunnova's Project Hestia offers disadvantage individuals and communities better access to loans for solar installations, battery systems, or other Sunnova Adaptive Home™ technologies. To be eligible, the energy system must be outfitted with Sunnova's VPP-enabling software, which is designed to improve customer insights regarding their power usage and to facilitate demand response behavior. The project is expected to provide loans for ~75,000-115,000 homeowners throughout the United States, with Sunnova targeting 20% of their loans to homeowners in Puerto Rico and at least 20% to customers with FICO credit scores of 680 or less. The ~568 MW, 25-year project is also estimated to created 3,400 job. Sunnova has agreed to: provide monthly servicing reports supplemented by hardware and software deployment information to DOE, measure the reduction in greenhouse gases associated with Project Hestia, and deliver collateral pools that realize agreed criteria related to FICO distributions and certain concentrations of customers located in disadvantaged communities. Sources: iratracker.org, WH press release, EPA press release, Solar Power World, LPO press release, Sunnova press release NREL 19

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